Hall of Fame
Ian Howard Wright

Born 1924.
Died 2016.
Inducted: 2012

Ian Howard Wright was one of Scotland's top players at his peak and the most influential of the pioneers that helped the formation of the Scottish Croquet Association in 1974.

As croquet in Scotland expanded after the CA Centenary in 1967, Ian was one of the prime movers in the setting-up of the Scottish Croquet Committee as part of the Croquet Association.  This organised competitive croquet in Scotland, from whose numbers came the next three winners of the All-England Handicap, and included setting up the Edinburgh Week Tournament in 1969, which has been run annually during the Edinburgh Festival since 1972.

When it became apparent that the Scottish Sports Council (now sportScotland) would support sports only with autonomous National Governing Bodies, Ian used his contacts and influence in the CA to initiate the amicable secession of the Scottish Croquet Committee and its rebirth as the independent Scottish Croquet Association.  He was also a key figure in getting the 1974 New Zealand MacRobertson Shield team to play a warm-up match against Scotland, an event which further stimulated Scottish competitive croquet.  While Ian did not do all of this alone, he has continued to be involved with Scottish croquet for 45 years and, particularly in the East of Scotland, he has been known as the "Father of Scottish Croquet".

Ian was awarded Life Membership of the Scottish Croquet Assocaiation in November 2011 in recognition of his contributions to Scottish Croquet. These contributions, in turn, have furthered the WCFs objectives, and therefore the Scottish Croquet Association nominated Ian for induction into the WCF Hall of Fame.

 

Hall of Fame
Garth Eliassen

Inducted: 2012

Garth Eliassen is an American writer and newsletter editor who founded and edited the National Croquet Calendar, the first independent croquet publication in the USA.  The Calendar was a newsletter that was published from 1985 to 2012 and devoted itself to comprehensive coverage of the American and international croquet scene.

Before the advent of the internet, the Calendar was the publication of record for American croquet which knitted together the far-flung world of American croquet. The Calendar ceased publication in 2012 because Eliassen wished to retire from his one-man show and because the internet had taken over much the immediacy of his coverage.

Garth Eliassen also invented the most revolutionary tactic in American USCA rules, the "Chernoybl opening".  Before the "Chernoybl" appeared, American players brought all balls into the game on the first four turns.  Eliassen realized that by keeping the yellow ball (the fourth ball) out the game would be transformed, and it was. Today the majority of high-level USCA rules games see the "Chernoybl" employed, and the tactic has evolved into numerous permutations.

Hall of Fame
Charles Edmund Jones

Born: 1953
Died: 2011
Inducted: 2013

Charles started playing croquet at the Rangimarie Croquet Club here in Westport when he was nine or ten  He was a regular competitor at the national level from the mid-seventies to early 2000.

However, Charles’ greatest contribution to croquet was on the administration and support side.  Charles was the preferred team manager for Trans-Tasman and Mac Robertson Shield teams.  Charles’ team management skills were impressive.  He was chief cook and bottle washer, mentor and organiser.  NZ teams’ success over the last sixteen years owe a great deal to Charles’ commitment and support.

Charles convened the association croquet selectors’ panel for many years.  He had a good eye for talent and many young players have acknowledged,  in recent days, the important role Charles played in their development as elite players.  Charles gave the same attention to encouraging and supporting recreational players.  He also held senior leadership positions in the Wellington and Canterbury Associations and was a regular attender at Croquet NZ AGMs.  Charles was elected CNZ President in 1999 serving for four years and his tenure saw the start of CNZ’s moves to establish a strong national office supporting the game throughout the country.  Golf Croquet was becoming popular and Charles’ efforts made sure that the game became an important part of NZ croquet scene. He played a pivotal role in putting the game’s administration on a more professional basis.  Charles’ contribution was acknowledged when he joined the small band of life members of the CNZ in 2010.  

Charles’ contribution to international croquet was not limited to managing NZ teams.  He played at both golf and association world championships.  He refereed and managed at a number of international events from 2002 to earlier this year.  He joined the World Croquet Federation’s management committee in 2004 and was elected WCF President in 2010, becoming the second New Zealander to take this role since the establishment of the WCF in 1989. 

Charles contribution to international croquet administration is summarised perfectly by Martin French, the WCF Secretary General.

Charles’ forthright, honest and often colourful contributions to these discussions and to the vigorous e-mail traffic generated by his Management Committee colleagues played a significant part in energising the work of the committee.  He deserves much of the credit for the significant improvement in the relationship between the Management Committee and the larger WCF member countries over the last year.

