From our President – Moose Stephen 

This has been a marvellous Knockout – one of our best and not possible without the support of our sponsors. To Darren and Leanne Thomas of the Wicklow Hotel, David Ryan of Richardson’s Hardware and Agriculture and PFD Food Services, we offer our thanks.

The organisation for this event has been ongoing for months and the Convener, Mr David Paull and his committee has been behind it all the way. Hours of their time and plenty of effort has gone into it again so it is no surprise that it has gone off so well.

Drummer, JJ, Charts, Babs and Wallie never stopped all weekend and the Club is, as usual, indebted to them for all they do.

The special volunteers who give their time throughout the weekend are vital, none more so than Sally Henry and Cath Evans who have ensured the catering ran smoothly.We have received many wonderful comments about the food and friendliness of their care. The netball girls also did a fantastic job on the gate and many comments were heard that we had the best looking gate team that many of the players had ever seen. We love the Rotary guys, but sorry gents you were outdone this weekend! The refs deserve a mention for their great refereeing all weekend. It was very busy for them and no matter what some say (and there’s always some), they did a great job.

It was excellent to see a few new refs in the ranks and we look forward to the season ahead remembering that without them we would have no game.

Special mention must go to the teams from Kempsey and St Patrick’s who always come dressed in a themed, touring outfit. This year, Kempsey was voted (once again) to have the best outfit.

Wearing the green shamrock to celebrate St Patrick’s Day was a brilliant idea, as was their donation of a complete outfit for auction, raising $500 to go towards our Tour de Rocks ride for Cancer. The outfit will be displayed in our new clubhouse.

St Pat’s arrived, kitted out in their “Jailhouse” theme, with everyone being dressed in the American standard, prison uniform, orange in colour and including ID number – especially useful on Saturday night as a couple had to be tracked down into the small hours.

Again, special mention to all our Tour de Cure helpers, who helped promote our commitment to this fantastic event. Many of the Rugby clubs who attended went home thinking that they should go home and do something similar in their own communities.

Next year will be the 30th Year of the KO. It is thought that the Armidale knockout is the longest running, 15 aside tournament in Australian Rugby. There will be plenty of special events planned for next year including Golden Oldies, Women’s’ events and a feature sprint event to find the fastest rugby player at the Knockout. It will be one to be involved in.