March 2023 Newsletter

 
 
 

Congratulations to our latest Champions

3 World Championships have been completed since our last Newsletter. Well done to our new Champions:

2022 AC World Team Championship Tier 1: the MacRobertson Shield: Champions England, comprising Captain Samir Patel and his team mates Christian Carter, Harry Fisher, James Death, Jamie Burch and Mark Avery.

2023 AC Women’s World Championship: Champion Debbie Lines, England

2023 Under 21 GC World Championship: Champion Aston Wade, England

The WCF would like to thank the ACA and CNZ for hosting these events for us. Particular thanks go to the army of volunteers who prepared the lawns, set the hoops, fed the players, organised the admin, billeted players and of course the many club players who gave up their lawns.

Thanks also to the live-stream and social media teams, which were superb at all three events. To watch the livestreaming, follow these links:

MacRobertson Shield – provided by 'MySportLive' all days were streamed, with commentary provided from both local players but also remotely from players around the World.

AC Women’s Championship – provided by Maori Active, under the leadership of Greg Bryant. All four days of the knock-out were streamed. These have been collected on the WCF YouTube AC Women’s Playlist Women's AC World Championships Playlist

Under 21 Championship – also provided by Maori Active by Greg and his team, these can also be viewed via the WCF YouTube channel:  Under 21 World Championships Playlist

Coming up soon!

The 2023 AC World Championship will take place in London, England between 15-23 July.

The 2023 GC Women’s World Championship will take place in Sussex, England between 7 -14 August.

Qualifiers for both of these events can now be entered via the English CA Fixtures List, which is found on the Compete page of the CA Website. To enter you must first register for (or renew) a Reciprocal Rights Account. If you have any problems, you can contact the CA Office (email: caoffice@croquet.org.uk) for assistance. Once submitted, the office should take approximately one working day to provide the necessary access so that you may enter online.

The GC Over 50’s World Championship will take place in Bunbury, Western Australia, between 14-21 October. This will be the last Over 50’s event following a recent decision that in future the minimum age will change to 60.

Hosts wanted for future events
The forward calendar for the next 12 years can be viewed on the Upcoming Events page of this website. Clubs interested in hosting any of our events should make their interest known via their Governing Body.

Membership News

Hong Kong joins the WCF as an RCO
In December we announced that a Croquet Association has now been formed in Hong Kong. They have two clubs, the Hong Kong Cricket Club with 27 members and the Hong Kong Club with 15 playing members. In 2022 the HKCC hosted 4 tournaments and ran a league from Sept to April. These tournaments were singles and doubles Association and singles and doubles Golf. They have plans to hold National Championships next April.

Please offer them a warm welcome, and if you are in Hong Kong, why not get in touch and pay them a visit.

Croquet is doing well in Mexico
Mexico request upgrade to Associate Membership. It’s still going through a Council Vote, due to finish on 9th March, but it seems likely that our Mexico RCO, who have expanded to two clubs and are growing their Membership, will soon be upgrading to Associate Membership. They have recently built a fantastic new club house at their base in Valle de Guadalupe, which is in the heart of Mexico Wine Country on the Baja California.

Spain goes from strength to strength
Congratulations to Spain which continues to grow. Player numbers have increased again year on year and with their 2023 Subscription they have upgraded to the maximum 8 vote Membership.

The below article describes their amazing growth.

2023 WCF Hall of Fame Inductees
In 2023 we welcomed three new inductees to the WCF Hall of Fame: Geoff Young (New Zealand), Joe Hogan (New Zealand) and Khaled Younis (Egypt). Two of them were presented with their certificates during the recent World Championships in New Zealand.

Debbie Lines presents Geoff Young with his WCF Hall of Fame certificate

 

Chris Clarke presents Joe Hogan with his Hall of Fame certificate
Khaled Younis - 2023 WCF Hall of Fame Inductee

Dawson Balls update
The original Dawson ball recipe went out of production following changes to Australian product regulations which banned one of the substances used. Testing continues to recreate a recipe that meets the specification. The WCF have been advised that there has been some success. Final testing is underway so we hope production might start again soon. 

Completed WCF Business

Topic 116 – Ranking Changes Proposal: amends to the algorithm to reduce under-ranking in developing countries was passed on 4th November and implemented on 18th December

Topic 117 – For singles events, we consulted on members preferences for Single or Multi-venue events. Feedback was inconclusive but leant towards a preference for single venues but maintaining the larger entry of 80 players. The MC will bear the feedback in mind, but basically no change to the policy.

Topic 118 – Forward Calendar: Croquet England proposed moving the MacRobertson Shield to 2026. Members voted and approved the change.

Topic 119 – Equipment Regulations consultation. Thank you for your feedback, this is being reviewed and new Regulations will be put to a member vote shortly.

