News and Information from the Croquet Association
CA introduces a recruitment bonus.
The CA has been looking at ways of encouraging more club players to join. To this end, we have introduced a new imitative for the new year. We hope this will encourage clubs to make their members aware of the benefits of joining the CA, and to ensure they keep a stock of applications forms available. For anyone who joins the CA for the first time, the CA will credit £10 to the club the indicate on their application form as being their primary club. This will be done automatically as applications come in, and the clubs will then receive a cheque covering all new members at the end of the year. We think this can add up to a significant sum id several people sign up, and we hope that by giving a little back, we can encourage clubs to be a little more active in this area.It you have any other ideas as to how we can attract players to join the CA please let us have them. You can email Jeff Dawson at sales@croquet.org.uk or send your thoughts to the CA office.
WCF Hall of fame.
The world croquet federation (WCF) today announced the first inductions to the newly formed WCF hall of fame. Devised to meet the requirements laid down by the founders of the 'federation' to make awards to those who have contributed to the achievement of the federations aims, the hall of fame is virtual, existing only through the WCF web site.Each year no more than 5 persons who meet the exacting criteria, can be inducted, thus making is a very special group of the croquet enthusiasts and supporters indeed. The WCF hall of fame committee of four persons, led by their chairman, Rhys Thomas (USA), made the 5 difficult choices from the nominations received.
2006 WCF hall of fame inductees
- Tom Armstrong, AUS
- Ashley Heenan OBE, NZ
- Sir Macpherson Robertson KBE, AUS
- Arthur Ross, NZ
- John Solomon, ENG
MacRobertson Shield 2006
Great Britain have successfully defended their title to win the MacRobertson shield for the 13th time. The event was contested by GB, Australia, New Zealand and the USA, in a series of back-to-back test matches played in Australia between 18th November and 3rs December.
The Venues
Plans to mount the series at Victoria's new purpose-built centre were changed early on, when it was realised that the lawns would not be laid in time for the event. Instead, the championship took place at two clubs in the Melbourne area, rich river and shepparton.Shepparton had three lawns, and was the venue for the several of the doubles matches. Meanwhile, singles matches were played on the six lawns of the Rich River Club. Rich River has four dedicated croquet lawns, with a bowling green providing a lightning-fast-fifth lawn, and a sandy (and much slower) golf tee area the sixth. Many of the locals were accustomed to the ubiquitions flies, and clothed themselves in head nets as they spectated. But the search for insect repellent proved an ongoing extra challenge for the players. With three five-day tests crammed into 16 days, this was a trial of endurance for all participants.
The format.
The mac has been contested 19 times since 1925, its trophy presented to the game by Australian jam manufacturer Sir Macpherson Robertson. The event was played sporadically between any combination of Australia, New Zealand and England until 1963, since when all three nations have played in a round-robin format. England soon widened its selection criteria to encompass the rest of Great Britain, and the USA was invited to participate in 1993.Tests are played concurrently between the four countries, and the teams of six play a combination of singles and doubles matches (all matches are best-of-three games) each test comprises nine doubles and twelve single matches.
The teams
Great Britain entered this year's event as firm favourites. Roberts Fulford, Chris Clarke and David Maugha have featured in each of GB's previous four teams, and, on the strength pf their rankings, they could be expected to surpass any other contenders. Mark Avey is the veteran of three macs, and two highly ranked first-timers, Keith Aiton and Jonathan Kirby made up the six. The November scheduling certainly proved something of an advantage for the Brits. Selections were made at the height of our season, allowing the pick of the best in-form players. The home side, on the other hand, had much less time to play themselves into form, particularly the serious out of condition Trevor Bassett. Some (minor) controversy beset the opening proceedings, with Australia's team sheet listing Bassett at number one. The event demands players to be drawn in order of merit, by rankings and grading index. The US queried the order, the other two nations supported the challenge, and a couple of meetings resolved he issue with Trevor Bassett's position swapped with that of third placed Bruce Fleming. In the history of croquet, maybe this marks an inconsequential sequence of events, but it was the incident, rather than any achievement of the pitch which caught the interest of the British media, with passing comment made - between the dismal cricket reports - on BBC radio five live. One selection worthy of some note was that of the US co-captain, Damon Bidencope, who became the first player to represent two countries in the mac (he played for Australia in 1986) the US team has been bolstered greatly since their first outing in the event: Jerry Stark remains a constant fixture, as he has been in each of the last five series, but the current team brings with it more experience than previously. Evan so, the world rankings put then as extreme outsiders.
