Top award for Raiders

THE Knox Ford Raiders have capped off a successful year by winning the prestigious SEABL Club of the Year award.
Presented to club chairman Bill Fenton at Saturday’s SEABL annual general meeting, the Knox team was congratulated for its stellar season both on the court, where the men’s team won the championship, and off the court, where the Raiders stepped up the overall presentation of each home game.
It was also revealed the attendances at Raiders games were up significantly on previous seasons, lifting Knox to easily being the most heavily supported metropolitan club in the entire SEABL competition for both men and women.
The SEABL award also comes on top of the Basketball Victoria honours earlier this year that included Knox Basketball having the best administration, best referees program and the largest association.
On accepting the latest award, Fenton congratulated everyone at Knox and was pleased the club’s increased effort in “putting on a good show” was recognised and rewarded by the league.
“This award belongs to the entire association and reflects the many hours of work that the staff, players, coaches and most importantly, the volunteers, put in week after week,” said Fenton.
“There’s no doubt this caps off a memorable 2006 season and I can assure all supporters of the Raiders that we are aiming to improve across the board again in 2007.”
In what was a big week for Knox Basketball, the SEABL award came after club coaching director Damian Cotter was named assistant coach with the Australian Emus, while the club was pleased to announce a lucrative five-year major sponsorship with Coca-Cola.
“Three major announcements in a week is a great achievement for us, but more importantly they each came via others outside Knox Basketball recognising the work our people are doing, so that’s very satisfying from my perspective,” said Fenton.
“All I can say is bring on 2007.”