Gryphons Cup Basketball Tournament – A Brief History

This year, 15 teams will be competing in the annual Gryphons Cup Basketball Tournament, on 19, 26 and 27 July 2008. Besides the current four college and school teams from RJC and RI, the other 11 teams will comprise cohort of players who have worn the Raffles basketball jerseys for the past 30 years. The oldest team come from the Pioneers Team made up of players above 40 years old.

And yes, the Gryphons Cup was started by the Pioneers players in 1983 as a gathering of old and current Raffles basketball players to maintain the proud basketball tradition in RI/RJC. That year, four teams then – two old boys teams and two school teams participated in the tournament. Since its inception, after 25 years have passed, and this annual tournament has continued and grown to its current format of 15 to 16 teams. More than 120 players graduating from different RI/RJC cohorts (some combined their teams) participate in the tournament each year. The venue changed from Grange Road to Mount Sinai to Bishan (RI) and now, Bishan (RJC). This proud tradition is definitely due to the enthusiastic and spirited efforts of the organizers from different cohorts each year and credit must be given to the Classics Team (the next oldest team) led by Kelvin and Pow and Poh Kwang for making this Tournament alive each year.

Indeed, the Gryphons Cup is not just a one-time gathering each year. Every year, months before the tournament (usually in Jul/Aug), old basketball players from RI/RJC will gather at the RJC courts every Saturday afternoon to continue their sparring against other Raffles teams. And these sessions have also helped the current college/school players to learn from the older ones in terms of playing skills and court experiences.

Definitely, without doubt, this Gryphons Cup will remain always as a strong proud tradition in Raffles basketball!

Since we are on history, let me share the birth of Raffles basketball. It actually started in 1972 in old RI ground at Stamford Road when a group of players formed the first Raffles “C” Team. Without any coach, these RI players learned the basketball skills on their own and started to challenge against the powerful Chinese schools then. Finally in 1976, the same team made the breakthrough in basketball by becoming the first English school to qualify for the National A Basketball Final. They lost the final match but hard-earned respect was earned from the various basketball school teams then. The same team qualified for the Final again in 1977 but again, we lost to a much better team (either Hwa Chong or Anglican High). For the next four years, RI qualified for three National A Basketball Final (exception being 1979). That is, in the first six-year period (from 1976 to 1981), RI played in five National A Basketball Finals and finally, after the long wait, the first RI Team to win the National Basketball Title was the 1981 Team. All these players in the 76-81 teams make up the Pioneer Team and many of them are playing in this year’s Gryphons Cup as a traditional gathering for them to come together and reminisce and chit-chat about those good old days.

Written by : Swee Teck, 1981 Captain.