29-Jul-22 Morningside Arena Mural by ORION X AIS

Morningside Arena, home of Leicester Riders Basketball teams. Leicester mens Basketball team is Britain's oldest professional basketball team. Originally formed in 1967 as Loughborough All-Stars, they became one of the founding members of the National Basketball League in 1972 and then one of the founders of the British Basketball League in 1987. They have played at several locations within Leicestershire over the years, starting in 1967 at Loughborough University.

Later moving to a city council run Sports Venue called Granby Halls. This was an era when I found a love for the game and went to most home games , initially the team were supported by a local snack business and went by the name "Planters Leicester" after Planters Dry Roast Peanuts. They then changed the name to "Walkers Leicester" after Walkers crisps (same sponser). After a couple of season a the local corporation run bus company sponsered them and they became the Riders. Although that sponsorship ended they still carry the name. In 2000 Granby Halls closed and was demolished leaving the team homeless. They briefly returned to their roots in Loughborough playing both at the Uni and local leisure centre. In 2004 a new sponsorship deal involving the De Montfort University saw Riders return to Leicester to play in the sports hall of said university and become DMU Riders. This was a period when the club struggled for funds and could easily have gone under. A local building firm stepped in to sponsor the team and they went from strength to strength.

In 2016 they finally moved to Morningside which was a purpose built arena seating 2400 spectators (back to the heady days of Granby Halls, all of the other venues had been less than 1000). Both men's and women's team now use the facility and are both ranked amongst the strongest sides in the British leagues, having won several trophies over the last 10 years.

This mural was painted as part of the 2022 Bring the Paint festival for street artists. The colour scheme being the colours of the teams uniforms. The image is best viewed in full screen and can be zoomed. Closeups of serveral sections of the mural can be found in my "Leicester 2022" folder.

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