It didn’t matter whether Charles was in Cairo, Cheltenham or Christchurch; the room lit up when he came in and the stories started.  Charles was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal for public services.  It could equally have been awarded for services to the community. Not all of us have an opportunity to contribute in as many areas as did Charles.  Charles seized all his opportunities and gave it his best.  It is not just the croquet world that is better for it.  

 Hall of Fame
Dr. Graeme John Roberts

Born: 1949
Inducted: 2013

Graeme Roberts began playing croquet at the Montecillo Club in Dunedin in 1970.  His first experience of the Kelburn Club was in November 1973, when he competed in the Junior Invitation Event at the club and recalls that it blew a gale for all five days of the competition, varying only in direction.  After working (and playing croquet) in England for six years, Graeme joined Kelburn in 1981.  The following January he won the New Zealand Men’s Championship Singles and was selected as a member of the New Zealand MacRobertson Shield team for the competition to be played in Australia the following November.  In 1984 he won the New Zealand Men’s Championship Singles for a second time and also the New Zealand Open Championship Doubles, partnering Richard Clarke of Gisborne.  Graeme represented New Zealand at the Sonoma-Cutrer world singles competition in California in 1990, and at the World Croquet Federation (WCF) World Association Championships twice, in 1990 and 2005, both times in the UK.  He played in two New Zealand representative teams in 1990 in matches against the Great Britain and Ireland team visiting New Zealand for the MacRobertson Shield.  He has won the Kelburn A / Senior A Championship Singles 12 times.

Graeme was appointed one of the founding members of the NZCC Laws Committee in 1986 when it was re-established by Ashley Heenan and Jean Corry after a lapse of many years.  He took over as Chair of the Committee when Jean retired in 1990 and has served on the Committee continuously since then.  He served as the Wellington Association Referee from 1984 to 1990.  He has been Referee of the Tournament for the MacRobertson Shield contest, for the WCF World Association Championships three times (once in France) and for Trans-Tasman test series three times.  He has also refereed at international level at the MacRobertson Shield twice (once in Australia) and the inaugural WCF Women’s World Association Championships in Melbourne in 2012. He has been asked to be the Referee of the tournament for the MacRobertson Shield challenge in New Zealand later in 2013.   He was elected a Life Member of the NZCC in 2000.

As part of his duties on the NZCC, Graeme was involved in the mid-1990s with the attempt to understand the Egyptian rules of Golf Croquet (recently translated from Arabic) and to apply them to the new version of the game then rapidly gaining ground internationally.  Some of the rules proved problematic:  for example “It is forbidden to wear a complete suit.”  However, the following sentence – “The shoes should be without heels.” – survived.

Refereeing Qualifications:

•           1980     Qualified as referee at Cheltenham, UK

•           1981 (October)  Returned to New Zealand

•           1982     NZ Senior Referee qualification

•           1986     Member & recording secretary, 1st Meeting of reinstituted Laws Committee initiated by Ashley Heenan OBE and Mrs Jean Corry.

•           Has remained been a member of that Committee ever since

•           1990     Test match referee for MacRobertson Shield Great Britain and Ireland (GBI) test in Auckland and the GBI/New Zealand test in Christchurch

•           Promoted to leadership of the NZ Laws committee on the retirement of Mrs Jean Corry

•           1990     Referee of the Tournament, Trans Tasman Women’s Test Match in Wanganui

•           1994     Referee of the Tournament, Trans-Tasman Women’s Test Match in Wellington

•           1994     Referee of the Tournament, Trans-Tasman Open Test Match in Christchurch

•           1995     Referee of the Tournament, WCF World Association Championships in Fontenay le Comte, France

•           2000     Referee of the Tournament, MacRobertson Shield quadrangular series, Christchurch, New Zealand

•           2002     Referee of the Tournament, WCF World Association Championship in Wellington, New Zealand

•           2006     Test match referee, MacRobertson Shield, Rich River, Australia

•           2008     Referee of the Tournament, WCF World Association Championship in Christchurch, New Zealand

•           2012     Test match referee, Inaugural World Women’s Association Championship, Melbourne Australia (special request for inter-country referee)

•           1990 to date      Referee of Tournament at NZ Open Championships

Member of International Laws committee from late 1990s when formed, to date

Full member committee responsible for the revision of the Laws of Association Croquet 2000 (ORLC 2001-2002

Writer and Editor of the Umpire’s Handbook (NZ) and the Referees’ Handbook (NZ)

Compiler of Umpires, Referees and Senior Referees examinations since 1992 for New Zealand.

