Our History

Ransome Sporting Goods was formed in 1979, taking advantage of the availability of the Butterfly table tennis distributorship. RSG was started by Alan Ransome, a former English table tennis international player, senior coach, club manager and official within the sport, who was able to use his knowledge to work with Butterfly and Schildkrot to develop a very strong presence for the brand in the British market.

Recognising that the company needed a bigger sales marketing and administration infrastructure to be able to maximise the sales of the brand, it became clear that the table tennis on its own was not a sufficiently large market to support a viable company

In the early 1990s, RSG expanded further by taking on the Baden ball brand and with it Sure Shot which together provided a full range of basketball as well as balls for a number of other sports including baseball, softball, volleyball, American football, soccer and Dodgeball.

Since the turn of the century, RSG further expanded into baseball and softball with the acquisition of the Louisville Slugger brand which was followed by the development of Bronx to provide product for the sections of the market that Louisville did not cover. The Baden balls completed the range of equipment for baseball and softball.

Sure Shot gymnastics was added, followed most recently by Rounders, Badminton and Table Tennis.

Recently RSG has also brought the Victor Sports, and FZ Forza brands into our portfolio too. With both seeking a greater presence in the UK they approached RSG to take on distribution of their products to great success.

The most recent introduction has been Pickleball United - with Pickleball one of the fastest growing sports in the world, RSG have been appointed the official distributor for the brand for the UK and Ireland too.

We have always valued the presence of governing bodies and are pleased to work with them within our sports. These include:

  • Table Tennis England
  • Table Tennis Scotland
  • Table Tennis Wales
  • British Para Table Tennis
  • English Schools Table Tennis
  • Basketball England
  • British Basketball League
  • British Softball Federation
  • British Baseball Federation
  • BaseballSoftballUK
  • Rounders England
  • Badminton England
  • Badminton Ireland
  • Badminton Scotland
  • British Foosball Association

RSG have always been located in Middlesbrough in Teesside working originally from offices in Wood Street and additional warehouses close by. In 2013 the company moved to one major new site in Queensway, Middlesbrough which provides all of the facilities required to run the company under one roof with 100,000 square feet of office and warehouse space.

This provides the facilities and opportunities for the company to develop its products and market share further and we are optimistic about future growth and prospects.

 

Ransome Sporting Goods

Queensway

Middlesbrough

TS3 8TF