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WCF September 2014 Newsletter

The newsletter provides a summary for WCF Members of what the Management Committee has been doing recently and what is on the agenda for the coming month.  Your comments are always very welcome.  It is also made available to all on the WCF web-site and via the Nottingham list and other croquet bulletin boards.

Council debates and decisions

Topic 33 concerned proposed amendments to Statutes 301 to 309 intended to re-organise and shorten the text without any significant change in intent.  These Statutes deal with the versions of croquet recognised by the WCF, responsibility for the relevant laws and rules and the regulation of individual’s ability to represent countries in WCF and other international events.  Comments have now been received from several Members and these are now under review.

What else did we do in August and September?

The main activity continued to be the progressing of the five forthcoming WCF championships.  Details are given in the following section.

Forthcoming WCF championships

2014 Over-50 Golf Croquet World Championship

This was held at the Egyptian Croquet Federation lawns and at the Gizera Croquet Club in Zamalek, Cairo from Sunday, 5 October to Saturday, 11 October.  36 competitors from Australia, Egypt, England, Ireland, Latvia, Scotland, Spain and South Africa took part and enjoyed glorious weather.  The second Over-50 Golf Croquet World Champion is ????? of Egypt.

2014 Women’s Golf Croquet World Championship

This will be held in Cairo from Sunday, 16 November to Friday, 21 November.  The Event Capacity is 40 players and competitors will represent Australia, Egypt, England, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland and the USA.

2015 Under-21 Golf Croquet World Championship

This will be held at the United Croquet Club, Christchurch, New Zealand from Sunday, 1 February to Thursday, 5 February 2015.  The Event Capacity is 28 and Ranking Places and Membership Places have been awarded to competitors representing Australia, Egypt, England and New Zealand.

2015 Golf Croquet World Championship

This will be held at the Mount Maunganui Croquet Club and other clubs in the Bay of Plenty region, North Island, New Zealand from Saturday, 7 February to Sunday, 15 February 2015.  A Qualifying Event will be held from Tuesday, 3 February to Thursday, 5 February 2015.  The Event Capacity is 80 and Ranking Places, Wild Card Places and Membership Places have been awarded to competitors representing Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Egypt, England, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA.  Full details can be found on the WCF web-site under World Championships.

2015 Women’s Association Croquet World Championship

This will be held in Nottingham from Saturday, 25 July to Saturday, 1 August 2015.  The Event capacity is 32 players and the Response Date by which Members must inform the WCF if they wish to be awarded Membership Places is Sunday, 23 November 2014.

Topics completed or closed in August and September

MC 279:           Croquet Federation of India coaching request.

MC 280:           Italian Croquet Association financial assistance request.

MC 286:           Statute 301-306 amendments – sent to Council.

MC 289:           Upgrade of Belgium membership status – sent to Council.

Topics open or pending as at 30 September

MC 278:           Review of croquet activity among Members.

MC 282:           2015 Golf Croquet World Championship, February 2015.

MC 283:           2015 Women’s Association Croquet World Championship, July 2015.

MC 284:           New WCF web-site – opportunity to review content and archiving.

MC 285:           2015 Under-21 Golf Croquet World Championship, February 2015.

MC 288:           CroquetScores agreement.

MC 290:           Appointment to Hall of Fame Committee following Bernard Neal’s retirement.

Outlook for October

The main activities for the month will be administering the preparations for the forthcoming World Championships, beginning a review of the WCF Statutes and preparing the 2015 Business Plan.

Stephen Mulliner

Secretary-General 11 October 2014

WCF March 2014 Newsletter

The newsletter provides a summary for WCF Members of what the Management Committee has been doing recently and what is on the agenda for the coming month.  Your comments are always very welcome.  It is also made available to all on the WCF web-site and via the Nottingham list and other croquet bulletin boards.

Council debates and decisions

The following Topics were decided between December and mid-March.:

Topic 19:          A new allocation procedure for WCF Singles events was approved.

Topic 25:          The 2014 Business Plan was approved.

Topic 26:          The 2014 Budget was approved.

Topic 27:          David Walters was elected as Independent Examiner.

Topic 28:          Gabrielle Higgins was elected as Treasurer.

Topic 29:          The establishment of a Governance Working Group was approved.

Topic 30:          An amendment to Statute 303.3.1.2 was approved.