1990 - 95          Councillor, New Zealand Croquet Council

2000     Life Member of NZ Croquet Council for services to refereeing of croquet

Wellington Region Association Referee 1984 to 1990

Significant national and international playing achievements:

1979-81 Winner Plate Event, The British Open Championship

1981     Runner-up, British Men’s Championship

1982     Winner, New Zealand Men’s Championship

1982     Member NZ MacRobertson Shield Team in Australia

1984     Winner, New Zealand Men's Championship

1984     Winner, New Zealand Open Doubles (with Richard Clarke)

1990     Member, New Zealand representative teams versus the Great Britain and Ireland MacRobertson Shield team, Hamilton and Napier

1990 & 2005      NZ Representative at WCF Association Croquet World Championship

1990     NZ Representative at Sonoma Cutrer World Championship

Hall of Fame
George Frederick Latham

Born: 1941
Died: 2010
Inducted: 2012

George Latham was a devotee of croquet and a stalwart of the sport in Victoria and Australia as a player, coach, administrator, innovator and visionary.

George, who was an accomplished sportsman in other areas including hockey, cricket, Australian football, orienteering and marathon running, came to croquet in 1975 when he joined the Essendon (Victoria) club, of which he was later made a Life Member.

As a player, George developed to the point that he held:
. many Victorian titles and team memberships from 1984-2000
. Australian Men's Singles Championship in 1983,1984,1987, 1988, and 1990;
. Australian Open Singles Championship title in 1984 and 1985;
. Australian Open Doubles Championship in 1987, 1988, 1990 and 1991
. Australian Golf Croquet Open Singles Championship in 2002;
. Australian Golf Croquet Handicap Doubles Championship in 2000;
. the British Bronze Medal in 1984 and the Silver Medal in 1986; and
. represented Australia in the MacRobertson Shield in 1986 and 1990, at the WCF World Championships 1989 and 1990, and as a  member of the 1991 Trans-Tasman Team.
 
George was the coach of the 1996, 2003 and 2006 MacRobertson Shield teams, coached the Victorian teams during 2000-2004 and was appointed National Development Squad Coach 2000-06.  At his death, he was the Victorian Director of Coaching and had just completed sessions to reaccredit coaches in eastern Victoria.

George also contributed to the sport as a referee and as an Australian selector in 1992, 1993 and 2000-2004, and as a Victorian selector 2008-2009.

As an administrator, George had a fine record, being:
. President of Essendon Croquet Club in 1984-85 and 2006-07, as well as periods as Secretary, Club Captain, Club Coach, Handicapper and Greenkeeper;
. Secretary of Brunswick Croquet Club 1993-96, President 1997-99
. Senior Vice-President of Victorian Croquet Association 1996-1998, President 1998-2001 and Secretary 2004-2010;
. Vice-President of the Australian Croquet Association in  2001-04

George developed Aussie Croquet as a simplified form of the game for schools and instigated the Croquet Victoria schools program and the Croquet Victoria Schools Championships.

George's vision made him the driving force behind the sale of the previous Croquet Victoria headquarters at Warleigh Grove, Brighton and the construction and development of the current Victorian Croquet Centre with its 12 courts at Cairnlea.

His epitaph, as voiced by his widow, Marion, is "croquet nut".

Hall of Fame
Edmond Patrick Charles Cotter

Born: 1905
Died: 1995
Inducted: 2009

Pat Cotter (front row, second from right) in the 1963 MacRobertson Shield Test Series

Pat Cotter graduated from Trinity College, Dublin with a degree in classics and soon joined the teaching staff at St. Paul’s school, Hammersmith, teaching Latin and Greek. .  During the second World War he was in the R.A.F. in the Intelligence division with the rank of Squadron Leader.  After the war he returned to St. Paul’s as head of classics where he remained until his retirement.

He was an international bridge player, playing regularly at Crockfords and the Devonshire and in 1938 won the World Bridge Championship.  He wrote a weekly article on bridge for the Financial Times and a monthly one for Country Life until shortly before his death. He was also a regular compiler of crosswords for the Times.

Pat Cotter was a scratch golfer and in 1947 was due to play in a competition at the Roehampton club but had sprained his ankle and wandered over to the croquet courts.  He had played a little croquet at university and after a little practice he entered a competition and his handicap was soon down to scratch. Remarkably in 1949, only having played for 2 years he was invited to play in the Presidents Cup and won it, and  went  on to win it another 3 times in the next 4 years. Thus he was the winner on 4 of his first 5 years and in 21 years won it 6 times and was runner-up 5 times.

