The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. They play in Super League Basketball, the top-tier professional basketball league in Britain for men and women, and the European North Basketball League. They are the most successful club in the history of British men's professional basketball, with 28 British professional titles and 3 English titles as of January 2025.
The team was originally founded as EPAB Sunderland, based at the Northumbria Centre in Washington, and began competing in the Second Division of the English National Basketball League in 1976. In 1987, Sunderland became a founding member of the breakaway British Basketball League with other top-flight English and Scottish clubs. They remained in Sunderland until 1995, when they moved to Newcastle and renamed to the Newcastle Comets, before becoming the Eagles in 1996. Their first Newcastle home was the Newcastle Arena, followed by Northumbria University's Sport Central in 2010. The Eagles moved into their own purpose-built arena, the Eagles Community Arena (known as the Vertu Motors Arena for sponsorship purposes), in January 2019 when they hosted the Plymouth Raiders.[1] Their traditional arch rivals are the Caledonia Gladiators, however in recent years a fierce rivalry with the Leicester Riders has also developed.
Team history
Early years and move to Tyneside
The club's roots can be traced back to the founding of EPAB Sunderland in 1976. The club played in Washington at the Northumbria Centre under various monikers throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, managing a second place league finish in 1983, as well as two play-off victories at Wembley in 1981 & '83.[2] In 1995, the owner Dave Elderkin moved the club to Newcastle, to be known as the Newcastle Comets.[2] Soon afterwards the club was bought by Sir John Hall, then the chairman of Newcastle United, adding them to his Newcastle Sporting Group of the city's football, ice hockey and rugby teams. Hall's Sporting Club group was considered by most observers to be a relative failure and upon its dissolution, Ken Nottage and Paul Blake became the Eagles' new owners. The final name change, from the Comets to the Eagles, took place in 1996. Performances remained consistent with the club achieving regular top five league placings from 1998 onwards.
The "Clean sweep" of 2005–06
The 2005–06 season proved to be the most successful in their history so far when, under the guidance of player/coach Fabulous Flournoy, the club achieved a "clean sweep" of trophies, including the BBL Cup, BBL Trophy and Championship "double".
In addition, Flournoy picked up the BBL Coach of the Year and former Villanova Wildcat, Andrew Sullivan, was voted BBL Player of the Year. Flournoy, Sullivan and Andrew Bridge were also members of the bronze medal winning England team in the 2006 Commonwealth Games during March 2006.
Recent times
At the start of the 2007–08 season it was announced that Nike and Northern Rock were to sponsor the Eagles, bringing in more money to the club. Also, the signing of Richard Midgley gave great hope that the eagles could challenge Guildford Heat to regain the BBL League title. However, after a bust up with player/coach, Fab Flournoy he soon left to join the Everton Tigers. This meant there was no point guard and this led to the signing of Bryan Defares who could not settle in England and he too left. Finally, at the third attempt, Steve Leven (former NBA prospect) was signed despite his bad boy reputation. After defeat in the BBL Cup, then later defeat in the BBL Trophy Final the Eagles were in danger of having a poor season. Fortunately, after a miraculous overtime win against Guildford Heat, they won the BBL League Title.
At the start of the 2008–09 season they were strengthened by the signing of Trey Moore from Cheshire Jets. After an indifferent start, they embarked on a 17 match winning run to become the first team for nearly two decades to retain the BBL title, finishing 8 points ahead of Everton Tigers. They also reached the semi-finals of the BBL Cup, losing narrowly to Everton Tigers on aggregate before gaining revenge by beating them home and away in the BBL Trophy semi-final. The Eagles beat Guildford Heat at The Spectrum in the Final. In the play-offs they narrowly avoided an upset after seeing off Cheshire Jets 88–83 before beating Plymouth Raiders to form a match against Everton Tigers once again. Despite 30 points from ex-Eagles Richard Midgley, the Eagles held on for a 97–94 win, therefore winning the treble to cap off their most successful season since the clean sweep.
In the 2009–10 season the Eagles again retained the BBL title, finishing 2 points ahead of Sheffield Sharks. The league title actually came down to the last game of the season with Sheffield Sharks losing their last game of the season 97–95 to Worthing Thunder thanks to Evaldas Zabas' basket 4 seconds from the end. This completed the double for the Eagles who had won the BBL Trophy by beating 111–95 in the Final at The Spectrum. In the BBL Cup Eagles lost 64–61 in the quarter-finals to Cheshire Jets and in the play-offs Everton Tigers beat the Eagles 190–158 on aggregate in the two legged semi-final.
At the start of the 2010–2011 season it was announced that the Esh Group, along with partners Northumbria University and Northumbrian Water would be the new main sponsors of the Eagles.[3] In the BBL Cup the Eagles were beaten 204–182 on aggregate by the Mersey Tigers in the semi-finals. Eagles had won the first leg at home 97–90 but lost the second leg away 114–85. It was the Mersey Tigers who would beat the Eagles in the semi-finals of the BBL Trophy also. After a rare first leg draw (82–82) away from home, the Eagles went down 77–74 at home.
