Newcastle Eagles

Newcastle Eagles
League	BBL
Established	1976
History	EPAB Washington 1976–1977 Sunderland Saints 1977–1993 Sunderland Scorpions 1993–1995 Newcastle Comets 1995–1996 Newcastle Eagles 1996–present
Arena	Metro Radio Arena (Capacity: 6,500) 1995–2010 Sport Central (Capacity: 3,000) 2010–present
Location	Newcastle, Tyne and Wear
Team colours	Black and White
Main sponsor	Esh Group, Northumbria University, Northumbrian Water
Head coach	Fab Flournoy
Ownership	Paul Blake
Website	Newcastle-Eagles.com
Uniforms
Home Away

Newcastle Eagles (for sponsorship purposes Esh Group Eagles Newcastle) is a British Basketball League team from Newcastle upon Tyne. They are the most successful team in the league's history. Since 2010 they have played all home games at the 3,000 capacity Sport Central arena at Northumbria University in the city.^[1] Their traditional arch rivals are the Glasgow Rocks, but the 2011–12 season has seen the arrival of the Durham Wildcats located just 25 miles south of Newcastle.

Franchise history

New name, New arena

Sir John Hall, then chairman of Newcastle United FC bought the team shortly after their arrival in Newcastle; adding them to his Newcastle Sporting Group of the city's football, ice hockey and rugby teams. Hall's Sporting Club group was a relative failure and Ken Nottage and Paul Blake became the club's new owners. The final name change, from the Comets to the Eagles, took place in 1996. Performances remained consistent with the Eagles 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.^[2] 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.

The "Clean sweep" of 2011–12

The club repeated the feat of 2005–06 by winning all of the trophies on offer in a season for a second time. 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 May 12.

Home arenas

Metro Radio Arena (1995–2010)

Sport Central (2010–Present)

Season-by-season records

Notes:

• 2013–2014 season still in progress
• From 1999–2002 the BBL operated a Conference system. Newcastle competed in the Northern Conference.
• DNQ denotes Did Not Qualify.

Club Records

• 3 pts scored – Russ Saunders 716
• Assists – TJ Walker – 1,473
• Blocked shots – Fabulous Flournoy – 287
• Defensive rebounds – Fabulous Flournoy – 1,300
• Field Goals scored – Charles Smith – 1,348
• Free Throws scored – Russ Saunders 747
• Games Played – Andrew Bridge – 349
• Offensive Rebounds – Darius Defoe – 684
• Personal Fouls – Fabulous Flournoy – 946
• Points – Russ Saunders – 4,877
• Steals – Russ Saunders – 575
• Total Rebounds – Fabulous Flournoy – 1,860
• Turnovers – Fabulous Flournoy – 800

Trophies

League

• BBL Championship Winners: 2005/2006, 2007/2008, 2008/2009 & 2009/10, 2011/12 5
• BBL Championship Runners Up: 2004/05, 2010/11, 2012/13 3

Playoffs

• BBL Championship Play Off Winners: 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2008/09 & 2011/12 5
• BBL Championship Runners Up: 2012/13 1

Trophy

• BBL Trophy Winners: 2004/05, 2005/06, 2008/09, 2009/10 & 2011/12 5
• BBL Trophy Runners Up: 2000/01, 2006/07, & 2007/08 3

Cup

• BBL Cup Winners: 2005/06, 2011/12 2
• BBL Cup Runners Up: 2007/08, 2012/13 2

Players

Current roster

The following information is established according to the official websites of the team (www.newcastle-eagles.com) and Britain's top professional league, the BBL (www.bbl.org.uk).

Newcastle Eagles roster v t e
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. 4.0 !F 6 United Kingdom ! Thomson, Stuart 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 1.5 !G 9 United Kingdom ! Matthew, Eddie 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 4.0 !F 10 United States ! United Kingdom ! Smith, Charles (C) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 5.5 !F/C 13 United Kingdom ! Dominica ! Defoe, Darius 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 4.0 !F 14 United States ! Martin, Scott 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 2.5 !G/F 20 United States ! United Kingdom ! Flournoy, Fabulous 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 2.0 !SG 21 United States ! United Kingdom ! Lasker, Andrew 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 1.5 !G 22 United States ! Gause, Paul 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 1.5 !G 44 United States ! Cooke, Malik 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	Head coach Fabulous Flournoy Assistant coach(es) Dave Forrester Ian Macleod Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 2nd October 2013

Notable former players

• Niki Arinze
• Olu Babalola
• Stedroy Baker
• Flinder Boyd
• Tony Dorsey
• Jeremy Hyatt
• Andrew Lasker
• Perry Lawson
• Steve Leven
• Richard Midgley
• Trey Moore
• Shawn Myers
• Kadiri Richard
• Peter Scantlebury
• Tom Sherlock
• Lynard Stewart
• Andrew Sullivan
• TJ Walker

Managers

• 1991–1995 Dave Elderkin
• 1995–1997 Tom Hancock
• 1997–2000 Craig Lynch
• 2000–2002 Tony Garbelotto
• 2002–present Fabulous Flournoy

Retired numbers

• 5 TJ Walker, G, 2000–2007

Hall of Fame

• TJ Walker 2000–2007
• Lynard Stewart 2007–2010

Staff

Player/Coach – Fab Flournoy

Assistant Coaches – Billy Spragg, Dave Forrester and Marc Steutel

External links

• Official Newcastle Eagles website
• Newcastle Eagles news from ChronicleLive

References