Topic 120 - Brian Havill was re-elected as the WCF Independent Examiner

Topic 121 – 2023 Budget: Members approved the budget. This included increasing player entrance fees to £17 per player per day. This allowed us to increase payments to our Hosts to ensure events are viable. The host now gets £15 of this for Teams event and £10 for Singles events. The WCF retains the remainder to cover our costs.

Czech Moravian Croquet Association – expansion of the facility at Telc
Topic 122, was a request for a grant for €15,000 to increase the two lawn club in Telc to four lawns.  This will greatly improve their ability to host tournaments and to grow their membership. Work to lay the new lawns started a few weeks ago.

 

November 2022 Newsletter

Congratulations Matthew Essick - 2022 Golf Croquet World Champion
Congratulations to Scotland - winners of Tier 2.1
Congratulations to Canada - winners of Tier 2.2 and promoted into 2.1 for next time!
Congratulations to the South African team, winner of Tier 3
Well done Mexico - 2020 Tier 3 Golf Croquet World Team Champions

Congratulations to our Champions!

2022 GC World Champion: Matthew Essick

2020 GC Tier 3 World Team Champions: Mexico

2022 AC WTC Champions Tier 2.1: Scotland

2022 AC WTC Champions Tier 2.2: Canada

2022 AC WTC Champions Tier 3: South Africa

The Player Surveys for these events can now be found on the WCF Website:  Championship Player Surveys

Thank you
The WCF wish to thank all the clubs that hosted events for the WCF in England earlier this year. To everyone at the clubs for releasing their lawns, and to all the volunteers where ever you are, your hard work ensures these events are a success, and we thank you.

    • The Guildford & Godalming Club for the GC Tier 3
    • The Sussex County Croquet Club for the GC World Championship
    • Budleigh Salterton for the AC World Teams Tiers 2.1, 2.2 and 3.

 

Coming up soon!

The 2022 AC World Team Championship Tier 1 (The MacRobertson Shield) is to be held at Cairnlea, Victoria, Australia, from 12-29th November 2022.

Teams of six elite croquet players will compete over 2 weeks in a series of test matches. Australia are defending champions - can they retain the title or will England, New Zealand or the USA claim the shield?

A busy live-streaming schedule is planned, providing croquet enthusiasts around the world to watch some top class croquet. To find out more go to the event website and Facebook page by clicking on the images.

We wish all the players success. Let the best team win!

Click the image to go to the dedicated event FACEBOOK page
Click the image to go to the MacRobertson Shield website

2023 Women’s AC World Championship
This will take place between 7-14 January in Canterbury, New Zealand. To find out more visit WCF Event Page: 2023 AC Women's Championship and also the Event Website Croquet New Zealand Event website

Players can still enter the Qualifier, to be held in Waikanae (North of Wellington) from 3-5 January 2023, with four places in the World Championship available. If you are eligible and interested in entering please go to the CNZ tournament page to enter. AC Women's Qualifier  The allocation date is 3rd November 2022, but if not full on that date entries will remain open until 19th December 2022.

Who will be the new AC Women's Champion?
Can Jenny Clarke, champion in 2012, retake the trophy?

2023 Under 21 World Championship
This will be held between 8 - 12 February 2023 at two clubs in Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand.  The host clubs are Croquet Mount Maunganui, 45 Kawaka Street Mount Maunganui (head-quarters), and Tauranga Croquet Club, The Domain, Cameron Road Tauranga.

Blake Fields, playing at the 2022 GC World Championship (credit: Sarah Patton)

 

Aston Wade: 2022 European Open Champion. Can he follow this with success at the U21 Championship?

Other 2023 Events (click the event name to learn more).

The 2023 AC World Championship will take place in London, England between 15-23 July.

The 2023 GC Women’s World Championship will take place in Sussex, England between 7 -14 August.

The 2023 GC Over 50’s World Championship will take place in Bunbury, Western Australia, between 14-21 October. This will be the last Over 50’s event following a recent decision that in future the minimum age will change to 60.

Hosts wanted for future events
The forward calendar for the next 12 years was published a couple of months ago. Clubs interested in hosting any of our events should make their interest known via their Governing Body.

Regulations
On 30th September 2022, the WCF Council voted to adopt new Event and Sports Regulations.These can now be viewed on the WCF Website page: WCF Statutes & Regulations

European Regional Committee (ERC) - update
The ERC Forward Calendar can now be found on the WCF European Regional Committee page of the website. Hosts are sought for some of these events. Please contact Roberts Stafeckis, chair of the ERC, if interested.

Want to watch some Croquet from home?
If so, you could take a look at the WCF YouTube Channel. It showcases some of the very best videos of top class, international croquet from around the world, as well as a few How To videos explaining the game. Use our Playlists to be taken straight to videos created by WCF Members and International croquet players. See World Championship footage, as well as National Championships from around the globe.