The first test
GB made a slow start to the first day against New Zealand. Aiton and Maugham, both shaking off a cold, took until 6pm to loose Robert Lowe and Brian Wislang. Plenty of waiting around, then, for Fulford and Clarke who polished off their match +26tp, +19tp before morning coffee time. A two-nil loss for the other pair left the favourites fighting to catch up.The Brits suffered no loss on day 2 with three doubles wins. By the third day, Clarke Aiton and Fulford looked in unbeatable form, and control was well and truly with GB. Match of the day, though, was that between David Maugham and Aaron Westerby. They halved the first two games. David had a third turn ball round in the decider, and Aaron yet again hit the lift. Aaron took the tpo and had two balls off. With Maugham heroic glory turn of 1993 on everyone's mind (a 12-hoop, two ball break to win the match, test series) Maugham approached 1 and set off on a two ball break, unfortunately getting cross-pegged after running 5. Aaron got going, but stuck in 2b. David proceeded but again came to grief when he clanged a longish 2b. Westerby hit, finished and brought the scores to GB 8 - NZ 4.
By 11am on the fourth day, GB had won two of their three doubles matches, the four NZ players between the managing only one croquet stroke in the four games. Jonathan Kirby was left to wrap the test up with some long hoop running, to leave the scores at GB 11 - NZ 4 with six single matches to play.
The final day was something of a formality for the British. Even so, quality from both sides remained high. All 14 games of the day were won triples. Four of the matches went the way of the title-holders, with a final score of 15 - 6 in the British favour.
The second test
While the nation's cricketers languished in Brisbane, the croquet news was rather better. Britain took a rather flattering 3 - 0 lead on the day 1 of the test against the United States after some struggling. Rich river's freshly mown bowling green proved tricky for the players used to something slower. Not least to suffer from this was non other than Robet Fulford. He and chris Clarke were pushed all the way by Lamm and Soo, and at one point in the second Robert sent his own ball off the lawn on consecutive croquet strokes. (when was the last time anyone saw that) from a game down, the GB pair took the other two with some fine control from Clarke in the third game.The following day started on a rather sombre note, as Chris Clarke informed the players that his mother had, not unexpectedly passed away overnight. Under the circumstances Chris did well to maintain his concentration well enough to win his match against Damon Bidencope in fifteen turns, Damon failing to take the brief chance he had in the second. Meanwhile, Jeff Soo achieved a fifth turn shut-out of Robert Fulford, to score +26tp and go one-nil up. Fulford's response was a couple of assured sextuples to take the match with no further croquet taken by his opponent.
The two hours after Chris Clarke and Mark Avery each finished their matches, Jonathan Kirby pegged out his first 3-hour and 20- minute game against Bob Cherry. Game 2 was another marathon, with Jonathan failing to take croquet for the first 100 minutes. The decider was all over in a blink, as Kirby took a seventh turn victory, to leave GB with a 9- 0 advantage.
All ran smoothly for Aiton and Kirby the next day, with a swift couple of triples. It was Clarke peg-out which decided the test, with the match score at 11-0. then Avery and \Maugham took the third match of the day, to send the US home fir the evening with little consolation.
With three days down, Chris Clarke dropped the Brits first match of the test, against Danny Huneycutt. Meanwhile, Fulford had two- sextuple win against Jerry Stark, despite jerry's best efforts. Stark hit his 40- yarder in the first, and gave the hoop-one crosswire back to Robert. A tiny silver of a ball was visible, which Roberts to finish. The second game was Robert's, only after snatching back the innings from the Americans third turn ball round to 4-back. He retained his form into the last day, knocking off another sextuple, and narrowing failing a sixth in the last doubles. Stark and Bidencope took a final consolation Ation and Kirby to take the final score to 19-2 to GB.
