Worthing Thunder
| Worthing Thunder | |||
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| Founded | 1999 | ||
| Hall | Worthing Leisure Center (700 seats) |
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| Trainer | Gary Smith | ||
| league | EBL1 2012/13: 2nd place |
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| Colours | Black / white / orange | ||
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| successes | |||
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as Ware Rebels : NBL Regular Season 1997 as Worthing Thunder : EBL Play-offs 2007; EBL Regular Season 2006, 2007; EBL Trophy 2004 |
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Worthing Thunder is a basketball club based in Worthing , England . The club was founded in 1999 after the Stevenage Rebels moved to Sussex as Worthing Rebels and was accepted into the closed professional league British Basketball League (BBL) in 2008 under the Thunder , which, however, only belonged three seasons. Since 2011 they have been playing again in the league system of England basketball , in which they reached the final of the " English Basketball League (EBL) Division One" in 2013 as seventh in the table .
history
Hertfordshire roots (1991 to 1999)
The club's roots are in Hertfordshire . In 1991 the Rebels had moved from Watford to Ware . Right in the first season they reached a third place after the regular season in the then "National Basketball League" (NBL) called English basketball league. In 1995 and 1996 they came third again and after winning the 1997 regular season they reached the final game of the play-offs of the NBL, which was lost to the Plymouth Raiders with 106: 118. The Rebels then moved to Stevenage , where they came third again in the 1997/98 season. After the following season 1998/99, however, the new move followed, this time it went to the south coast to Sussex .
Relocation to Worthing (1999 to 2008)
The Brighton Bears moved to Worthing in 1984 and played here largely successfully until 1999. From 1993 to 1995, the Bears had won three consecutive championships in Worthing. In 1999, the Bears moved to a hall in neighboring Brighton and left the Worthing site without a team. The Rebels came into this void with their move. Here you reached a second place straight away after only three defeats in 24 games. The following year they already appeared under the new name Thunder and came second again after losing the play-off final of the NBL against the Plymouth Raiders .
After renaming the NBL to EBL, they managed to win the league cup EBL Trophy on the third attempt in 2004 , after having lost the final of this competition the two years before. You couldn't defend this title the following year after losing the final for the third time in four years. A year later they won the main round of the EBL in 2006, but lost the play-off final. A year later they lost the finals of the cup competitions National Trophy and EBL Trophy, but this time after only one defeat in the championship they also won the play-off final. In the following year 2008 you again lost both finals in the cup competitions and as third in the championship you were eliminated early in the play-offs.
Worthing Thunder in the BBL (2008 to 2011)
The Brighton Bears had suspended their game operations in the BBL in 2006 and then decided not to return. In the search for a successor in Sussex , the Thunder were able to prevail against the competing Brighton Cougars and found from the season 2008/09 admission to the closed professional league. In their first BBL season, the Thunder won almost a third of their games, which was only enough for eleventh and penultimate place in the final table. In the 2009/10 season it was enough with a balanced record in eighth place to move into the championship play-offs, in which one was defeated in the first round defending champion Newcastle Eagles , who then celebrated their third championship in a row. At the beginning of the following season, the team lost a few regular players and by the end of the season they achieved only five wins this season, being penultimate. After the season they withdrew to the EBL.
Return to the EBL (since 2011)
After returning to the EBL they reached fourth place in the 2011/12 season, but lost in the first play-off round. In the following season 2012/13 they were only seventh after the regular season, but could move into the play-offs until the final, in which they lost the Reading Rockets with 57:88.
Web links
- Worthing Thunder "Team History" - seasonal chronicles on the Thunder website
- Worthing Thunder basketball - team details, stats, news, roster - profile on the website of Eurobasket.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ England Basketball: Senior Men ≤ League. (No longer available online.) England Basketball . Archived from the original on April 2, 2013 ; accessed on May 23, 2013 (English, overview of the seasons). 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.
- ↑ England Basketball: Senior Men - Playoff. (No longer available online.) England Basketball . Archived from the original on August 13, 2013 ; accessed on May 25, 2013 (English, overview of the play-off finals). 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.
- ^ Worthing Thunder offered BBL slot. BBC , March 27, 2008, accessed May 24, 2013 .
- ^ Worthing Thunder to drop into English Basketball League. BBC , April 19, 2011, accessed May 24, 2013 .
- ↑ Thunder lose play-off final to Reading. Worthing Herald: www.worthingherald.co.uk, April 28, 2013, accessed May 24, 2013 .