Topic 31:          A proposal to open two new bank accounts was approved.

What have we been doing up to mid-March?

Most of the WCF Topics in the last quarter were concerned with end-of-year administration.  However, three were of broader interest.  The Governance Working Group (Topic 29) is tasked with reviewing how the WCF and MC operate and reporting back to the MC with its conclusions and any recommendations.  We are grateful to Stuart Lawrence (USA), Ian Lines (ENG) and Sue Piper (NZE) for taking this on.

Statute 303.3.1.2 (Topic 30) deals with changes of national allegiance when a player’s last international croquet appearance was before 20 August 2013.  The amendment clarifies that, providing that they do not represent their current country in the 13 months before 20 September 2014, they will be entitled to change country after that date.  However, subject to what is called a “material change of circumstances”, anyone who has represented a country since 20 August 2013 will have to spend 36 months without playing representative croquet before they can change country.

The Topic of widest player interest is undoubtedly the approval of a new rankings-based allocation procedure for WCF singles events (Topic 19).  This was accompanied by helpful comments from England and Scotland which formed the basis for some re-drafting to shorten the documents, add some further definitions and clarify a few points.  There were no material changes in the substance of the proposal and the new Appendices 1 and 2 are now official and have been sent to Members.  They will appear on the WCF web-site in mid-April as part of a new release of the Sports Regulations.  They apply to all future WCF singles events starting with the 2015 GCWC but not to the Over-50 GCWC and Women’s GCWC whose lifecycles were started last December.  The new procedure combines greater discretion for Members in allocating membership places with the use of a ranking-based method to allocate most of the rest of the places and deal with most withdrawals.  This is intended to be a simple, objective and transparent process.

Topic 30 (the amendment to Statute 303.3.1.2) also prompted a question from the USCA about how the intent of Statutes and Regulations could be made clearer to avoid interpretative problems later.  Recommendations to Members to approve a change are routinely accompanied by an explanatory e-mail from the S-G.  Discussion with Martyn Selman led to the agreement that this was sufficient for the shorter and simpler recommendations while more complex issues, such as the drafting of a substantial amount of text (e.g. Appendices 1 and 2 of the Sports Regulations under Topic 19) probably required a separate document – such as the Invitation Guidance Notes that were submitted to Members in draft as part of the Topic 19 process.  The final form of these will be published at the same time as the new release of the Sports Regulations in mid-April.

 

 

Forthcoming WCF championships

2014 Association Croquet World Team Championship

The ACWTC began in January with the MacRobertson Shield as Tier 1 and continues in May with Tier 2.1 at Carrickmines in Ireland from Monday, 12 May to Saturday, 17 May and a merged Tier 2.2/Tier 3 at Southwick in England from Sunday, 11 May to Friday, 16 May.

Tier 2.1 will be contested by teams from Ireland, Scotland, South Africa and Wales (holders).  Each team will play each other in two-day Test Matches.

The merged Tier 2.2/Tier 3 event arose as a result of an entry of only three countries for Tier 3.  However, very happily, the four Tier 2.2 entrants enthusiastically agreed to compete in a merged event which will use a “Jamboree” format to allow all seven countries to play each other (in matches consisting of eight singles and four doubles) over six days.

2014 Over-50 Golf Croquet World Championship

This will be held in Cairo from Sunday, 5 October to Saturday, 11 October.  An entry of 40 is expected.  Members have until 1 May (the WCF Closing Date) to announce the players who will take up Membership and Wild Card Places.

2014 Women’s Golf Croquet World Championship

This will be held in Cairo from Sunday, 16 November to Friday, 21 November.  An entry of 40 is also expected for this event and the WCF Closing Date is also 1 May.

Topics completed between December 2013 and early March 2014

MC 249:           WCF web-site – a new site is under construction.

MC 251:           The 2014 Women’s GCWC allocations have been made.

MC 252:           The Governance Working Group is appointed and under way (Topic 29).

MC 254:           The MC election process was completed.

MC 258:           The 2014 Over 50 GCWC allocations have been made.

MC 259:           Review of MC communication procedure.

MC 260:           Extension of Statute 920-925 process submitted to Members (Topic 24).

MC 262:           The Wimbledon Cup transport to Australia was completed.

MC 263:           Topic voting and confidentiality – remitted to GWG.

MC 264:           A press quote issue was explained and dealt with.

