Neil Spooner became a household name in Australia after taking up croquet in 1970 and progressing through the ranks to reach the "A" grade in only nine months.  At his best he was one of the most formidable shots in the game.  Playing with an Irish style and from a firmly planted stance, he had one of the most powerful roquets in the game and often seemed to be unable to miss from any range.

Neil began playing Golf Croquet in 1968 while at Westminster School in Adelaide, South Australia. Tom and Jean Armstrong had introduced the game to Neil at the school and he quickly became their star pupil.

Neil was chosen to represent Australia at the MacRobertson Shield in 1974, 1979, 1982 and 1986, the latter as captain.  He chose not to travel with the 1979 team for personal reasons.

Neil also represented South Australia on eight occasions, three as captain.

He won ten national titles between 1975 and 1986 including the Australian Open Singles, Australian Men’s Singles, Australian Open Doubles and the English Silver Medal.

In 1987, Neil and his wife, Theresa, moved to California to take up a position as Director of Croquet at Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards after being targeted by the President of the winery for that position.  His duties were to be responsible for the day to day running of the croquet activities and to organize a world class charity croquet tournament each year.  The Sonoma-Cutrer World Championship ran from 1986 to 2004 and was the first international singles event in croquet.

While in America, Neil introduced many people to croquet and coached.  He competed in several tournaments and among his successes were the Arizona Open in 1988 and 1989, the San Francisco Open in 1987, the Meadowood Classic, the Masters of Croquet, the California Open and several other events including the U S Open, which was an event organized by the American Croquet Association.  The ACA was a rival to the USCA and promoted Association Croquet (known as International Rules in the USA) while the USCA promoted the American version of croquet, known as “U.S. Rules”.

Neil became an extremely skilful exponent of U.S. Rules and became the first person to complete a triple peel in that code of the game which is much more difficult than in Association Croquet because of the restrictions on rushing a ball off the boundary.  He completed five U.S. Rules triple peels between 1988 and 1993.  He also became the first and so far only player to complete a three-ball triple peel in U.S. Rules tournament play, once at a Meadowood singles event and again in the Arizona Open.

During the San Francisco Open, Neil managed to defeat one opponent by a score of 26 to 1.  This is a rare feat in US Rules because all players start from a position three feet in front of hoop 1 and can normally expect to score at least two points!  Neil went on to achieve the even more impressive US Rules score line of 26 to 0 - a result referred to today as a "full Spooner" with the 26 - 1 score line being referred to as the "half Spooner".

A warm and engaging man with a well-developed sense of humour, Neil was always prepared to share his knowledge with anyone who cared to ask, irrespective of their level of ability.

David Matthew Caradoc Prichard was born and brought up in Glamorgan on the Prichard family estate.  He was educated at Wellington College, where he played in the 1st XI cricket for two years as a spin bowler, and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.  He was then commissioned into The Royal Welch Fusiliers, in which he served for 25 years in various parts of the British Empire and throughout the Second World War.  He was only the second officer ever to pass both Staff College and Technical Staff College.  He played cricket for the Army and enjoyed polo, hunting and riding in point-to-points.

When David was invalided out of the Army, he moved to Monmouthshire.  He soon discovered croquet and was immediately bitten.  He joined Cheltenham and built his own lawn at his home at Gobion Manor near Abergavenny.  His rise to the A-Class was rapid, winning the D, C, B and A classes in consecutive years at the annual Cheltenham Tournament.  In 1960, he was the first winner of the Apps Bowl, then for the most improved player, and also won his CA Silver Medal.  In 1961, he was selected for the Surrey Cup which he promptly won.  He played in this selection event nine times, winning a record three times, and also played in the Chairman's Salver three times.  He was the runner-up in 1962 Men's Championship to John Solomon and was on the fringe of selection for the 1963 MacRobertson Shield team.

Often accompanied by his wife, Betty, David played widely on the tournament circuit at Budleigh Salterton, Cheltenham, Devonshire Park, Hunstanton, Hurlingham, Nottingham, Roehampton and Southwick.  He played in both the Open Championship and the Men's Championships on about a dozen occasions.  He won many A-Class events, handicap singles and doubles and mixed and open doubles in his career and reached a handicap of -2.5.  This was all achieved despite suffering from a rigid neck caused by spondylitis.  As one of the most experienced referees, he never allowed his condition to interfere with his duties and thought nothing of lying down on his back to judge a wiring decision between his toes!

