Newcastle Eagles

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Newcastle Eagles
Logo Newcastle Eagles.jpg
Founded 1976 / 1995
Hall Sport Central
(3,000 seats)
Homepage http://www.newcastle-eagles.com/
Owner Paul Blake
Trainer Fabulous Flournoy
league British Basketball League
2012/13: 2nd place
Colours Black-and-white
Jersey colors
Jersey colors
Kit shorts thinwhitesides.png
Kit shorts.svg
home
Jersey colors
Jersey colors
Kit shorts blacksides.png
Kit shorts.svg
Away
successes
as Saints : 2 NBL play-offs in 1981, 1983; National Cup 1991
as Eagles : 5 times BBL play-offs 2005 to 2007, 2009, 2012;
6 times BBL Regular Season 2005/06, 2007/08, 2008/09,
0000000000000000000002009/10, 2011/12, 2013/14;
2 times BBL Cup 2006, 2012;
5 times BBL Trophy 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012

The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball team from Newcastle upon Tyne , England . The Eagles were originally founded in Washington (Tyne and Wear) near Sunderland in 1976 and stayed in Sunderland until 1995, where they played as Sunderland Saints for a long time . After they had already competed as Scorpions in their last two years in Sunderland , they relocated to neighboring Newcastle in 1995, where they competed first as Comets and then as Eagles in the closed professional league British Basketball League (BBL), which they have played in since it was founded in 1987 belong.

history

Basketball in Sunderland (1976-1995)

1976 founded in Washington, a place in the Metropolitan Borough City of Sunderland , a basketball team EPAB . A short time later they moved to the central town of Sunderland and initially continued to play as EPAB Sunblest and were able to qualify for the European club competition Korać Cup 1978/79 , where they played in the first round despite a 113-102 home win in the second leg against the Spanish representative CB Areslux Granollers was eliminated. In the following competition Korać Cup 1979/80 you came straight into the first main round, in which you were clearly inferior to the Spanish club Cotonificio Badalona this time . In the following season 1980/81 you stood in the final of the play-offs in the top national division "National Basketball League" (NBL), in which you could defeat defending champion Crystal Palace with four points difference 96:92 and the first title win for the Club reached.

In the following season 1981/82 they managed in the European Champions Cup in the group stage two wins against the Luxembourg representative BBC Amicale Steinsel , but lost the remaining four group games and eliminated after the first round. In the national championship they managed to place third for the first time among the three best teams at the end of the season, but lost the final victory against the main round first Crystal Palace with 86: 111. In the championship 1982/83 they reached second place behind defending champion Crystal Palace and in the play-off final there was a clash between the two opponents for the third time in a row, this time the Sunderland Saints won just under 75:74 . In the following national championship cup, the first round began again in the knockout system , in which you could narrowly defeat the Swedish champions Alvik BK . Then you played in the second round against the renowned Yugoslav team KK Bosna Sarajevo , which won this competition in 1979. They lost both games, but only just barely, so that the point difference was limited to a total of six points. This ended the early successes of the Saints for the time being.

Although one had not achieved any top placements in the national championship in the following years, one was 1987 as Sunderland 76ers founding member of the closed professional league British Basketball League (BBL). In the 15-team league, however, they only reached eleventh place at the end of the season and missed the play-offs. In the following season the league had already been reduced by four teams and they now reached the play-offs of the BBL for the first time as sixth in the main round, in which, however, they were eliminated immediately against the Bracknell Tigers . In the 1989/90 season they now reached a fourth place in the league reduced to eight teams, with Clyde Vaughan as the " Most Valuable Player " (MVP) of the main round was awarded. As in the National Cup, they reached the final of the play-offs against the Kingston Kings , which, however, were able to unite all national titles in that season. In the following season 1990/91 they remained the only serious challenger to the Kings and were able to defeat them in the cup semifinals and win the National Cup against the Leicester Riders in the final with Steve Bucknall, who had returned to England from the NBA . In the championship, however, the final of the play-offs was clearly lost against the main round first and defending champion with a difference of more than 20 points. The following season 1991/92 failed completely and after only three wins of the season they just reached the penultimate place in the table. After another penultimate place in the table in 1993, the name was changed to Sunderland Scorpions . This brought only a slight improvement in the 1993/94 season to tenth place in the table, because in the following season 1994/95, after only four victories of the season, the fall to 13th and last place in the table followed. The story of the Saints / Scorpions in Sunderland had come to an end.

Newcastle Eagles (since 1995)

For the 1995/96 season the move came to the larger Newcastle upon Tyne, where they initially took up as Newcastle Comets . Shortly after the move, the chairman of the Newcastle United football club , Sir John Hall, joined the Comets as owner. After a rather mixed start in Newcastle, when the 1995/96 season ended in eleventh place in the table, the name was changed again, but the owner Hall did not "unite" the football and basketball teams under the common name United, as was previously the case with FC Portsmouth , Manchester United and the Glasgow Rangers had happened. As Eagles you ended the regular season 1996/97 in seventh place for the first time since 1991 with a positive season balance and managed to qualify for the play-offs, in which, however, they were eliminated in the first round against the eventual winners London Towers . The following season they reached third place after regular time, but retired in the play-offs against defending champions London Towers again in the first round. In 1999 it was only enough for seventh place, which the Towers punished again with the elimination of the Eagles in the first play-off round.

