Flag glory: A Seymour Blasters men's team celebrates one of the club’s 11 premierships in the past decade.
Photo by
Meg Saultry
Basketball has always held a special place in the sporting history of Seymour.
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In a country town sporting a population of just 6000, Seymour Blasters teams have always punched above their weight on the hard-wood, becoming a powerhouse of the sport in regional Victoria.
This culture of success has carried on to the modern day, with the Blasters taking out premierships in the men’s and women’s divisions of the Country Basketball League North-East competition in season 2021-22.
It is a club filled with so much wonderful history, and all those that have contributed to this success will get a chance to celebrate it on October 15 at a 50-year anniversary event — with Blasters players from all eras invited to come together and reminisce.
Long-time Blasters volunteer and 50-year anniversary organiser Marc Sartori said it was incredibly exciting to be able to celebrate the history of the club in this way.
“It is very good to be able to put an event like this on, and everyone at the club cannot wait,” Sartori said.
“Basketball in Seymour has such a rich history, beginning on the outdoor courts at Kings Park before lobbying with the shire to get a stadium built in the early 1980s when the game really took off.
“From there we became a pretty strong club and from the late 1990s onwards we really started to have success.
“We’ve won 11 flags in 15 years in the men’s division in its current format, so there are certainly plenty of great memories that our Blasters community will be able to share on the night.”
A consistent force at the top of the Country Basketball League North East ladder in the men’s and women’s divisions, Sartori explained what he believed made the Blasters such a successful club.
“We’ve got a very strong culture, with a lot of great people that have been around for a long time,” he said.
“In the early days, founding member Gerard O’Rourke did a fantastic job in getting the club up and running and the stadium built, so a lot of our success bred from his hard work.
“Then the coaches we have had over the journey as well; Craig Hockley in particular has been a driving force behind our success on court, developing a lot of great young players and sustaining our strong culture.
Throwback: Seymour Blasters celebrate their 1996 premiership.
“The support we get from the town has also been huge, playing on Saturday nights we always get strong home crowds and that has helped make us become a true family club.”
With so much great history to celebrate, the club has gone to great lengths to put on a fitting 50th birthday celebration.
Sartori outlined what people could expect from the night.
“Initially were just going to have a presentation night, but then the decision was made to go a lot bigger and put together a true anniversary celebration,” he said.
“A lot of people have played for us over the journey and a lot have been involved with the club as well, so we thought the best thing to do was put on a night for everybody to reminisce on our history.
“We’ve got some guest speakers coming down, a couple of locals in David Mundy who played a lot of junior Blasters and Gabe Richards who went from Seymour to play for Australia.
“Plus Melbourne Tigers legend Warrick Giddey will also be speaking, which is very exciting.”
The Seymour Blasters’ 50-year anniversary event will take place on Saturday, October 15 at St Mary’s Hall in Seymour.
Tickets are $75 a person and include a two-course meal, with drinks at bar prices.
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