Brighton Cougars

The Brighton Cougars are an English basketball club from the city of Brighton. The Cougars play at Dorothy Stringer School and attract a broad-based membership of boys and girls from five years old through to adult men and women.

Brighton Cougars
LeagueBasketball England and Basketball Sussex
Established1989
HistoryBrighton Cougars
1989-present
ArenaDorothy Stringer School
LocationBrighton, East Sussex
Team coloursBlue and Gold
OwnershipCommunity Sports Club
WebsiteBrightonCougars.com

History

Established in 1989, the club was founded to offer sessions to develop and improve basketball skills and techniques within the local community, and entered senior teams to compete in the local Sussex League and junior teams in local age-group leagues. Ten years after their founding, the club made a move into the National League, where they competed for five seasons from 1999 to 2004. Despite some strong performances and two appearances in the playoffs, the club never made it beyond the lower reaches of the league, and financial concerns led the club to drop out of national competition after the 2003-2004 season, returning to the local Sussex League.[1]

The club came to wider prominence when they applied to join the professional British Basketball League in 2007.[2] The club aimed to compete in Britain's top-tier league in the 2008-09 season, and would have occupied the spot vacated by Brighton's former professional basketball franchise the Brighton Bears, which folded in 2006. However the application was turned down in favour of Worthing Thunder, a local rival team.[3] After their unsuccessful application, the Cougars made a brief return to the National League, but dropped out of Division Four Midlands South after a single disappointing season saw them finish second-from-bottom.

The Cougars returned once again to the Sussex League for several years, building their fanbase and their reach within the community. In 2014, the decision was taken to re-launch the National League team, in order to offer junior players a further outlet to progress. An application was made and accepted to join the English Basketball League in the 2014-15 season, which led to the club being awarded a place in Division 4 (South East).[4] The team's first season back in the league ended in a respectable 5th place finish, finishing only two wins short of a place in the playoffs.[5]

Season-by-season records
Season[6][7] Division Played Won Lost Points League Playoffs National Cup National Trophy Patron's Cup National Shield
Brighton Cougars
1999-2000NBL Division 3247171411thDNQDNEDNEDNE
2000-01NBL Division 3221111224thQuarter-FinalDNEDNEDNE2nd Round
2001-02NBL Division 2 (South)1688165thDNQDNEDNEDNEQuarter-Final
2002-03NBL Division 2 (South)1486164thQuarter-FinalDNEDNEDNEQuarter-Final
2003-04EBL Division 3 (South)1831569thDNQ1st RoundDNEDNE2nd Round
2004-08Local Competition
2008-09EBL Division 4 (Midlands South)2141787thDNQ1st RoundDNEDNE1st Round
2009-14Local Competition
2014-15EBL Division 4 (South East)20137265thDNQ1st RoundDNEDNE2nd Round

See also

References
  1. "Brighton Cougars History". pawprint75.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 December 2008.
  2. "UKTV Slam Article". Archived from the original on 22 December 2012.
  3. "Worthing Thunder offered BBL slot". BBC Sport. 27 March 2008.
  4. "EBL Senior Structure 2014/15" (PDF). Basketball England.
  5. "League Table History". Basketball England. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  6. "Brighton Cougars History". pawprint75.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 December 2008.
  7. "League Table History". Basketball England. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
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