Surrey Scorchers
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League Position
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Established
2005 (19 years old)
Sport
BasketballStadium/Home
Surrey Sports Park
(1,000 Capacity)
Jersey or Equipment Clearart
Primary Colours
Location
Surrey, Guildford, England
Nicknames
Competitions
British Basketball League
Last Edit
zag: 17/Oct/23
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Surrey Scorchers is a basketball club based in Guildford, Surrey that currently competes in the British Basketball League. The team play its home games at the Surrey Sports Park.
The franchise was formed in 2005 as the Guildford Heat by fans of former BBL team Thames Valley Tigers, who folded during the same year. The club enjoyed plenty of success in their early history, even appearing in the ULEB Cup in 2007, but have since fallen on hard times and in 2012 the franchise was rebranded as Surrey Heat. Following the sale of the club by former owner Alison Reeve, the club was rebranded again as Surrey United in September 2013. From June 2015, the franchise was wholly owned by Surrey Sports Park and based full-time at the University of Surrey-owned facility. The franchise was rebranded as "Surrey Scorchers".
The town of Guildford has been home to several elite basketball teams down the years. With the opening of the Guildford Spectrum, the successful Kingston team uprooted, moved in and renamed themselves as the Guildford Kings in 1992, briefly calling the place home until they folded in 1994, as did the Guildford Pumas before they relocated to Sutton in 1999. However it was the first major team, the Guildford Pirates who played in the town from 1975 to 1982 that would come back to figure prominently in the birth of the new club, the Guildford Heat.
In 1982, the Pirates moved to nearby Bracknell, becoming the Bracknell Pirates and later the Thames Valley Tigers. For many years, the Tigers were one of the front runners of the British basketball scene, winning the league Championship in 1994, but it was in the new millennium that the successes dried up and for owner John Nike, the team was too much of a financial burden. In April 2005, he announced that he would no longer be funding the basketball franchise nor his ice hockey franchise Bracknell Bees.
Immediately a consortium of Tigers fans was formed to save the club. Headed by local businessman Mike Davies, they put together a viable package to take over the administration and running of the team. However, Nike failed to reach agreement in time for them to lease the franchise, and the deadline for entry into the British Basketball League for the 2005–06 season was reached. The Tigers' BBL membership thus lapsed, but the fans obtained permission from the League to enter a new team in its place, and successful negotiations with The Spectrum in Guildford led to the birth of the Guildford Heat franchise.
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In April 2010, a £35 million new sports centre named the Surrey Sports Park opened.
The Surrey Sports Park is situated close to the main university campus on its Manor Park site. It houses a 50-metre Olympic-size swimming pool, three multi-sports halls, a squash centre, 700 square metres of fitness facilities, two artificial floodlit pitches, outdoor and indoor tennis courts, four real tennis courts and a climbing centre.
The 1,000 seat indoor arena is home to Guildford Heat basketball team, who have been using the venue since 2010 following a move from their previous home at the Guildford Spectrum. Heat are one of the leading teams and former winners of the British Basketball League, the country's top division.
It played host to all but 4 matches of the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup (the semi finals, 3rd place play off and final were held at the Twickenham Stoop). It is also the official training facility for Harlequins rugby club, with plans to add a private gym for the club in addition to the already available facilities.
It will also be the home ground of UniS Old Boys F.C., a football team for alumni of the university, which competes in the Surrey County Intermediate League (Western), at the 12th level of the English football league system.
Surrey University participates in an annual sports festival called the Varsity Games. The university competes against other institutions such as Royal Holloway, University of London and Kingston University. Over the years, there has been stiff competition between Surrey and Kingston for the Varsity Cup, that has made both universities arch-rivals at the Games.
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