Surrey 89ers

Surrey have no derby to call their own. Brighton Bears, the obvious south-coast opponent in an earlier era, folded in 2006, and the 89ers are a new entity with no shared history to inherit. The rivalry that fits best today is with the other big southern sides in Super League Basketball (SLB), the London Lions among them.

What the 89ers do have is a grievance with how the previous club ended. The Surrey Scorchers stopped operating in July 2024, when the University of Surrey withdrew its funding, citing pressure on higher education finances. Within weeks Dan Clark, a retired Great Britain international who had been the Scorchers' general manager, set up a "phoenix club" and took the majority shareholding, with Jodie Jackson as co-owner. The new side took the Scorchers' place in the top flight for 2024–25 and kept the Surrey Sports Park in Guildford, a hall that holds 970.

The name looks back rather than forward. "Niners" refers to 1889, the year the modern county of Surrey was created. The colours are green, white, tan and black.

On the bench is Lloyd Gardner, who had coached the Scorchers before the collapse, so the continuity in the dugout is real even if the legal entity is not. Mark Dunning and Pete Daines assist him.

The first season went further than an eighth-place finish suggested. The 89ers reached the playoff quarter-finals and the final of the British Basketball League (BBL) Cup, where they finished as runners-up. Mervin James left for Sheffield Sharks along the way. In 2025–26 they climbed to seventh and again went out in the playoff quarter-finals, but this time they also reached the semi-finals of the BBL Trophy, a competition they had missed the year before.

Two seasons in, the club has no trophy, and the next step is turning those quarter-final exits into a place in the last four.