David undoubtedly put far more back into croquet than he took out through his administrative and other work for the Croquet Association where his orderly mind and wide knowledge proved extremely useful.  He served on the CA Council for over 20 years and as its Chairman from 1968-70.  During that time, he served on the Laws Committee and was its chairman for eight years in two separate terms.  He was also a selector for many years and Chairman of Selectors.  He was chairman of the CA Special Appeals Committee which, unusually, had to meet for three different special appeals during his term.  He was elected a Vice-President of the Croquet Association in 1982.

As chairman of the Laws Committee, David was responsible for the 1972 rewrite of the Laws.  This took months of meetings and copious proof reading and amending.  He introduced the idea of a Commentary on the Laws and wrote four editions of this work. Not content with this, he also rewrote the CA Council rules for conducting meetings and compiled a summary of all important CA Council decisions back to its formation in 1897.

David wrote many technical, legal and administrative articles for the Croquet Gazette, the house magazine of the Croquet Association. However, his final and arguably greatest contribution to croquet was the writing and publication of The History of Croquet in 1981.  This took a couple of years to research and write, entailing many trips to the British Library in Colindale and supported by the erudite assistance of Betty.  It is a very readable account and remains widely accepted as the definitive history of the game in England.  All the proceeds of the sale of the book were donated to the CA.

Not the least of his contributions to croquet came in the form of four A-Class players that he introduced to the game - namely Betty and his three sons!

David Prichard always stood up for the rights of the individual and hated any sort of undercover plot.  As a backbench member of Council, he discovered and nipped in the bud certain underhand or unwise dealings on more than one occasion.  He carefully researched his arguments on most issues and was an unswerving campaigner to maintain Croquet as an amateur sport.  He abhorred any possible misuse or waste of CA funds but gave freely of his time and effort to the CA throughout his time on the croquet scene.  

Although David could appear to be a little intimidating, partly due to his stooped posture from spondylitis and because of a certain gruffness of manner, he had an excellent sense of humour.  Shortly before his death, the Council had decided to allow croquet players to win up to £2,000 per annum in prize money without losing their amateur status.  Despite his well-known opposition to this change, he cheerfully informed another arch-proponent of amateurism at the Cheltenham Club that he had decided to turn professional!

Thomas William (“Tom”) Howat was arguably the best Australian croquet player of his generation.  He won nine Australian Championships between 1955 and 1968, a total which still remains unmatched by a substantial margin.  He was also an excellent coach who freely passed on his knowledge of the game to others.

Tom Howat was a member of Brunswick and Coburg Croquet Clubs in Melbourne. He took up croquet when a pennant standard lawn bowls player.  His wife, Isobel, was a member of Brunswick Croquet Club and, when waiting for her after Bowls, he became intrigued by the techniques, tactics and challenges of the game of Croquet.  Tom was a natural player and quickly progressed through the handicap ranges to become one of Victoria and Australia’s leading players.

Tom also became Croquet Victoria’s first Director of Coaching and was instrumental in organising both the Practical and Theoretical components of its first accreditation course. He also made a major contribution to the development of a coaching video featuring the leading players Allan Cleland and John Tyrell for distribution to clubs.

Tom and Isobel invented the game of King Ball.  This is a single ball game with a croquet stroke after a ball ran the rover hoop that could be used to croquet opposition balls out of play. King Ball was the forerunner of Aussie Croquet, a single ball modified version of Association Croquet, which is now used in schools and clubs throughout Australia to introduce community groups and new club members to croquet.

Tom was noted for his great generosity in passing on his expertise to players throughout Australia. In particular, Tom’s coaching and support of John Tyrell, Alan Cleland, Owen Morgan and George Latham played a significant part in their national and international successes. George and Owen succeeded Tom as Victoria’s Directors of Coaching and his example continues to influence croquet in Victoria and Australia through those whom he coached.

Tom Howat left an outstanding legacy for croquet in Victoria and Australia.

Titles Won by Thomas William Howat:

Australian Singles Championship (The Wall Cup)

1955, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968

Australian Doubles Championship (with Mrs. T.Howat)

1959 and 1965

Australian Men’s Singles Championship

1974

ACC Gold Medal

1956-7, 1963-64, 1965-66, 1968-9, 1970-71, 1972-73, 1975-76, 1979-80

British Silver Medal

1964, 1966, 1967

English Bronze Medal

1957, 1969, 1971, 1976, 1980

Victorian State Singles Championship

1954-5, 1956-7, 1957-8, 1962-3, 1965-6, 1966-7, 1968-9, 1972-3, 1975-6, 1976-7, 1977-8, 1979-80.