MC 265:           MC Report and 2014 Business Plan were submitted to Members (Topic 25).

MC 266:           MC election procedure – remitted to GWG.

MC 267:           WCF 25^th anniversary –commemorative medals generously provided by the WCF President to the winners of all national AC and GC championships in the year commencing July 2014.

MC 269:           Wales comments on documentation and Member relations.

MC 270:           Investment proposals or new bank accounts were submitted to Members (Topic 31).

MC 271:           Statute 303.2.1.2 amendment – submitted to Members (Topic 30).

MC 272:           E-mail archive of MC decisions created.

MC 273:           MC’s role in WCF Council voting process clarified.

MC 274:           Confirmation that a Member’s votes and subscription level for a year is determined with reference to its member count on 1 January of that year.

MC 277:           The MC has established a Development Sub-Committee to look into what the WCF can do beyond the current offerings of supporting attendance at the Croquet Academy and part-funding coaching trips to European Members.

The above list shows the breadth of issues that the MC deals with using its fortnightly Skype conference calls and e-mail exchanges to reach decisions.  While we aim to give every topic adequate attention, we also aim to reach a decision and close them as soon as possible and not allow topics to drag on indefinitely.

 

Open topics as at 18 March

MC 250:           2014 AC World Team Championship – preparations are well under way for the Tier 2.1 event at Carrickmines and the merged 2.2/3 event at Southwick respectively in May 2014.

MC 268:           Proposal from Belgium to support a joint croquet/gateball promotion exercise to be funded mainly by the EU Erasmus+ programme – this is still under investigation.

MC 275:           Statute 305 (Reciprocity of Membership) – the English CA has raised some questions about the interpretation and intent of this Statute.

MC 276:           World Croquet Day – the President has suggested that an annual World Croquet Day could be of benefit to the game and to clubs.

MC 278:           Inactive Observer Members – the MC is considering whether to require an annual report from Observer Members on the degree of croquet activity in their domains.

MC 279:           Coaching request from the Croquet Federation of India.

MC 280:           Financial assistance request from the Italian Croquet Federation for lawn improvement at the Lucca Croquet Club.

Outlook for March and April

After deciding a plethora of WCF Topics by successful use of the new e-mail voting procedure, there should be a quieter period ahead for Members for a month or two.  The MC has plenty of open topics to consider with development occupying a high profile (e.g. Topics 268, 276, 277, 279 and 280).  In relation to Topic 268, the MC will consider whether the generally positive Australian experience of encouraging both gateball and croquet should be recommended for investigation and adoption in other Members.

It is intended to publish the next Newsletter at the end of April and monthly thereafter.

Stephen Mulliner

Secretary-General 18 March 2014

WCF April 2014 Newsletter

The newsletter provides a monthly summary for WCF Members of what the Management Committee has been doing during the past month and what is on the agenda for the coming month.  Your comments are always very welcome.  It is also made available to all on the WCF web-site and via the Nottingham list and other croquet bulletin boards.

Stephen Mulliner

Secretary-General

Council debates and decisions

There have been no issues for Council to decide this month.

What have we been doing in April?

Version 8.5 of the WCF Sports Regulations was published which incorporates the new rankings-based allocation procedure for WCF singles events approved as WCF Topic 19 and a few minor consequential amendments to the main body of the Regulations.

The MC has established a Development Sub-Committee consisting of Gabrielle Higgins (chairman), Keith Aiton and Roberts Stafeckis.  This committee will deal with all aspects of croquet promotion internationally, including coaching, referee training and consideration of grant applications.

25^th Anniversary commemoration

It is possible to trace the origins of the WCF to 1985 and, in particular, to a meeting of interested parties held at the Hurlingham Club, London on 17 July 1986.  However, the generally agreed starting point is the inaugural General Meeting, also held at the Hurlingham Club, on Saturday, 15 July 1989 when Ashley Heenan, OBE, was elected as the first WCF President.

As referred to in the February Newsletter, the MC has been discussing how to commemorate the WCF’s Silver Jubilee which falls on 15 July 2014.  Various ideas were considered but I am delighted to confirm that our President, Amir Ramsis, has very generously donated medals to be given to all the winners of singles national championships in Association Croquet, Golf Croquet and USCA Rules Croquet held in the 12 months from July 2014 to June 2015.  This seems an appropriate way of recognising that the foremost duty of the WCF is to promote the playing of competitive croquet at the highest level.

