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In the summer of 2003 it was announced that [[British Basketball League]] (BBL) team, and twice former League champions, Essex Leopards would be dropping out of the League as a buyer for the struggling franchise could not be found.<ref>{{cite news| title = Leopards pull out | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/3141969.stm | access-date = 2011-11-09 | publisher = BBC Sport | date=2003-08-11}}</ref> A supporters group called "Leopards Alive" was set up in September 2003, aiming to resurrect the Leopards franchise and bring professional basketball back to their base in [[Brentwood, Essex|Brentwood]].<ref>{{cite news| author = Richard Taylor | title = Leopards' resurrection is on the cards | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/basketball-leopards-resurrection-is-on-the-cards-6172382.html | access-date = 2011-11-09 | work = The Independent | date=2004-03-20}}</ref> Initially seeking to enter a team into the BBL, the supporters group opted for the [[English Basketball League]] due to the expected costs of running the team.<ref>{{cite news| author = Richard Taylor | title = Leopards' resurrection is on the cards | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/basketball-leopards-resurrection-is-on-the-cards-6172382.html | access-date = 2011-11-09 | work = The Independent | date=2004-03-20}}</ref> It was formally announced in May 2004 that Leopards Alive and the Ware Rebels were merging for the 2004–05 season, and would be re-branded as the '''Essex & Herts Leopards''', taking the names of both [[county|counties]] (Essex and Hertfordshire) they would be representing.<ref>{{cite news| title = Ware Rebels merge to become Essex & Herts Leopards | url = http://www.hertfordshire.com/pages/news/show-news.asp?id=286 | access-date = 2011-11-09 | publisher = Hertfordshire.com | date=2004-05-06}}</ref>
Jon Burnell, coach of the Ware Rebels in their final season, was given the Head Coach job for the new-look Leopards. The 2004–05 season was business as normal on-court as the team finished 8th for the second consecutive season, totalling 9 wins and 13 defeats. An early exit in the National Cup came at the hands of Nottingham Knights after a 58–62 defeat at Wodson Park in the 3rd
It was announced in the summer of 2005, after just one season of splitting home games between both Ware's venue, Wodson Park, and Essex's Brentwood Centre, that the club would drop Wodson Park in favour of the Goresbrook Centre in [[Dagenham]].<ref>{{cite news| title = Leopards announce Goresbrook move | url = http://www.hertfordshire.com/pages/news/show-news.asp?id=286 | access-date = 2011-11-09 | publisher = Hertfordshire.com | date=2005-05-17}}</ref> On-court, the Leopards went from strength to strength and the 2005–06 season would prove to be one of their strongest yet. The club competed for the first time in the [[BBL Trophy]] as an invitee, though they lost all four games to [[Birmingham Bullets]], [[Leicester Riders]], [[Milton Keynes Lions]] and Leopards' old BBL rival [[London Towers]] . In the National Cup, Leopards fared much better and after early round victories over Colchester and [[London United (basketball)|London United]], a 101–75 win over [[Solent Stars]] in the Quarter-final and an 84–51 Semi-final victory against [[Worcester Wolves]], Leopards had qualified for their first National Final in the franchise's history. In front of a packed [[National Indoor Arena]] in [[Birmingham]] the Leopards defeated [[Reading Rockets]] 79–75 and claim the club's first-ever piece of silverware.<ref>{{cite news| title = Men's National Cup Begins | url = http://www.englandbasketball.com/news/default.aspx?newsid=190 | access-date = 2011-11-09 | publisher = EnglandBasketball| date=2006-09-26}}</ref> In Division 1, the team finished in 6th place, the highest placing the club has achieved to date, with a 17–9 record. In the Play-offs, they were matched up with Sheffield Arrows for the second consecutive season and again for the second time were knocked out in the Quarter-final after losing 69–93.