Modern era
Rahmon Fletcher was one of Eagles' star players, with three won BBL Cup MVPs.
The club repeated the feat of 2005–06 by winning all of the trophies on offer in a season for a second time 2011–12. The previous season was the first time since 2003–04 that they had failed to win a trophy. They lost 7 league games, 3 less than in 2005–06, although this time around they were only required to play 30 games, 10 less than in 2005–06. They clinched the clean sweep with a victory over Leicester in the play-off final on 12 May. A hat-trick of sweeps was completed in the 2014–15 season.
Eagles Community Arena
In January 2019, the Eagles moved into their own purpose-built arena on the Scotswood Road.[4] Success did not follow them there at first, as they crashed out of the BBL Trophy, Cup and Playoffs without reaching any finals, and finished 3rd in the BBL for the second consecutive season..
On the night of their first preseason game ahead of the 2019-20 British Basketball League season, the club was rocked by the announcement that head coach Fabulous Flournoy would leave the club after 17 years. Flournoy joined the Toronto Raptors, the then-defending NBA champions, as an assistant coach, reuniting with his friend and mentor Nick Nurse, who gave him his first professional contract with the Birmingham Bullets in 1996. Assistant coach Ian MacLeod was announced as his interim replacement as head coach.[5] In a season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, MacLeod was able to lead the Eagles to the 2020 BBL Trophy title, defeating NBL side Solent Kestrels, which had made an historic run as an invited team from the English NBL by beating established BBL clubs London Lions and Bristol Flyers, as well as fellow NBL side Worthing Thunder.
In the following 2020-21 season, further success followed as the club defeated London in two tense finals to capture the BBL Cup[6] and Playoffs[7] titles, recording their 6th and 7th titles in those competitions respectively, the most for any BBL club. The following season, however, saw the Eagles slump to 9th in the regular season and miss out on postseason basketball for the first time since 2000.
The 2022-23 season saw Great Britain coach Marc Steutel replace MacLeod as head coach.[8] The team continued to struggle in all competitions, but returned to the Playoffs. Results improved in the following 2023-24 season, as the team avoided a third straight losing season, recorded a 6th place finish in the league, and advanced to the semi-finals in the Playoffs, where they lost to a dominant London Lions side which included former NBA players Sam Dekker[9] and David Nwaba.[10] Newcastle also fulfilled a dream long held by owner Paul Blake by making their first foray into European basketball since the club moved to the city, entering the European North Basketball League for the first time.[11] A strong debut campaign followed, as the Eagles finished 3rd in their group and advanced to the playoffs, where they narrowly lost in a two-legged tie to eventual champions Bakken Bears of Denmark.[12] Eagles guard Rickey McGill was named MVP for the 2023-24 ENBL season.[13]
In the off-season following the 2023-24 BBL season, the league's operating company was stripped of its licence to organise the league by governing body British Basketball due to financial concerns.[14] A consortium of the participating clubs was issued a 3-year interim licence to organise a new league, which was christened Super League Basketball, and replaced the BBL as the premier professional league in Britain.[15] In the first season of the SLB era, the Eagles secured their first silverware under Marc Steutel by winning the SLB Trophy in dominant fashion over Bristol Flyers. With this victory, team stalwart and captain Darius Defoe won his record-extending 28th British title.
Women's team history
After the 2017-18 Women's British Basketball League season, Northumbria University decided that they were going to focus on BUCS competitions going forward, which meant that their successful Team Northumbria WBBL team would be shut down. The Newcastle Eagles and the university came to an agreement where the Eagles would take over the Team Northumbria WBBL side and keep a top-flight women's team in the North East.[16] In Newcastle Eagles colours, the women's team have been competitive, reaching the Playoffs final twice and the Cup final once, although a first major trophy as Eagles continues to elude them.
The first Eagles women's head coach was Chris Bunten, who moved across to the Eagles from Team Northumbria after previously leading the university side to the WBBL Playoffs title in 2016.[17] Several players moved across with him, including new captain Giulia Simioni[18] and team regular Rachael Bland.[19] The team's first season in Eagles colours yielded a 7th-place finish in the league and early exits from other competitions. The 2019-20 season, which was cut short due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, saw some improvement, as the Eagles reached the semi-final of the WBBL Cup. In the 2020-21 season, despite another 7th-place finish in the league, the Eagles reached the final of the WBBL Playoff, after defeating the 2nd-placed Leicester Riders 79-73 in the quarter-final[20] and league champions Sevenoaks Suns 79-72 in the semi-final.[21] An historic title for the underdogs was not to be, however, as the Eagles fell 93-71 to London Lions in the final.[22]
To appear in this section a player must have either:
– Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player. – Played at least one official international match for his senior national team at any time.
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