Topics completed or closed up to end April 2014

MC 249:           WCF web-site – a new site is under construction.

MC 251:           The 2014 Women’s GCWC allocations have been made.

MC 252:           The Governance Working Group is appointed and under way (Topic 29).

MC 254:           The MC election process was completed.

MC 258:           The 2014 Over 50 GCWC allocations have been made.

MC 259:           Review of MC communication procedure.

MC 260:           Extension of Statute 920-925 process submitted to Members (Topic 24).

MC 262:           The Wimbledon Cup transport to Australia was completed.

MC 263:           Topic voting and confidentiality – remitted to GWG.

MC 264:           A press quote issue was explained and dealt with.

MC 265:           MC Report and 2014 Business Plan were submitted to Members (Topic 25).

MC 266:           MC election procedure – remitted to GWG.

MC 267:           WCF 25^th anniversary – commemorative medals will be awarded to winners of national singles titles from July 2014 to June 2015.

MC 268:           Proposal from Belgium to support a joint croquet/gateball promotion exercise to be funded mainly by the EU Erasmus+ programme.

MC 269:           Wales comments on documentation and Member relations.

MC 270:           Investment proposals or new bank accounts were submitted to Members (Topic 31).

MC 271:           Statute 303.2.1.2 amendment – submitted to Members (Topic 30).

MC 272:           E-mail archive of MC decisions created.

 

MC 273:           MC’s role in WCF Council voting process clarified.

MC 274:           Confirmation that a Member’s votes and subscription level for a year is determined with reference to its member count on 1 January of that year.

MC 275:           Statute 305 (Reciprocity of Membership) – the English CA has raised some questions about the interpretation and intent of this Statute.  These will be covered in a general review of the drafting of the Statutes due to be completed by the end of 2014.

MC 276:           World Croquet Day – starting in 2015, the first Saturday in May will be used as an opportunity to publicise croquet at national and international level and for clubs to organise recruitment drives.

MC 277:           Development plans for 2015 and beyond – a MC sub-committee has been established to look into what the WCF can do beyond the current offerings of supporting attendance at the Croquet Academy and part-funding coaching trips to European Members.

The above list shows the breadth of issues that the MC deals with using its fortnightly Skype conference calls and e-mail exchanges to reach decisions.  While we aim to give every topic adequate attention, we also aim to reach a decision and close them as soon as possible.

Open topics as at 30 April

MC 250:           2014 AC World Team Championship – preparations are now almost complete for the Tier 2.1 event at Carrickmines and the merged 2.2/3 event at Southwick respectively in May 2014.

MC 278:           Review of croquet activity among Members.

MC 279:           Request for coaching assistance from the Croquet Federation of India.

MC 280:           Request for financial assistance for club development from the Italian Croquet Association.

MC 281:           Formation of Working Group to review croquet ball production.

MC 282:           2015 Golf Croquet World Championship, New Zealand, February 2015.

MC 283:           2015 Association Croquet Women’s World Championship, England, July 2015.

MC 284:           New WCF web-site – opportunity to review content and archiving.

MC 285:           2015 Under-21 Golf Croquet World Championship, New Zealand, February 2015.

Outlook for May

Tier 2.1 of the AC World Team Championship will be contested at Carrickmines, near Dublin from Monday 12 May to Saturday 17 May by teams representing Ireland, Scotland, South Africa and Wales (the holders).  The competition should be fierce and the Irish hospitality will no doubt live up to its legendary reputation!

Both the President and I intend to visit the Tier 2.2/3 AC World Team Championship event at Southwick which runs from Sunday 11 May to Friday 16 May and Amir will be there to present the trophies to the winners.

The Invitation Dates for the 2015 Under-21 GCWC and the 2015 GCWC itself have been set as 7 May 2014.  These events will be held in New Zealand in February 2015 and further details will be found on the WCF web-site.  It should be noted that the Event Capacity of the 2015 GCWC will be increased to 80, which will bring it into line with the ACWC, and these events will be the first World Championships to be held under the new Sports Regulations.

The fields for the 2014 Over-50 GCWC and 2014 Women’s GCWC will have been announced by or shortly after publication of this Newsletter.  The events will be held in Cairo from 5-11 October and from 16-21 November respectively.  There are currently five vacancies in the Over-50 and one in the Women’s and any Member may apply for a further Wild Card place.