 

August 2022 Newsletter

Watch the Championship that is taking place right now

As this Newsletter is published we are in the middle of the GC World Championship, 30 July to 7 August at the Sussex County Croquet Club, England.

Spectators are welcome for £10 per day or £25 for the week, including a programme. Follow the links below to find out more and to get up to date results, player profiles and stories as the championship continues.

Live streaming will be taking place– links can be found on Facebook or go direct to the Croquet England YouTube channel

 

Click the image to go to the dedicated EVENT WEBSITE
Click the image to go the FACEBOOK page

 

Last week!
Last week we held the 2020 (delayed) World Team Championship Tier 3:

This event was held between 20-23 July.

The four teams competing were  the Czech Republic, Iran, Mexico and Portugal.

Mexico won with 2 wins against Portugal and the Czech Republic, and drew against the Iran team made up of Omied Hallam and some hastily convened club players who stepped into the breach when the Iranian VISAs failed to arrive in time.

Portugal came second and the Czech Republic third.

Full results can be found on Croquet Scores: 2020 GC WTC T3

Coming up soon!
The 2022 AC World Team Championships – Tiers 2.1, 2.2 and 3 will take place at Budleigh Salterton, UK, from 9-14th August 2022.
Find out more on the WCF website or click the picture to go to  the Budleigh Salterton Club page.

 

Hall of Fame reminder
Nominations for the 2022 Hall of Fame must be received by the Secretary-General, no later than 30th September 2022. Nominations can be made by any individual or by a Member Governing Body.

Here is a link to the current members, so please don’t nominate them again!


Hosts wanted for future events
The forward calendar for the next 12 years was published a couple of months ago. Clubs interested in hosting any of our events should make their interest known via their Governing Body.

The 2022 AC World Team Championship Tier 1 (The MacRobertson Shield) is to be held at Cairnlea, Victoria, Australia, from 12-29th November 2022.
Read Chris Clarke’s article "Early Preview" comparing the teams on the WCF website.


Coming soon – events early 2023 in New Zealand


The 2023 Women’s AC World Championship is confirmed for 7-14 January in Canterbury, New Zealand. The Response Date for this event has now passed and we are pleased to announce that the event has attracted many of the top women players. The breakdown of the 40 places, including award of Ranking Places can be found here.

The 2023 Under 21 World Championship will be held between 8 - 12 February 2023 at two clubs in Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand.  The host clubs are Croquet Mount Maunganui, 45 Kawaka Street Mount Maunganui (head-quarters), and Tauranga Croquet Club, The Domain, Cameron Road Tauranga.
The event capacity is 32 players. The response date is 24th August, so get your entries in now!
Competitors must be under 21 years of age on 31st December 2022.

Other 2023 Events

The 2023 AC World Championship will take place in London, England between 15-23 July.

The GC Women’s World Championship will take place in Sussex, England between 7 -14 August.

The GC Over 50’s World Championship will take place in Bunbury, Western Australia, between 14-21 October. This will be the last Over 50’s event following a recent decision that in future the minimum age will change to 60.


European Regional Committee (ERC) - update

The ERC Forward Calendar can now be found on the WCF European Regional Committee page of the website. Hosts are sought for some of these events. Please contact Roberts Stafeckis, chair of the ERC, if interested.


Our 2022 European Champions!

European GC Open Championships: Winner Aston Wade

Aston Wade is presented with the trophy by Roberts Stafeckis, Chair of the European Regional Committee of the WCF

Congratulations to Aston Wade who beat Rachel Gee 7:3, 7:2 in the final.

The  European Golf Croquet Championship took place in Budleigh Salterton, Devon between Thursday 26 May to Sunday 29 May.

Aston started playing Association Croquet in 2016 during his first year at Winchester College. He later learned to play Golf Croquet at Hamptworth Croquet Club in the summer of 2020. The following year, he won the British Open at the age of 18.

This year, Aston has been gaining experience at the international level. Since winning the 2022 European Championships he has played for the England GC team in the Test Match vs Spain as well in the GC Home Internationals and the AC Home Internationals. He is currently competing in the GC World Championship at Sussex County Croquet Club.

Aston is currently studying Medical Sciences at the University of Exeter.

European GC Women’s Championship Winner: Begoña Elzaburu

Congratulations to Begoña Elzaburu, from Spain, winner of the 2022 European Women's GC Championship.

 The  first ever Women's European Golf Croquet Championship took place in Latvia between Thursday 30th June  to Sunday 3rd  July 2022.

