"How good": Echuca South Cricket Club tops Good for Cricket fundraiser

The Swans’ edged out runners-up Imperials Cricket Club of Leongatha with $15,865, as well as Clyde Cricket Club in third on $14,430.

Echuca South's efforts saw the club celebrated in a commercial for Channel 7, which aired last night.

Interestingly, Victorian clubs featured heavily in leaderboard's top 10, with three New South Wales and a Northern Territory club rounding out the list.

Hit for six by the community support, Echuca South president Gary Smith said the fundraiser couldn't have came at a better time for the club.

“We were able to have a successful year as a club, even in a COVID-19 season where your main sponsors are usually hospitality so you didn't really have anyone to reach out to,” Smith said.

“My wife Deb decided we should get involved in the raffle, and here we are.”

New senior coach Glenn "Pudd" Blachford said finding out the Swans had led the fundraiser efforts in Australia was terrific news heading into a new season.

“It's great for the club, it gets a bit of exposure,” he said.

“Like every sporting club, COVID has caused confusion.

“Speaking as senior coach, it's my job to get the boys up to that level of ability to be competitive in this competition and money plays a huge part.”

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With the club keeping 100 per cent of all money it raised, Smith said the whole event had surpassed any expectations the club initially had.

“We didn't think we'd do anything like this,” Smith said. "I'll be honest, we set a target for $5000 and we reached it pretty quick.”

Snowballing from there, Smith said the easy sharing of links and information proved crucial to getting their message out and into the community.

“We pushed that side; ‘getting your friends involved, I'll send you the link, send it out to all your family, buy one ticket, buy 10, whatever you want to do’," he said.

“We watched it grow from there.”

Smith also credited a partnership between club and Echuca Toyota for aiding the cause.

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“We focused on getting Echuca Toyota involved and they pushed it through their social media side of things and we noticed a spike in sales of tickets,” he said.

“A special thanks to Toyota for coming on board, and to everyone involved in the raffle.”

Echuca Toyota principal dealer John Merritt said it was a "no-brainer" to join with Echuca South and help drive the fundraiser.

“Grassroots sports is the epitome of the local community; it brings families into sports clubs and teaches kids and young adults the virtues of growing into adulthood,” Merritt said.

“It's a fantastic thing, and why we're such promoters of local community sport.

“The Echuca South Cricket Club contacted us over 12 months ago in relation to the raffle so we got on board as a dealership partner.

“The great work by Gary and Deb and what they achieved is fantastic; to be number one in Australia for Echuca-Moama, they should be proud.”

Echuca South and Echuca Toyota's new partnership will also extend into the 2021/22 season, with the dealership also signing on as a club sponsor.

Smith said the funds from the raffle would help Echuca South hit the upcoming season with gusto.

“Obviously there is still the ongoing costs, we have to play the normal rates,” he said.

“And we've got a junior program we want to get fired up, so this will help that.”

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A total of $740,080 was raised nationwide through the Good for Cricket raffle, with ticket holders going into the raffle to win a swathe of prizes including three Toyota cars.

For information on the Good for Cricket raffle, head to https://toyotagoodforcricket.raffletix.com.au/.

Head to https://7plus.com.au to see extended content of the Channel 7 ad.