Stephen Mulliner

Secretary-General

6 May 2014

WCF May 2014 Newsletter

The newsletter provides a summary for WCF Members of what the Management Committee has been doing recently and what is on the agenda for the coming month.  Your comments are always very welcome.  It is also made available to all on the WCF web-site and via the Nottingham list and other croquet bulletin boards.

Council debates and decisions

There were no Council debates or decisions in May.

What did we do in May?

Tiers 2.1 and 2.2/3 of the Association Croquet World Team Championships were held respectively in Ireland, at Carrickmines, and in England, at Southwick, in the week ended 17 May.  In Tier 1, the hosts, Ireland, just edged out the holders, Wales, by one point.  Spain, the ante-post favourites for Tier 2.2, were made to work for their victory by a strong performance by the team from Austria who were clear winners of Tier 3.

Preparations for the entries for the 2014 Over-50 and Women’s Golf Croquet World Championships continued with the place allocation announcements.  There will be 40 entries in each Championship with a notably strong New Zealand contingent for the Women’s.

The venues for the three 2015 World Championships (Under-21 GCWC, the Golf Croquet World Championship itself and the Women’s Association Croquet World Championship) were confirmed and the final details of formats, playing schedules and event lengths were the subject of detailed consideration.

It became apparent that the publication of the new world championship place allocation procedures in Version 8.5 of the Sports Regulations had not led to universal understanding.  A further round of explanation was undertaken which appears to have been successful.  It was emphasised that Members are now free to award their Membership Place or Places to any of their eligible players.

The proposal by CNZ to use Atkins Quadway hoops for the 2015 Under-21 GCWC and the main GCWC caused a measure of concern to some Members who had noted the high degree of challenge that they had presented in the recent MacRobertson Shield.  The challenge depended to a large extent on the very narrow tolerances used in the Mac which will not be used for the GCWCs. CNZ have reported that the hoops have been used in the Canterbury area for GC for two years without causing problems.  The hoops will also be used in the New Zealand GC National Championships in December 2014 which will provide a final test of their suitability for top-class GC events.

Forthcoming WCF championships

2014 Over-50 Golf Croquet World Championship

This will be held in Cairo from Sunday, 5 October to Saturday, 11 October.

2014 Women’s Golf Croquet World Championship

This will be held in Cairo from Sunday, 16 November to Friday, 21 November.

2015 Under-21 Golf Croquet World Championship

This will be held at the United Croquet Club, Christchurch, New Zealand from Sunday, 1 February to Thursday, 5 February 2015.

2015 Golf Croquet World Championship

This will be held at the Mount Maunganui Croquet Club and other clubs in the Bay of Plenty region, North Island, New Zealand from Saturday, 7 February to Saturday, 14 February 2015.  A Qualifying Event will be held from Tuesday, 3 February to Thursday, 5 February 2015.

2015 Women’s Association Croquet World Championship

This will be held in Nottingham, England with proposed dates from Saturday, 25 July to Saturday, 1 August 2015.

Topics completed or closed in May

MC 250:           Association Croquet World Team Championship, Tiers 2.1 and 2.2/3.

MC 281:           Formation of Working Group to review croquet ball production.

Topics open or pending as at 31 May

MC 278:           Review of croquet activity among Members.

MC 279:           Request for coaching assistance from the Croquet Federation of India.

MC 280:           Request for financial assistance for club development from the Italian Croquet Association.

MC 282:           2015 Golf Croquet World Championship, February 2015.

MC 283:           2015 Women’s Association Croquet World Championship, July 2015.

MC 284:           New WCF web-site – opportunity to review content and archiving.

MC 285:           2015 Under-21 Golf Croquet World Championship, February 2015.

MC 286:           Statute 301-306 amendments.

MC 287:           ACWTC Tier 2.1 hosting.

Outlook for June

The main activity for the month will be finalising the outstanding details for the five World Championships that will be held over the next 13 months.  In addition, the discussion of possible amendments to Statute 303 has led to the view that a slightly more comprehensive set of related amendments should be put before Members in the next two months in order to reduce the size of the second stage of statute updating that is planned for 2014Q4.  We hope to have the Statute 301 to 306 amendments before Members by July.

Stephen Mulliner

Secretary-General 9 June 2014