Begoña has been playing GC for five years. Two of her sons also play, one of whom is a previous Spanish Champion. She has represented Spain several times, including at the 2019 GC Women's World Championship. Begoña works hard for croquet, being on the committee of her club, a national referee and she is also on the WCF Management Committee. 


Basic Croquet Terms Translated

Ever wanted to know how to describe croquet in Swedish or Spanish? Well now you can! https://worldcroquet.org/basic-croquet-terms-translated/

 

May 2022 Newsletter

Forward Calendar

The current calendar only goes out to 2024. The Management Committee have been reviewing the frequency of Championships and have surveyed both Members and Players to gain feedback on this. The conclusions reached, and a proposed 12 year calendar, are currently in Consultation with members and we hope to publish the results soon.

Gender Policy

The WCF are pleased to announce that we now have a Gender Policy in place for our Championships. This can be viewed on page “Gender Policy” of the WCF website.

2022 WCF Events

The 2020 GC World Team Championship Tier 3 (delayed into 2022) is to be held at Guildford & Godalming, UK, between 20th July and 23rd July. The four teams competing are Czech Republic, Iran, Mexico and Portugal.

The 2022 GC World Championship is to be held at the Sussex County Croquet Club between 30th July and 7th August. Member place nominations close on 8th May and a list of players will be published on the WCF website shortly afterwards. A qualifier will be held 25th to 28th July, at the nearby Compton Croquet Club in nearby Eastbourne (please enter via the England CA Fixtures book).

The 2022 AC World Team Championships Tiers 2 and 3 are to be held at Budleigh Salterton, UK, from 9-14th August 2022.
** World Select Team **
Twelve teams originally entered this event but we have had a withdrawal leaving us with an awkward number of eleven. The Management Committee have decided to create a “World Select Team” made up from players from countries not otherwise competing. If you are interested in joining this team, please see the article Exciting Opportunity for more information. Applications to play should be made via your WCF Member contact by 31st May 2022.

The 2022 AC World Team Championship Tier 1 (The MacRobertson Shield) is to be held at Cairnlea, Victoria, Australia, from 12-29th November 2022.

2023 Events

The 2023 Women’s AC World Championship is confirmed for 7-14 January in Canterbury, New Zealand.

The 2023 GC Under 21 Championship is confirmed for 8-12 February in New Zealand (venue tbc).

The 2023 AC World Championship will take place in London, England between 15-23 July.

The GC Women’s World Championship will take place in Sussex, England between 7 -14 August.

The GC Over 50’s World Championship will take place in Bunbury, Western Australia, between 14-21 October. 

European Regional Committee (ERC) - update

The second meeting of the ERC was held on 19th April 2022. The key items discussed were:

  1. Daniel Larsson, from Sweden, was welcomed onto the committee. His term lasts until 31 December 2023.
  2. The ERC is exploring the possibility of organizing an under 21 European GC tournament. More information will be provided soon.
  3. The AC European Tournament will from now on take place every two years. The host for the 2024 edition will be indicated shortly.
  4. The GC European Tournament will continue to be held on a yearly basis.

For more information about this sub-section of the WCF and how it operates, please see page “Europe” on the WCF website.

ERC Events for 2022

The European Golf Croquet Championship will take place in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, England, between Thursday 26 May to Sunday 29 May.

A new European Event, the Women's Golf Croquet Championship will take place in Latvia, between Thursday 30 June and Sunday 3 July 2022.

For more information please see page “ERC – 2022 Championships” on the WCF Website.

Mohamed Raslan is elected to the Management Committee

The WCF is pleased to announce that the management committee has been joined by Mohamed Raslan from Egypt who successfully won the election that closed on 20th March 2022. He will serve until 31 December 2025.

His croquet journey started in 1982 in Alexandria, Egypt as a player for Somouha and Alexandria sporting clubs. When he moved to Cairo, he joined Maadi club and within a few years, he became involved with the team management. As the head of the team’s management committee, he led the efforts to organize a successful annual national tournament. He also facilitated corporate sponsorship allowing the team to gain financial independence. In December 2021, Raslan was elected president of the Egyptian Croquet Federation.

New GC Ranking Officer Richard Bilton

The Management Committee are pleased to announce that Richard Bilton has taken over from Stephen Mulliner as Golf Croquet Ranking Officer. Our thanks go to Stephen Mulliner for his many years of hard work.

Richard started playing Croquet in 2008 at the age of 11, and significantly improved when he joined Nottingham Croquet Club in September 2015. In January 2017, Richard was selected for the GC International Performance Development Squad, and finished 3rd place in his first English National Singles Championship (Ascot Cup) at the end of the season. At the end of 2017 he was awarded the Spiers Trophy for the most improved GC player that year. In May 2018, Richard won his first open tournament, the Hunstanton Open Series and finished the year by winning the Ascot Cup, his first GC 'major'.

