Worthing Thunder

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Worthing Thunder

Main Sponsor

Barkers (Tarring)

League

British Basketball League

Established

1999

History

Worthing Rebels
1999-2000
Worthing Thunder
2000-present

Arena

Worthing Leisure Centre
(Capacity: 700)

Location

Worthing, West Sussex

Head Coach

Gary Smith

Ownership

Unknown

Colours

Black, Silver and White

Website

Worthing-Thunder.org.uk

Uniforms



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Worthing Thunder is a basketball team from Worthing, England. Founded in 1999, they now compete in the second tier English Basketball League where they are considered to be one of the frontrunning teams, having dominated in recent years as well as winning back-to-back League titles in 2006 and 2007.

1 Franchise history
2 Home arenas
3 Season-by-season records
4 Trophies
5 Players
- 5.1 Current roster
- 5.2 Notable former players
6 See also
7 Notes
8 External links

[edit] Franchise history

Basketball has been played in the town of Worthing since 1984 up until 1999 when the Worthing Bears relocated to the nearby city of Brighton, where the franchise originally started. Disappointed fans looking for a new team to follow quickly snapped up the franchise of struggling Stevenage and in 1999, soon after the Bears had moved out, Worthing Thunder was born.

An excellent debut season, playing as the Worthing Rebels, saw them finish runners up in the National Basketball League Division 1, with a 21-3 record, compared to champions Teeside Mohawks' 22-2 record, as well as reaching the National Trophy final, losing 81-78 to Teeside at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield. The following year, 2001, saw the Thunder finish again as runners-up in the renamed NBL Conference (16-5) as well as the Playoff final, both times losing out to Plymouth Raiders.

Worthing's first silverware came in 2004 in the form of the National Trophy, a competition they had finished runners up for the two years previous (2002 and 2003). The 86-72 win against the Sutton Pumas at the University of Worcester capped off a less than memorable league campaign, where the team finished 5th in the new English Basketball League Conference (15-7).

The 2004-2005 season saw mild improvement on the league standings, finishing 4th with a less favourable 13-9 record, but the Southerners did reach the National Trophy final for the fourth time in five years, losing out this time to league winners Sheffield Arrows 83-76. However it was the 2005-2006 season that would see Worthing's biggest triumph to date, crowned as EBL Division 1 winners with a 23-3 record. The Championship playoffs were beyond reach though as the Thunder succumbed to second place Reading Rockets in the showpiece final at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena, losing by 4 points 103-99.

The feats of 2005-2006 were surpassed in 2006-2007, when as well as defending their league title with a 21-1 record, Thunder reached both the National Cup and National Trophy finals, losing the former to Manchester Magic and the latter to Reading Rockets. Some element of revenge was gained at the end of the season however, when Worthing defeated Manchester Magic at Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena to claim their first ever play-off title.

On February 6, 2008, it was officially announced that the club would be exchanging hands to a new-look board of directors in a bid to step up to the elite British Basketball League, for the 2008-2009 season.^[1] This comes just months after the club declined an invitation to compete in the BBL for the 2007-2008 season, a decision which angered some fans and prompted a rival bid for the area franchise from the Brighton Cougars.

[edit] Home arenas

Worthing Leisure Centre (1999-present)

[edit] Season-by-season records

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pld.	W	L	Pts.	Play Offs	Nat. Trophy	BBL Trophy	Cup
Worthing Rebels
1999-2000	NBL 1	2nd	26	21	5	42	Quarter-final	Runner-up	n/a	-
Worthing Thunder
2000-2001	NBL Conf.	2nd	21	16	5	32	Runner-up	Semi-final	n/a	1st Round
2001-2002	NBL Conf.	6th	18	9	9	18	Quarter-final	Runner-up	n/a	1st Round
2002-2003	NBL Conf.	4th	22	15	7	30	Quarter-final	Runner-up	n/a	-
2003-2004	EBL 1	5th	22	15	7	30	Semi-final	Winners	n/a	Quarter-final
2004-2005	EBL 1	5th	22	13	9	26	Quarter-final	Runner-up	n/a	Semi-final
2005-2006	EBL 1	1st	26	23	3	46	Runner-up	2nd Round	1st Round	Quarter-final
2006-2007	EBL 1	1st	22	21	1	42	Winners	Runner-up	1st Round	Runner-up
2007-2008	EBL 1	3rd	18	14	4	28	Quarter-final	Runner-up	1st Round	Runner-up

Notes:

From 2000-2003 the NBL Conference operated as the second tier league, ahead of Division One.
From 2005 onwards, the Thunder have also participated as an EBL representative of the BBL Trophy, alongside the National Trophy.

[edit] Trophies

[edit] League

EBL Division One Winners: 2005/06 & 2006/07 2
NBL Conference Runners Up: 2000/01 1
NBL Division One Runners Up: 1999/00 1

[edit] Playoffs

EBL Division One Playoff Winners: 2006/07 1
EBL Division One Playoff Runners Up: 2005/06 1
NBL Conference Playoff Runners Up: 2000/01 1

[edit] Trophy

National Trophy Winners: 2003/04 1
National Trophy Runners Up: 1999/00, 2001/02, 2002/03, 2004/05, 2006/07 & 2007/08 6

[edit] Cup

National Cup Runners up: 2006/07, & 2007/08 2

[edit] Players

[edit] Current roster

The numbers are established according to the official websites of the team (www.worthing-thunder.org.uk) and the English Basketball League (www.englandbasketball.co.uk).

As of February 6, 2008

4	Daniel Hildreth	Guard
5	Demetrius Scott	Guard
6	Okolie Ugbana	Forward/Centre
7	Daniel Midgley	Forward
8	Cleve Woodfork	Forward/Centre
9	James Mooney	Guard
10	Ryan Marrast	Guard
11	Patrick Bates	Centre
12	Ian Berry	Guard
13	James Brame	Guard
14	Adam Martin	Forward
15	Ciaran Burns	Forward