'''Return of the London Leopards''' <br/>
The 2006–07 season saw another major rebranding for the franchise as the club was renamed as '''London Leopards''' in an effort to attract a bigger fanbase from [[United Kingdom|Britain]]'s capital city, whilst following a disagreement with the new owners of the club's home venue, the Brentwood Centre, the Leopards would play all home games between Wodson Park and the Goresbrook Centre. The newly renamed side underperformed in all three knockout competitions, with a 3rd
A full-time move back to the club's original home at Wodson Park in Ware greeted the 2007–08 season and a poor showing in the Trophy started off the season with the Leopards team failing to progress from the group stage. The Leopards reached the Quarter-final in the National Cup, but were narrowly beaten by Worthing Thunder in a close 77–79 home defeat. In a condensed Division 1, the team finished with a 50% record, tallying 9 wins and 9 losses and narrowly missed out on a 4th-place finish and home court advantage in the Play-offs, after losing the last three regular season games. The Leopards lost in the Quarter-finals of the Play-off away to [[Bristol Flyers]] with a 96–105 loss.
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Leopards couldn't capitalize on their successes of the previous season and so the 2009–10 campaign saw a disappointing 9th-place finish (out of 12 teams) with a 6–16 record, meaning that the London team didn't qualify for the post-season Play-offs for the first time since the Rebels-Leopards merger. An early exit in the Trophy in a group that contained Reading and London Mets was quickly forgotten after a promising run of results in the National Cup. Victories against [[Milton Keynes Lions|Milton Keynes Lions II]], [[Hackney White Heat]], London Westside and [[Brixton TopCats]] saw Leopards earn a place in the Semi-finals for only the second time in the franchise's history, but in a repeat of Leopards' Play-off Semi-final clash last season, the London side were defeated by Manchester 69–77.
In April 2010, the club announced a merger with Barking Abbey Basketball Academy, one of the country's leading basketball academy's. As a result, the senior men's Division 1 team was renamed as the '''BA London Leopards''', whilst the women's team and the men's second team were rebranded as Barking Abbey Leopards to reflect the new partnership.<ref>{{cite news| title = London Leopards and Barking Abbey to Merge | url = http://www.hoopsfix.com/2010/04/london-leopards-and-barking-abbey-to-merge/ | access-date = 2011-11-09 | publisher = HoopsFix.com| date=2010-04-19}}</ref> Due to the new partnership, the senior team was made up mainly of Barking Abbey recruits, with American import-player Josh Sharlow brought in to add experience to the team. The new-look team enjoyed their best season yet in the League and also another encouraging run in the Trophy, after overcoming the group stage including wins over Brixton and London Capital (after the team failed to fulfil a fixture), Leopards progressed through the 1st Knockout Round with a comfortable 78–56 away win over Bristol to progress to the Semi-final. The London side were edged out narrowly though by their traditional Cup rivals Reading in a close 62–60 defeat, whilst Reading went on to win the competition, beating [[Leeds Carnegie (basketball)|Leeds Carnegie]] in the Final. The addition of American forward [[Ousman Krubally]], from [[Georgia State University|Georgia State]], in December brought extra firepower to the team and helped propel the team to second-place finish in Division 1, with a 14–4 record, beating the previous best from last season's campaign. Krubally finished the season averaging 22.1 points-per-game, the second highest in the Division. The Leopards overcame [[Durham Wildcats]] in the Play-off Quarter-finals with a 77–68 victory at the Brentwood Centre, in a game that Leopards always held the lead. Unfortunately poor free-throw shooting contributed to a disappointing Semi-final exit at the hands of Reading at the Amaechi Centre in Manchester. Reading ran out winners with a 69–80 scoreline, meaning Leopards failed to reach yet another major Final.