Richard was part of the winning England team in the inaugural GC England v Spain Test Match. He came 5th in the 2019 GC World Championship in Sussex and went on to play for England in the 2020 GC World Team Championships in New Zealand, in which England came third.  Richard won the GC British Open Doubles Championship in 2021 while partnering Reg Bamford.

Richard is currently on the English CA Tournament Committee and GC Rules Committee. In 2020, Richard became the GC Assistant Ranking Officer for England, and he spent the latter half of 2021 shadowing Stephen Mulliner in the role of WCF GC Ranking Officer.

For the time being Richard will continue as Assistant Ranking Officer (ARO) for England. In his role as RO he is well supported by the full team of ARO's, ARO New Zealand - John Christie, ARO Spain - Felipe Mestanza, ARO United States - Jeff Soo, Peter Freer - Australia. We also thank Stephen Mulliner for continuing to enter and manage the results for Egypt.

6th Edition GC Laws Published

The WCF Management Committee are pleased to report that the 6th Edition of the WCF Golf Croquet Rules was approved by the required two-thirds majority, with 50 votes in favour and no votes against.

The new Rules will come into immediate effect for WCF Events. They can be found here: WCF GC Rules 6th Edition - Final 7.3.22. They can also be found on this website on page: The rules of golf croquet

The WCF Management Committee wish to express their thanks to the members of the GC Rules Committee for the many hours of hard work spent updating these rules.

Regulatory Updates

On 21st February 2022, the WCF Council voted to adopt new Sports and Admin Regulations. These can now be viewed on the WCF Website page: https://worldcroquet.org/wcf-business/statutes-regulations/. Council also approved their use with immediate effect in events during 2022.

All WCF regulations can be found on the WCF Website page: https://worldcroquet.org/wcf-business/statutes-regulations/

February 2022 Newsletter

Changes to Management Committee (MC)

On first January the Management Committee welcomed three new team members – Peter Payne as Treasurer and Begoña Elzaburu and Graeme Roberts as general committee members. We welcome them to the team.

In late December, Amir Ramsis resigned from the WCF MC. Amir had recently been inducted into the WCF Hall of Fame, served eight years on the committee as well as being a past WCF President. The MC would like to thank him for his many years working on behalf of croquet.

As a result of his resignation from the MC we are currently asking Members for nominations to fill the vacant position. If you are interested, please apply via your Governing Body. Nominations close 15th February, so please ensure you allow sufficient time for them to handle your application. Please see the WCF news item: https://worldcroquet.org/would-you-like-to-help-run-the-wcf-2/


Launching the European Regional Committee (ERC)

The WCF statutes now provide for the creation of a European Regional Committee (ERC) that will, once fully functional, take care of European croquet affairs, and among other matters, will run the European Championships.

ERC Committee
The committee is currently being formed. If you wish to be nominated, please apply via your governing body. For more information, see the news item on the WCF website: https://worldcroquet.org/formation-of-european-regional-committee-erc-and-invitation-to-nominate-candidates-for-the-committee/

To learn more about the ERC, please go to the new page on the WCF Website: https://worldcroquet.org/european-regional-committee-erc/


2022 WCF Events

The 2020 GC World Team Championship Tier 3 (delayed into 2022) is to be held at Guildford & Godalming, UK, between 20th July and 23rd July. The four teams competing are Czech Republic, Iran, Mexico and Portugal.

We can now confirm that the 2022 GC World Championship is to be held at the Sussex County Croquet Club between 30th July and 7th August. Invitations for this event went out on 7th January and close 17th March. Please apply through your Governing Body in plenty of time. It will be preceded by a qualifier 25th to 28th July, at the nearby Compton Croquet Club in nearby Eastbourne.

The 2022 AC World Team Championships Tiers 2 and 3 are to be held at Budleigh Salterton, UK, from 9-14th August 2022. Twelve teams have entered: Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales.  The 12 teams will be allocated into three Tiers.

The 2022 AC World Team Championship Tier 1 (The MacRobertson Shield) is to be held at Cairnlea, Victoria, Australia, from 12-29th November 2022.

The WCF and the Event Hosts are monitoring the pandemic closely and final decisions on whether to go ahead will be taken in late March.

2023 Events

The 2023 Women’s AC World Championship is confirmed for 7-14 January 2023 in Canterbury, New Zealand.

We are also in discussion with Croquet New Zealand about a junior GC event in early 2023.

The 2023 AC World Championship will take place in London, England between 15-23 July.

The GC Women’s World Championship will take place in Sussex, England between 7 -14 August.

The GC Over 50’s World Championship will take place in Bunbury, Western Australia, between 14-21 October.

2024 and beyond – we are currently reviewing the forward calendar following a Member and Player survey.

