The Durham Wildcats are an English

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club based in

Newton Aycliffe Newton Aycliffe is a town in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. Founded in 1947 under the New Towns Act 1946, New Towns Act of 1946, the town sits about five miles to the north of Darlington and ten miles to the south of Durham, E ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. The original incarnation were members of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

, the top-level competition in the

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, and played their home games at the Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre. Established in 2005, the club enjoyed a rapid rise through the British basketball system with successive promotions, before applying to join the top-tier British Basketball League in 2011. The club completed four seasons in the BBL, but withdrew following the 2014-15 season. The newly reformed Wildcats re-entered the

English Basketball League The National Basketball League, or NBL for short, is a league competition representing semi-professional and amateur basketball clubs from England and Wales. It forms levels 2 to 4 on the British basketball pyramid, in line with the Scottish B ...

in 2020.

Franchise history

In 2001, the merger of the Belmont Basketball Club and a group of U16 players from Belmont School resulted in a club that competed in the Durham County Local League playing with teams in the 1st and 3rd divisions. In 2005 Wildcats founded the team that would begin life in the EBL Division 3 North. The Wildcats achieved their first promotion four years later, finishing top of a highly competitive EBL Division 3 North, and gaining promotion to EBL Division 2. In 2010, the Wildcats won their first national silverware beating

Westminster Warriors The Westminster Warriors are a basketball club based in the Westminster area of London. The club currently has a senior Men's team competing in the English Basketball League (EBL) Division 1, in addition to a senior Women's team playing in the ...

in the Patron's Cup final (96-70) at the

Crystal Palace National Sports Centre The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in south London, England is a large sports centre and outdoor athletics stadium. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace Exhibition building which ...

. The club went on to win the league title with an 18-2 record, gaining promotion to EBL Division 1, and beat Team Northumbria (70-67) in the Playoff final at the Amaechi Basketball Centre to complete the Division 2 treble. The Wildcats had a mixed inaugural season in Division 1, unable to emulate the success of the previous few seasons. A 7-11 record gave them a 7th-place finish, as well as early exits in the National Cup and post-season Playoffs. After weeks of rumours, it was officially announced that the Wildcats would enter the

following the withdrawal of

Worthing Thunder The Worthing Thunder are an English professional basketball team based in Worthing, West Sussex. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball League (NBL). Founded in 1999 as the Worthing Rebels after the Worthing Bears had relocated to Bri ...

. After four seasons in the BBL, in July 2015 it was announced that the Wildcats would not be participating in the 2015-16 BBL season. The team had previously recruited players from

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

, however following changes to visa regulations players called up to the team on international student visas were found to be ineligible to play. The team sought to re-structure and join the league at a later date.

Home arenas

:Spennymoor Leisure Centre (2005-2007 and 2009) : Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre (2007-2015) :Durham University Sport and Wellbeing Park (2020-present)

Season-by-season records

Trophies

* EBL Division 2: **Winners: 2009/10 * EBL Division 3 North: **Winners: 2008/09 * EBL Division 2 Play-offs: **Winners: 2009/10 *Patron's Cup: **Winners: 2009/10

Players

Final roster

References

External links

Official Durham Wildcats websiteDurham Wildcats
on

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Durham Wildcats
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{{British Basketball League teamlist Basketball teams in England British Basketball League teams Newton Aycliffe Sport in County Durham Basketball teams established in 2005 Basketball teams disestablished in 2015 Basketball teams established in 2020 2015 disestablishments in England 2005 establishments in England 2020 establishments in England Sport in Durham, England Spennymoor