Following the end of season, Coach Mark Clark stepped down from his position to concentrate on his work with the Academy, with his replacement coming in the form of [[Slovenia]]n Dejan Mihevc, a former Coach of various Slovenia international youth teams.<ref>{{cite news | title = Mihevc to coach Leopards | url = http://www.leopardsbasketball.co.uk/info/newsarch.htm | access-date = 2011-11-09 | publisher = LondonLeopards.co.uk | date = 2011-07-05 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111102035335/http://www.leopardsbasketball.co.uk/info/newsarch.htm | archive-date = 2011-11-02 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Mihevc's first move as new Head Coach was to resign last season's MVP Ousman Krubally, whilst bringing-in [[Lithuania]]n Vilius Šumskis and former young star Lukas Volskis. Following the late withdrawal of [[Essex Pirates]] from the BBL, Leopards accepted an invite to compete in the BBL Trophy in their place, pitting them in a group with [[Leicester Riders]] and [[Milton Keynes Lions]].<ref>{{cite news| title = Essex Pirates statement | url = http://www.bbl.org.uk/?essex-pirates,2419 | access-date = 2011-11-09 | publisher = BBL.org.uk | date=2011-09-16}}</ref>
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* {{flagicon|UK}} [[Tanner Adu]]
* {{flagicon|UK}} [[David Attewell]]
* {{flagicon|
* {{flagicon|Gambia}}{{flagicon|USA}} [[Ousman Krubally]]
==Season-by-season records==
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|style="text-align:center;"|18
|style="text-align:center;"|0.409
|style="text-align:center;"|Quarter
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
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|style="text-align:center;"|34
|style="text-align:center;"|0.654
|style="text-align:center;"|Quarter
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
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|style="text-align:center;"|26
|style="text-align:center;"|0.591
|style="text-align:center;"|Quarter
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
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|style="text-align:center;"|18
|style="text-align:center;"|0.500
|style="text-align:center;"|Quarter
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
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|style="text-align:center;"|24
|style="text-align:center;"|0.667
|style="text-align:center;"|Semi
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
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|style="text-align:center;"|12
|style="text-align:center;"|0.273
|style="text-align:center;"|Did
|style="text-align:center;"|Semi
|-
|colspan="13" align=center bgcolor="black" | <span style="color:#FFFFFF;">'''BA London Leopards'''</span>
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|style="text-align:center;"|28
|style="text-align:center;"|0.778
|style="text-align:center;"|Semi
|style="text-align:center;"|Quarter
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2011-12
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|style="text-align:center;"|32
|style="text-align:center;"|0.615
|style="text-align:center;"|Semi
|style="text-align:center;"|3rd
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2013-14
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|style="text-align:center;"|40
|style="text-align:center;"|0.769
|style="text-align:center;"|Semi
|style="text-align:center;"|Semi
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|2014-15
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|style="text-align:center;"|36
|style="text-align:center;"|0.750
|style="text-align:center;"|Semi
|style="text-align:center;"|3rd
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|[[2015–16 National Basketball League (England) season|2015–16]]
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|style="text-align:center;"|32
|style="text-align:center;"|0.615
|style="text-align:center;"|Quarter
|style="text-align:center;"|Quarter
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|[[2016–17 National Basketball League (England) season|2016–17]]
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|style="text-align:center;"|12
|style="text-align:center;"|0.231
|style="text-align:center;"|Did
|style="text-align:center;"|4th
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|[[2017–18 National Basketball League (England) season|2017–18]]
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|style="text-align:center;"|28
|style="text-align:center;"|0.636
|style="text-align:center;"|Semi
|style="text-align:center;"|4th
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|[[2018–19 National Basketball League (England) season|2018–19]]
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|style="text-align:center;"|24
|style="text-align:center;"|0.462
|style="text-align:center;"|Quarter
|style="text-align:center;"|Semi
|-
|colspan="13" align=center bgcolor="black" | <span style="color:#FFFFFF;">'''Essex & Herts Leopards'''</span>
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|style="text-align:center;"|13
|style="text-align:center;"|0.217
|style="text-align:center;"|Did
|style="text-align:center;"|Quarter
|}
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[[Category:Basketball teams in England]]
[[Category:Sport in Hertfordshire]]
[[Category:Sports clubs and teams in Essex]]
[[Category:1997 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Basketball teams disestablished in 2020]]
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[[Category:St Albans]]
[[Category:Brentwood (Essex town)]]
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