ERC Events for 2022

The European Golf Croquet Open will take place in Budleigh Salterton, Devon on the dates previously announced - Thursday 26 May to Sunday 29 May. If you wish to play in either of this event, you need to apply via your Governing Body who need to submit their player nominations to the ERC by Sunday, 27 February 2022.

A new European Event, the Women's Golf Croquet Championship will take place in Latvia, from Thursday 30 June to Sunday 3 July 2022. If you wish to play in this event, you need to apply via your Governing Body who need to submit their player nominations to the ERC by Sunday, 20 March 2022.

Your Governing Body may have their own selection criteria and timetable which you need to follow. Whatever the local procedure, please give them time to review your application and pass it on to us.


Gender Policy

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) published new guidance in November 2021. The WCF are currently reviewing this with Members and expect to have a policy in place within a few months.


GC Rules 6th edition

The GC Rules committee has been reviewing all the feedback from the recent Consultation. It is expected that this will be ready to put to a Council vote within the next few days.


Advantage GC – 2022 Update

The 2021 trial was extremely well received and as a result this new variant has been added to the draft 6th edition of the GC Rules.

Following analysis of the results from last year, the Starting Scores Tables (for both 7 point and 10 point games) have been updated for 2022. Please use the new tables which can be found at: https://worldcroquet.org/advantagegc/

 


Regulatory Updates

The following revisions have been published:

WCF Statutes version 13.4 published January 2022: the main changes are addition of statute 125-127 Regional Committees; references to Ranking Operation Committee as applicable and insertion of Statue 135 Ranking Operation Committee.

WCF Event Regulations version 5 published January 2022: addition of Section 7 – Regional WCF Event Regulations and Appendix 7.

WCF Ranking Regulations version 1.1 published January 2022: amendment to clause 4.5

All WCF regulations can be found on the WCF Website page: https://worldcroquet.org/wcf-business/statutes-regulations/

 

November 2021 Newsletter

We are pleased to report that between 11-16 October, in Cadiz Spain, we held the delayed 2020 GC World Team Championship Tier 2.

Held at the Real Club de Golf Vista Hermosa in Puerto Santa Maria, the Sherry Golf Jerez, and at the Real Club de Golf Novo Sancti Petri. Six full teams, plus a reduced Canadian team and a Select team, competed for the World Croquet Federation Salver.

Spain were seeded top and successfully beat second seeds Wales in the final by 10 matches to 3. The plate was won by Switzerland who beat Latvia. Players from Portugal and the UK joined the Canadian team and the Select teams to allow the event to continue with the scheduled 8 team format.

Spain celebrate their win.

For full details please see our News Item on the WCF website: GCWTC T2 Spain News Item and the event website: https://gcwtspain2021.com/

 

Stephen Mulliner Retires as Secretary-General

Stephen Mulliner retired on 31st August 2021 as Secretary-General of the WCF. During his tenure, the WCF has taken responsibility for managing the AC Laws, GC Rules and the Rankings as well as holding many successful championships.

Stephen was presented with a thank you gift from the WCF Management Committee on his retirement as Secretary-General on 31st August 2021.

Stephen has worked tirelessly to support croquet and will be missed by his colleagues on the Management Committee and all the Members he has supported so efficiently.

Stephen is replaced by Debbie Lines, who took over from 1st September 2021, after shadowing Stephen as his Deputy during the previous year.

We wish Stephen all the best with his future endeavours and hope to see him at many croquet events over the coming years.

2022 Events

The 2020 GC World Team Championship Tier 3 (delayed into 2022) is to be held at Guildford & Godalming, UK, between 20th July and 23rd July.

We can now confirm that the 2022 GC World Championship is to be held at the Sussex County Croquet Club between 30th July and 7th August. It will be preceded by a qualifier 25th to 28th July, venue tbc.

The 2022 AC World Team Championships Tiers 2 and 3 are to be held at Budleigh Salterton, UK, from 9-14th August 2022.

The 2022 AC World Team Championship Tier 1 (The MacRobertson Shield) is to be held at Cairnlea, Victoria, Australia, from 12-29th November 2022.

The WCF and the Event Hosts are monitoring the pandemic closely. As a result, the Invitation Dates for the above events will be delayed until approximately 5 to 6 months prior to the event start.


Event Frequency Survey – Forward calendar

A Member Consultation, requested by Croquet New Zealand, was recently concluded. It considered the merits of a reduction in the frequency of WCF Singles Events to reduce both time pressure and costs for players and Members.

The result of the consultation was inconclusive. The WCF therefore decided to undertake a Top Player Survey. This went out to circa 600 GC and AC players in mid-October. We are currently awaiting feedback before collating and analysing the results.


