Worthing Thunder
| Worthing Thunder | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| League | National Basketball League | ||
| Established | 1999 | ||
| History |
Worthing Rebels 1999-2000 Worthing Thunder 2000-present |
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| Arena |
Worthing Leisure Centre (Capacity: 1,000) |
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| Location | Worthing, West Sussex | ||
| Team colours | Black (Home), White (Away), Orange highlights. |
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| Head coach | TBC | ||
| Ownership |
 Frank Gainsbury |
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| Website | [1] | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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Worthing Thunder is a basketball team from Worthing, England.
Founded in 1999, Thunder have competed in the top-tier British Basketball League, having previously dominated the lower leagues and winning back-to-back English Basketball League Division One titles in 2006 and 2007.
In the summer of 2011 Worthing Thunder returned to division one of the English Basketball League.
Basketball has been played in the town of Worthing since 1984, when Worthing Bears called the Worthing Leisure Centre home (the Thunderdome). In 1999, to build on their popularity and boost commercial revenue the Bears decided to relocate to the nearby city of Brighton, where the franchise had originally started. Disappointed local Bears 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 Teesside Mohawks' 22-2 record, as well as reaching the National Trophy final, losing 81-78 to Teesside 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).
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