Aylesford mark their 1,000th game in style

The club has enjoyed a long and distinguished history since entering the Warwickshire League back in 1968, winning the Premier League title four times, the Second Division five times and the Warwickshire Cup on nine occasions, including the last three seasons.

Aylesford Aces were the club’s first team, with Aylesford Hawks, Potterton Hawks, Aylesford Kings (who in 1976 had current Hawks coach Richard Curtis in their ranks), Aylesford Blackhorse and Aylesford 7 stars following in the senior section.

“It is hard to put in words what the club means to me,” said Warwick District coach/manager of the year Mumford. “But it has been a pleasure and honour to have been involved in Aylesford Basketball Club.”

Club captain Alan Coope joined Aylesford Aces in 1972, and was on the court for the 1,000th game, joining the action at the start of the third quarter at Aylesford School, with Hawks already 51-28 up.

And, despite being without key player Ricky Fennell, Hawks were never in danger of losing their momentous match, with the only disappointment being that they failed to bring up a century of points.

Captain Alex Birch led the scoring with 25 points, with Joel De Lara Bond (22), Maartin De Jonge (21) and James Adler (14) all reaching double figures as the club recorded its 663rd victory.

Of the 1,000 games played since an opening-game defeat against Cauldon, the junior and senior teams at Aylesford have a win ratio of 66.30 per cent, with just 337 defeats.

The juniors, which have progressed from Aylesford Juniors and Potterton Juniors to Warwick Juniors have contributed 254 of those wins.