Victorian Doubles Championship (with Len Mason)

1971-2, 1972-3

Victorian Interstate TeamMember

1955, 1956, 1957, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1976 (Captain), 1977 (Captain), 1979, 1980

MacRobertson International Shield (played between Australia, England and New Zealand)

1969

Victorian Wren Memorials – Singles

1973-4, 1976-7

Victorian Wren Memorials – Doubles

1969-70, 1976-7 (with Mrs T Howat); 1979-80 (with A. Ford).

Jean made a very substantial contribution to croquet over a very long period of time.  Her principal strength was to get new players to begin playing and then to continue to play the game.  She was tenacious and players came under her spell and became determined to do well guided by her expert tuition.  Although a stroke in her nineties meant that she could no longer play or coach, she remained a fount of knowledge of the game until the end of her life.

Jean had an enviable record of success stories with the people she coached.  Altogether, twelve people who had their first game with her went on to become State players.  She and husband Tom spent two years of their lives teaching croquet in colleges and Centres of Adult Education hoping to develop players that would be able to beat England in the MacRobertson Shield.  However, only two first class players emerged in the shape of Neil Spooner and Robert Bartholomaeus.

Between 1969 and 1971, Jean taught croquet five days a week in six colleges.  Saturday matches were organised and the mothers liked this because the croquet court became a social meeting place.  Competitions were arranged at the South Australian Croquet Association Headquarters with as many as 48 turning out on a Saturday morning.

Jean started at Westminster School in 1969.  Six of the boys became croquet players and joined Brighton Croquet Club.  They played in the Pennants and won the Pennant for Brighton but there wasn’t a Pennant for the school.  At SACA headquarters hands went up in horror at the thought of two pennants!  So Barrie Chambers gave one to the school and history was made – a pennant for the Club and a pennant for the School.

Although Jean worked very hard in schools and colleges, she found that it was not a great source of croquet players.  It seemed that the younger a player starts croquet, the earlier they leave the game!  Possibly one reason was that the girls found the clothing restrictions irksome.  One girl was criticized because she went without a hat!

Recruiting new club members was the area where Jean had an amazing record and it is believed that there were about 300 who became registered croquet players through her efforts.  In Jean’s words, “I think the main thing is that once we’ve got them, we haven’t lost them!”

Marion Croquet Club was one of Jean’s crowning glories in recruiting.  The five lawns were first used in February 1983.  Within about nine months, there was a membership of forty, almost thirty of them new to croquet.  At its peak Marion had over 100 members.  First new members were a trickle and then became a flood.  It proved that new players are the best recruiters.  Jean’s first strategic aim was to make the new players enthusiastic.  She did this by playing Golf Croquet until they were hooked and then devoted time to making them knowledgeable in the game.

She had another recruitment triumph in Rockhampton.  She stayed there for six weeks and recruited twelve fully paid-up members who had never thought of playing croquet.  The Club President arranged for her to be interviewed on TV and this certainly helped – as four of the recruits were from the TV station!

Jean had more success at Barmera which was also started from nothing.  The courts were laid, croquet gear was lent to them and soon there were twenty-seven players.

For many years, Jean liaised with what was then known as the National Fitness Council (now Recreation and Sport).  She participated in their Recreation for Housewives Scheme, mostly in the city of Brisbane but, on one occasion, a three-day visit to Barmera was arranged.  There a most enthusiastic group was coached on the Oval and, when the irrigation programme drove them off, Jean persuaded a nearby hotel to lend a piece of ground where a two court complex was laid out.

Jean Armstrong is one of those rare individuals who combined the development of excellence in sport combined with the encouragement of the ‘also rans'.  She did not discriminate between a potential state or international player and a person who had difficulty in walking.  She simply loved Croquet and her enthusiasm was infectious and enduring.

Revised August 2017

D.D, as she was always known, dominated the game between the two world wars, and was perhaps the first to prove that women could play on equal terms with men.

In the British Open Championship she competed in ten finals, winning four times, and also collected five Doubles Championships and seven Mixed Doubles Championships, in both cases with three different partners.

D.D played in the President’s Cup for 17 consecutive years, recording six wins, and was also involved in a quadruple tie for first place. She won the Women’s Championship 15 times between the two world wars. 

Unsurprisingly, she was a member of three of the four MacRobertson Shield teams in this period, missing only the trip to Australia in 1935 for family reasons.

She was probably the most dominant player between the two wars of either sex.