The Third Test.
At this stage in the series, and as might have been expected on ranking form, Great Britain and Australia had each beaten the USA and New Zealand. Now the two finally to go head to head in the decider. The initiative was well and truly with the Brits on the first morning with all three double matches over and done with by noon. The following day, St Andrew's day, proved fortunate for the Scottish pair of Aiton and Kirby, gifted with a win by Martin Clarke's accidental cross-wiring of himself when on the point of finishing. And Maughan and Avery were, if not exactly presented with a gift, at least given the unexpected opportunity of taking their match. Ian Dumergue and Harley Watts were for peg and peg against David, for 2 alone. Dumergue had the chance to peg out his own ball, and leave an almost unloseable position. Instead, he inexplicably put his two balls in corners three and four, with a lift due. Maugham played a roll approach to hoop 2 from the fourth corner, thrashed though the difficult hoop, made hoop 3, and finished from their with a laid break GB were 6-0 up with the chance of clinching the title with two days to spare. The British team entered the 13th day of the championship resolving not to act complacently. Within two minutes of play, however, all six players had embarked on their first laid breaks to 4-back. With no points on the scoreboard for Australia for the first 40 minutes, it seemed that the GB victory was in the bag. Indeed, Britain had reached the 10-0 mark by 11am, with just Aiton and Kirby still to finish. It was fitting that Keith, in possibly the strongest debut performance the MacRobertson Sheild had ever seen, was the one to clinch victory with his peg-out against Ian Dumergue. Jonathan followed soon after, leaving the scores at GB 12- Australia 0.With some pressure lifted from both sides, Australia salvaged a couple of matches over the next two days to avoid a total whitewash. Despite this, the final transpired to be very one-sided affair, with the eventual scoreline of 19-2. Fulford brought out another two sextuples to bring his tally to six over the course of the 15 days, and David Maugham added one of his own to the teams total.
In the play-off for third place, the US faced New Zealand. Form deserted the Kiwis as the series progressed, and a strong performance in singles saw the Americans reach the winning post with a respectable 13-8 score. A surprise, perhaps, for many, as the US players fail to make much mark on the world rankings. The scarcity of top-class events in the states surely accounts for some of this, and the team clearly relishes the opportunity to prove itself on the international stage.
As for the victors, the results speak for themselves. Great Britain arrived in Australia as firm favourites, and romped home with their defence of the title, in the most convincing display of the MacRobertson shields history. Congratulations to them, and to Phil Cordingley, team manager and organiser, for their record-breaking campaign.
Croquet at Brideshead
A charity tournament was held on what turned out to be the last day of the hot spell, 6th August, using fourteen short lawns in the splendid setting around the south front fountains of Castle Howard in Yorkshire. Maybe its less prestigious in the croquet world than say Hurlingha, or Wrest Park, but this has to be even more magnificent. Where else would players be directed to lawns overlooked by grand statues of Apollo or Bacchus? Over a hundred supporters of the Brooke Hospital for animal's paid good money to enter a golf croquet competition, devised managed and refereed by members of croquet north, Yorkshire, and east midlands federations. Six block-rounds were followed in the afternoon by a knock-out competition fir the best eight pairs. The leading team received a case of champagne and both finalist pairs got boxed croquet sets donated by Jaques. The main sponsor was Skoda cars and there was even a guest appearance by desert orchid. The event raised nearly £11,000 in good course!Promotional material from the CA and local clubs was available throughout the day and informal or demonstration games took place on spare lawns in the afternoon, including association croquet.
Many of those attending had obviously played some form of garden croquet, so GC rules gave few problems. Possibly, for these image-conscious times, there was rather a high proportion of landed gentry and their families, but games were keenly contested in the best tradition of social croquet, in a relaxed and good-natured atmosphere - no concerns here about handicap changes or ranking points! Unsurprisingly, there was no sign of the DPM or his team from Dorneywood!