In the 1999/2000 season, the BBL introduced two regional " conferences ". However, the Eagles had a poor playing time and ended the regular season in sixth and penultimate place in Conference North, which meant missing the play-offs. With the new coach Tony Garbelotto it was enough a year later to a third place in the conference, but in the play-offs they did not get past the first round again. For this they fought their way up to the final of the league cup competition BBL Trophy 2001, in which, however, they lost to the Chester Jets . In the 2001/02 season they survived the first pre-play-off round, but in the quarterfinals they were eliminated after extra time with a point difference against the Brighton Bears . This beat the Eagles in the semi-finals of the play-offs a year later. After another first round in the 2003/04 play-offs, the 2004/05 season began the first time the Eagles' most successful time in the BBL, which was soon taken over by the new owner Paul Blake, who has been the Eagles since 2004 Player- coaching Fab Flournoy would lead to the BBL's most successful franchise of the following decade.

In the BBL Trophy 2005 the Eagles remained undefeated and in the final clearly defeated the Brighton Bears, who had won the BBL Cup, with 85:60. The first title win in the BBL was only the beginning of a successful season. As second in the main round you moved back into the play-off final for the first time since 1991, in which you could defeat the main round first Chester Jets with three points and also won this title for the first time. The play-offs remained in the following two years the domain of the Eagles, who could defend this title twice. In the 2005/06 season they not only defended the BBL Trophy, but also won the regular season for the first time with MVP Drew Sullivan and won the BBL Cup. Drew Sullivan then moved to Spain in the ACB league and old star Tony Dorsey , himself twice MVP of the BBL, could not completely replace him when they lost the final of the BBL Trophy 2007 against the Plymouth Raiders and were also eliminated in the BBL Cup in the semi-finals. As third of the regular season, however, they made it into the play-off final and could defeat the Scottish Rocks again and at least defend this title in a new edition of the final game of the preseason . Shawan Robinson then moved to the German basketball league after just one season .

In the 2007/08 season one seemed to be able to continue the successful series of the Eagles. Although they lost the two finals in the cup competitions, in the championship they secured the title after the regular season with MVP Lynard Stewart as the first. In the play-offs, however, the successful streak of the Eagles broke and they lost in the semifinals their first play-off game in four years against the Milton Keynes Lions , who were already defeated in the final of the BBL Cup. In the following season 2008/09 they found back to old dominance with MVP Trey Moore. Although they were eliminated in the semi-finals of the BBL Cup in two games against the eventual title winners Everton Tigers , but after winning the final in the BBL Trophy they were the first to defeat the Tigers in the final of the play-offs. In the 2009/10 season you could defend the title in the BBL Trophy. The regular season was finished first for the third time in a row, but in the semi-finals of the play-offs they lost twice with 16 points difference to eventual title winners Everton Tigers. These also dominated the following season as Mersey Tigers, in which they won all titles of the BBL except for the BBL Cup. The Eagles' best result in this 2010/11 season was second place after the regular season.

After the financial collapse of the Mersey Tigers, the Eagles could not be stopped in the 2011/12 season. With Joe Chapman they not only provided the MVP, but also won all titles of the BBL. In addition to the Plymouth Raiders, the Leicester Riders were the only serious challenger in the final of the play-offs. They took over command in the 2012/13 season with national team captain Drew Sullivan, in 2006 still with the Eagles MVP of the BBL. Although the Riders lost the final in the BBL Cup against the Sheffield Sharks , they not only won the final of the BBL Trophy against the Eagles, but also the final in the play-offs as first place in the main round against the second Newcastle Eagles. In the following season, they won the regular season before the Sharks and Worcester Wolves , but they remained victorious in the play-off final against the Eagles with MVP Zaire Taylor, who were only runner-up in the play-offs for the second time in a row.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Korać Cup 1978–79. Linguasport.com, accessed on June 5, 2013 (English / Spanish, overview of the results of the competition).
  2. ↑ Korać Cup 1979-80. Linguasport.com, accessed on June 5, 2013 (English / Spanish, overview of the results of the competition).
  3. ↑ England Basketball: Senior Men - Playoff. (No longer available online.) England Basketball . Archived from the original on August 13, 2013 ; accessed on June 5, 2013 (English, overview of final results). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.englandbasketball.co.uk
  4. ↑ Champions Cup 1981–82. Linguasport.com, accessed on June 5, 2013 (English / Spanish, overview of the results of the competition).
  5. ↑ England Basketball: Senior Men - League. (No longer available online.) England Basketball . Archived from the original on April 2, 2013 ; accessed on June 5, 2013 (English, overview of final placements). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.englandbasketball.co.uk
  6. ↑ Champions Cup 1983-84. Linguasport.com, accessed on June 5, 2013 (English / Spanish, overview of the results of the competition).
  7. ↑ 1987-88 BBL Championship & Playoffs. British Basketball League , accessed June 5, 2013 (English, season overview).
  8. ↑ 1995–96 BBL Championship & Playoffs. British Basketball League , accessed June 5, 2013 (English, season overview).
  9. ↑ 2012–13 BBL Championship & Playoffs. British Basketball League , accessed June 5, 2013 (English, season overview).