HISTORY:

After failing to gain selection, in 1975, to take part in the National Invitation Tournament from which the founder members of Division 2 were selected, EBAB Washington were successful in 1976, and gained admission to NBL Division 2.

Changing their name to EPAB Sunderland (though still playing in Washington), they finished fourth, with a creditable 13&7 record, in their first season, and then won the division, undefeated in twenty games, the following year, by which time they were playing in the brand new Crowtree leisure Centre in the middle of Sunderland.

Moving into Division 1, with one of the first sponsorship deals with a major national company, they began to make an impact as Sunblest Sunderland (which was probably the biggest misnomer in the history of basketball).

In 1981 they won their first major silverware, when they pulled off a major shock at Wembley, beating League Champions Fiat Birmingham in the Championship semi-final and runners-up Crystal Palace in a thrilling Final.

They were back in the Final in 1982 (though palace gained their revenge), and in 1983 they were runners-up in the League (which remains their highest-ever finish) and carried off the Championship, in the third consecutive Palace/Sunderland Final.

A lean spell followed, as they slipped down the table, but they staged a revival in the early '90s (despite the mini-crisis affecting the top division at the time). They reached their first Cup Final (which they lost to Kingston), finish third in the League, and found themselves back in the Championship Finals - this time at Birmingham's NEC. In an amazing semi-final they beat Manchester Giants in double overtime, but then came up again against a Kingston side in its prime. They failed to prevent their opponents from completing a clean sweep of all four titles for the season, but they came within five points of holding them.

1990-91 was probably the club's best season, as they finished as League runners-up again, won the National Cup for the first (and so far only) time, and reached the Championship Final for the fifth time in their history (going down, more heavily this time, to Kingston).

That, though, was as good as it got, as the club began to struggle financially. Moving back to Washington reduced costs, but did nothing for income generation, and four seasons of finishing tenth or lower culminated in 1995 with the club in thirteenth (and last) place, and it was only the indefatigable efforts of the long-serving Dave Elderkin that kept the club afloat.

That November saw the opening of the Newcastle Arena, and (at a time when the BBL was hailing Arenas as "the future" for basketball), Elderkin took the bold decision to move the franchise from Wearside to Tyneside, to become the Newcastle Comets.

That season was better, with a ninth place finish, and Sir John Hall, was was putting together his Newcastle Sporting Club, along continental lines, added the basketball club to the Soccer, Rugby and Ice Hockey clubs within that organisation. Another name change saw the birth of the Newcastle Eagles.

The Sporting Club proved a short-lived dream, but Ken Nottage and Paul Blake ensured that the club survived, and while other teams have abandoned their expensive Arenas, Newcastle remain at their prestigious venue, and their efforts were finally rewarded in 2005, with the BBL Trophy and Championship "double", which was followed the next season by a clean-sweep of all four titles (BBL Cup, Trophy, Championship, and, for the first time in their history, the League), and in 2007 they lifted the Championship for the third year in a row.

ALL-TIME COMPETITION RECORD