Elections for Treasurer and Management Committee

The nomination period finished 31st October. We received more nominations than there are open positions. Elections for both the Management Committee and Treasurer positions have therefore started with Member votes due by 5th December.


Gender Policy

The WCF has been consulting with our Members over the past twelve months regarding our Gender Policy. Following feedback from Members it was decided to wait for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to update their policy after the Tokyo Olympics. The IOC have recently advised that they are delaying the publication of their new ‘framework’ until after the February 2022 Winter Olympics. As there are no immediate Women’s events planned, the Management Committee has decided to wait until this is available before finalising our policy.

July 2021 Newsletter

As we get halfway through 2021, the pandemic continues to disrupt our croquet activities around the world. A lot of croquet is being played within each member country, but very little travel is possible, and this situation is expected to continue for some time.

2021 Events
WCF GC World Team Championship Tier 2 – October 2021
Tier 2 of the Golf Croquet World Team Championship is due to be held in Spain from 11th to 16th October 2021 at the Real Club de Golf Vista Hermosa in Puerto Santa Maria, the Sherry Golf Jerez, and at the Real Club de Golf Novo Sancti Petri. Eight teams, namely the Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland and Wales, will compete for the World Croquet Federation Salver.

At this time both Spain and the WCF hope that this event will go ahead as planned. A decision regarding this event will be made shortly.

2022 Events

The WCF recently announced that the three championships planned to be held in New Zealand in January and February 2022 will not now take place as scheduled. New Zealand is currently considering alternative dates for the Women’s AC World Championship and the U21 GC World Championships.

    • 2022 GC WC - the WCF is in discussions with the English CA and Sussex County Croquet Club with a view to hopefully being able to hold the  event in England.
    • 2022 GC World Team Championship Tier 3 (previously the 2020 event) - this is now due to take place at Guildford & Godalming, UK, next summer – dates and details to be confirmed soon. The teams competing are Iran, Mexico, Portugal and Uruguay.
    • 2022 AC World Team Championships Tiers 2 and 3 - this is due to be held at Budleigh Salterton, UK, from 9-14th August 2022.
    • 2022 AC World Team Championship Tier 1 (The MacRobertson Shield) - this is due to be held at Cairnlea, Victoria, Australia, from 12-28th November 2022.

2023 and beyond

A Member Consultation is currently in progress at the request of Croquet New Zealand. It considers the merits of a reduction in the number of WCF Singles Events to reduce both time pressure and costs for Players and Members. The suggestion from Croquet New Zealand is to move the Golf Croquet World Championships and Association Croquet World Championships to a four (4) year cycle and to extend the U21 Golf Croquet World Championships to every three (3) years. This would be a change to the current two year cycle.

This consultation ends on Sunday 1st August and the WCF will review the forward schedule after this date. The current WCF Upcoming Events calendar can be found at: https://worldcroquet.org/world-championships/upcoming-events/


Chris Clarke is appointed WCF Treasurer
The WCF is pleased to announce that Chris Clarke has been elected as the new WCF Treasurer.

For the news article, please visit the WCF Website: https://worldcroquet.org/new-wcf-treasurer-announced/

 

 


Ranking Regulations

The Ranking Regulations were published on 22nd June and can be found on our website. For the news article and for further information, please visit the WCF Website: https://worldcroquet.org/wcf-announce-publication-of-ranking-regulations/


New interest in joining the WCF

  • Hong Kong has approached the WCF requesting more information about joining. They currently play at the Hong Kong Cricket Club.
  • A group from France has also requested information. There are several small clubs playing a mix of garden croquet and GC.

We are still in discussions with these groups and hope to report more soon.


Advantage GC

The Advantage GC trial has now been operating for a couple of months and feedback, from both the official trial and others who are trying it, is all very positive. Suggestions for improvement are being collated, but we do not intend to make changes until the end of the trial at the end of the UK playing season. Please continue to give this a try and pass your thoughts on to us via our dedicated email address advantagegc@worldcroquet.org


Do you want to help run the WCF?

In the early autumn the WCF will be requesting nominees from our Members for three vacancies on the Management Committee. If you would like to know more, please feel free to contact any of the existing WCF Management Committee, or Debbie Lines, who will be happy to talk through what is involved. To be considered you will need to be formally nominated by your Member organisation when the request comes out in late September.

March 2021 Newsletter

Upcoming Events
Since our last newsletter the Covid vaccination program has begun to roll out and things appear to be improving at last. However, it is too early to confirm any events. We have already decided that the July GC World Team Championship Tier 3 at Guildford and Godalming will be postponed to 2022. With only smaller members participating, this can be done without otherwise disrupting our calendar of events.

Decisions will be made in the coming months with regard to the Tier 2 event scheduled for October in Spain and the three WCF New Zealand Events scheduled for early 2022.