 He was regarded by Maurice Reckitt as one of the Big Three with Hicks and Solomon and was captain of the winning Great Britain team for the MacRobertson Trophy in England in 1956 and in New Zealand in 1963.  Surprisingly his number of wins in other major events was relatively few, winning the Open Singles only 3 times between 1955 and 1962, 4 Men’s titles between 1952 and 1969, and 2 Mixed doubles, though he did not play in this event very often.   He won the Open Doubles 9 times with John Solomon.

As a player he was extremely accurate with a very light touch and played with a mallet of only 2 lbs 12 ozs, which allowed him to play superb stop shots.  His rushes and split shots were very accurate. He was not a particularly good long shot, probably because he rarely hit the ball hard and even on good courts the ball would veer off line.  He was an excellent tactician and would rarely take a risky shot, preferring to bide his time until his opponent presented him with an opportunity.  He adopted the ploy of peeling his partner ball through the first hoop in his first break, thereby enabling him in his next turn to send the forward ball straight to hoop 3 ready for the triple peel which then became relatively easy and this was soon adopted by many of the better players.  His ball control on hoop running was such that he invariably achieved the rush to wherever he wanted.  He probably created a world record at the time by finishing a best of three doubles in less than one and a half hours, including a stop for morning tea, in a test match at Whangarei in 1963 with his partner Solomon.

He was also instrumental in making relationships between players much more relaxed as he called them by their first names instead of the formal Mr., Mrs, or Miss which was the norm at that time.  His book “Tackle Croquet This Way” was published by Stanley Paul in 1960 in their series on various sports and is a very concise and readable explanation of the basics of the game.

Hall of Fame
David Openshaw

Inducted: 2013

David Openshaw had a distinguished playing career spanning more than twenty years; his first appearance in the President’s Cup was in 1977, and he played in the MacRobertson Shield in 2000.      He won the Open Championship three times, in1979, 1981 and 1985, and also the Men’s Championship in 1981, 1991 and 1995. He was runner-up in the World Championship in 1991, and made a total of thirteen appearances in the President’s Cup, achieving second place three times.

He played in the MacRobertson Shield five times consecutively, from 1979-1993, and also finally in 2000. Four of these contests were won by Great Britain, a success rate of 66% matched by his personal record of 49 wins out of 72 in singles and doubles. He captained the team four times, and proved to be an inspirational leader, with three successes. A particular contribution was his recognition of the importance of the doubles rubbers, and the selection of the optimum pairings.     By the 1980s the MacRobertson Shield contests had become too long, and he  supported Stephen Mulliner in proposing what is now the current format of a single Test Match between each nation comprising 12 singles and 9 doubles.

As a player he was noted for his skill in winning closely-contested matches, and this created the myth of the ‘Openshaw stopping bisque’.

He served on the CA Council from 1982-1986 and also 1999 -2010, but his most important contribution to croquet administration was as World Croquet Federation President from 2003 to 2009.  He came to the post at a pivotal moment in WCF history because, with the exception of the holding of WCF Association and Golf Croquet World Championships it was generally believed that the WCF had not managed to encourage the development of the sport world-wide to any significant extent.

David provided strong leadership and during his tenure six more events were added to the International Calendar, namely:

• AC European Team Championship;
• AC World Women's Championship;
• GC World Women's Championship;
• GC World Under 21 Championship;
• GC World Over 50 Championship;
• AC World Team Championship.

It is the establishment of the AC World Team Championship that should mark his place in croquet history.  With divergent views of how such an event could be achieved and some reservations among a sceptical membership, a patient but energetic policy of persuasion and diplomacy led to the incorporation of the highly-esteemed MacRobertson Shield event within the framework of an extended competition with different divisions.  This allowed all member countries the opportunity to play team croquet in a format commensurate with their relevant croquet skill base.

The WCF and its Management Committee had a reputation for being a rather impenetrable organisation which made little attempt to advise the wider croquet membership of what was happening.  During David’s presidency, he encouraged the establishment of a 1,000 page web-site with archive material including the minutes of all the meetings held since the WCF’s foundation, a wide range of discussion papers and consultations and a full record of the WCF’s accounts.  In addition, two of the founding principles and objectives of the WCF were awakened from a dormant state, by:

• the inception of the WCF Development Programme to fund by loan or grant various croquet projects around the world; and
• the creation of a WCF Hall of Fame to recognise great players and also those who have contributed to the WCF aims.

Last but not least, David continued the globetrotting role of the WCF President established by Tony Hall and made it his business to attend as many WCF events as possible.  He made a special effort to ensure that Egypt, the leading Golf Croquet country, continued to feel fully welcomed into the WCF family and made regular trips to Cairo to play in the International GC Open.

Without David’s tireless work on the many issues that faced the WCF in those days many of those achievements would not have been realised.