| 1980–81 National Basketball League season | |
| League: | National Basketball League |
| Sport: | Basketball |
| No Of Teams: | 10 |
| Playoffs: | Roll of Honour |
| Conf1: | National League |
| Conf1 Champ: | Birmingham Team Fiat |
| Conf2: | Play Off's |
| Conf2 Champ: | Sunderland Saints |
| Conf2 Runner-Up: | Crystal Palace |
| Conf3: | National Cup |
| Conf3 Champ: | Crystal Palace |
| Conf3 Runner-Up: | John Carr Doncaster |
| Seasonslist: | List of English National Basketball League seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | National Basketball League |
| Prevseason Year: | 1979–80 |
| Nextseason Year: | 1981–82 |
The 1980–81 Rotary Watches National Basketball League season was the ninth season of the National Basketball League.[1]
The league was sponsored by Rotary Watches for the third consecutive year and Birmingham Team Fiat broke the Crystal Palace monopoly by taking the league title. Sunderland provided a major shock when securing the Play Offs title. Palace, who were expected to make a clean sweep of silverware, gained some consolation by winning the National Cup.[2]
Coventry Team Fiat were rebranded Birmingham and moved to a larger venue at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre which served as a catalyst for their success. Manchester took on the name Trafford for the season but apart from this the teams remained the same. A team called Solent Stars backed by a millionaire businessman called Harry Smith [3] easily won the second division and competed successfully against first division teams in tournaments.[4]
| width=20 | Pos | width=300 | Team | width=20 | P | width=20 | W | width=20 | L | width=25 | F | width=25 | A | width=20 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham Team Fiat | 18 | 17 | 1 | 1748 | 1530 | 34 | ||||||||
| 2 | 18 | 16 | 2 | 1787 | 1467 | 32 | |||||||||
| 3 | Hemel Hempstead Ovaltine | 18 | 13 | 5 | 1725 | 1498 | 26 | ||||||||
| 4 | Sunderland Saints | 18 | 11 | 7 | 1633 | 1490 | 22 | ||||||||
| 5 | John Carr Doncaster | 18 | 9 | 9 | 1549 | 1441 | 20 | ||||||||
| 6 | Stockport Belgrade | 18 | 7 | 11 | 1510 | 1638 | 14 | ||||||||
| 7 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 1418 | 1563 | 12 | |||||||||
| 8 | Kelly Girls International Kingston | 18 | 5 | 13 | 1546 | 1680 | 10 | ||||||||
| 9 | 18 | 4 | 14 | 1470 | 1730 | 8 | |||||||||
| 10 | Blackpool Pacemakers | 18 | 2 | 16 | 1386 | 1735 | 6 |
| width=20 | Pos | width=300 | Team | width=20 | P | width=20 | W | width=20 | L | width=25 | F | width=25 | A | width=20 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Solent Stars | 16 | 15 | 1 | 1824 | 1221 | 30 | ||||||||
| 2 | Brighton Bears | 16 | 13 | 3 | 1654 | 1426 | 26 | ||||||||
| 3 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 1731 | 1241 | 22 | |||||||||
| 4 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 1448 | 1303 | 22 | |||||||||
| 5 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 1457 | 1468 | 16 | |||||||||
| 6 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 1266 | 1430 | 10 | |||||||||
| 7 | Brunel Uxbridge | 16 | 5 | 11 | 1258 | 1481 | 10 | ||||||||
| 8 | 16 | 2 | 14 | 1201 | 1592 | 4 | |||||||||
| 9 | 16 | 2 | 14 | 1272 | 1779 | 4 |
| width=200 | venue & date | width=200 | Team 1 | width=200 | Team 2 | width=60 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 13, Wembley Arena | Birmingham Team Fiat | Sunderland Saints | 73-80 | ||||
| March 13, Wembley Arena | Crystal Palace | Hemel Hempstead Ovaltine | 88-86 |
| width=200 | Team 1 | width=200 | Team 2 | width=60 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hemel Hempstead Ovaltine | Crystal Palace | 83-97 | |||
| Stockport Belgrade | National Breakdown Leeds | 78-80 | |||
| Sunderland Saints | Liverpool | 103-78 | |||
| John Carr Doncaster | Trafford Giants | 88-87 aet | |||
| Brighton Bears | Solent Stars | 105-129 | |||
| Nottingham | Birmingham Team Fiat | 69-105 | |||
| Brunel Uxbridge | KGI Kingston | 74-118 | |||
| Colchester Moles | Team Talbot Guildford | 77-104 |
| width=200 | Team 1 | width=200 | Team 2 | width=60 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KGI Kingston | Crystal Palace | 70-81 | |||
| National Breakdown Leeds | Sunderland Saints | 71-82 | |||
| Team Talbot Guildford | John Carr Doncaster | 71-83 | |||
| Solent Stars | Birmingham Team Fiat | 98-101 |
| width=200 | venue & date | width=200 | Team 1 | width=200 | Team 2 | width=60 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 05, Bradford | John Carr Doncaster | Sunderland Saints | 73-68 | ||||
| Dec 12, Bletchley | Crystal Palace | Birmingham Team Fiat | 94-73 |