The Kent Eagles management team continue to show that they mean business in the coming year as they unveil the fourth signing that will do battle for the 2025 National Development trophy.
Indeed, what a signing it is likely to prove as completing an already potent looking heat leader complement alongside Ben Morley and Nathan Ablitt is the young man many people were talking about at the tail end of the 2024 season, none other than Vinnie Foord.
Still only 18-years of age and like Ablitt still considered to be very much at the Development stage of his career, Foord also comes as a proven performer at both National Development League and Championship level with winner’s medals to his credit.
Foord, who hails from Hailsham in East Sussex first emerged on the scene as part of Kent’s National Development League team in 2021 and from there he moved to the Leicester Lion Cubs where he has represented them during the last three seasons becoming a Knockout Cup winner in 2022.
Last year really proved something of a breakthrough campaign for Foord as alongside his NDL dealings with Leicester he became an established and wholly popular member of the all-conquering Poole Pirates with whom, on the back of several impressive performances he became a treble winner, the Dorset outfit enjoying League, Knockout Cup and BSN Series success.
Though an improved average likely froze him out of contention for a return to the Pirates for the coming year, his undoubted potential has not gone unnoticed as he was quickly snapped up to become a member of an attractive looking Workington Comets septet in Season 2025.
Indeed it is likely to prove a busy year for Foord as alongside his duties with the Cumbrian side he is now set to become an important and integral member of the Kent Eagles operation who are set to battle for the National Development Trophy.
The appointment of Foord is one that both club owners David Graveling and Michael Gray are particularly excited about.
Graveling commented “We are very pleased to have secured his services for our first season in League racing at Iwade’ while Gray added ‘We could not be more delighted to have Vinnie on board. He rode for us in our first meeting at Iwade in Eastbourne’s challenge against the Kings in the earlier part of the 2024 season when he was paid for double figures”.
Gray continued “Vinnie has got to where he is the hard way, he is a never say die performer who never gives up.”
‘We look forward to working closely with him. He is most definitely a potential star of the future, and we would take immense pride in being a part of his journey”, Gray concluded.
Words by Kent Eagles – Feature Image by Mark Lee-Sing