The WCF Upcoming Events calendar can be found at: worldcroquet.org/world-championships/upcoming-events/

WCF Treasurer wanted
The closing date for applications is 31 March 2021. Those interested can see the full job notice at: worldcroquet.org/would-you-like-to-be-wcf-treasurer/

Our new look website
We launched the new website in late February worldcroquet.org/
We would like to ask for more pictures please, particularly for the Championship Archive page: worldcroquet.org/world-championships/championship-archives/ We are trying to use the site to collect and store photos from these past events for everyone to enjoy. If people have commentary or old tournament reports to share, these would also be welcome additions to the tournament archives.

Many people have previously asked the WCF to provide a global list of clubs and events. This would be extremely difficult to keep up to date but we have made some progress and would draw your attention to the following two website links:

WCF Membership page: links to the relevant pages of our Member organisations' websites are included for both Clubs and Upcoming Events, where these are available worldcroquet.org/member-countries/

Oxford Croquet
: this website, maintained by Dr Ian Plummer, includes an interactive map of worldwide croquet clubs. www.oxfordcroquet.com/clubs/index.asp

YouTube Channel
Our YouTube Channel has proved very popular and this means we now have enough subscribers for YouTube to allow us to customise the URL. Please take a look to view and enjoy video footage from some of our past World Championships youtube.com/c/WorldCroquet

Regulations & Laws Updates:
- The 7th edition of the Association Croquet Laws was approved by Council on 24 January 2021: worldcroquet.org/croquet-information/association-croquet/the-laws-of-association-croquet/

- Version 5.1 of the Refereeing Regulations was approved on 7 March 2021: worldcroquet.org/wcf-business/statutes-regulations/

- Sports Regulations: a temporary amendment to Appendix 2 paragraph 2.3 was approved by Council on 21 February 2021. This recognises that, due to Covid, limited games may have been played and allows 24 months of ranking data to be used to determine eligibility for Ranking Places, instead of 12 months, for the next three WCF singles events. worldcroquet.org/temporary-amendment-to-sports-regulations/

- Ranking Regulation Consultation with Members: this closed on 7th March 2021. The comments will be considered before a version is proposed for approval by Council.

Latvia Project

Latvia new clubhouse.

Here is the latest photo from the new club being developed in Latvia with the help of WCF grant funding.

A walkway is to be built between the two huts.

November 2020 newsletter

Coronavirus and the WCF 10 year Championship Schedule

The re-building of the schedule following the one year postponement of events is taking shape and there are now confirmed dates for all the events in 2021 and 2022 – which we hope will stand the test of time!

GC World Team Championship Tier 3

Dates:   Tuesday 20 to Saturday 24 July 2021

Venue:  Guildford & Godalming Croquet Club, England

GC World Team Championship Tier 2

Dates:   Monday 11 to Saturday 16 October 2021

Venue:  Real Club de Golf Vista Hermosa, Sherry Club and Real Novo Sancti Petri Golf Club, all of which are near Cadiz in southern Spain.

Women’s Association Croquet World Championship

Dates:   Wednesday 5 to Wednesday 12 January 2022

Venue:  Christchurch, New Zealand

Under 21 Golf Croquet World Championship

Dates:   Sunday 6 to Thursday 10 February 2022

Venue:  Claudelands, Hamilton East and Morrinsville Croquet Clubs, New Zealand

Golf Croquet World Championship

Dates:   Saturday 12 to Sunday 20 February 2022

Venue:  Croquet Mount Maunganui, Matamata, Tauranga and Whatakane Croquet Clubs, New Zealand

Association Croquet World Team Championships, Tiers 2 and 3

Dates:   Tuesday 9 to Sunday 14 August 2022

Venue:  Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club, England

All these arrangements are necessarily subject to the state of the pandemic and any restrictions placed on travel or overseas entry to the relevant countries.  The MC is keeping the situation under review and will make an announcement about each event approximately six months before it is due to be held.

Looking further ahead, the plans for events in 2023 and 2024 are available on our Upcoming Events page at http://worldcroquet.org/world-croquet-federation/upcoming-events/

Members will be consulted shortly with a revised plan for 2025-2030 accommodating a MacRobertson Shield in 2025.

Hall of Fame

The WCF Hall of Fame was relaunched in 2019 after a five year hiatus and the WCF MC exercised its right to elect one member per annum by inducting Bryan Dawson (AUS), the inventor and developer of the Dawson 2000 croquet ball.  Bryan was formally inducted during the opening ceremony of the 2020 Association Croquet World Championship which provided the players present with an opportunity to express their loud appreciation of his great contribution to the sport.

The WCF Hall of Fame Committee elected five new members in November 2020, all of whom have made a notable contribution to the game either as players, administrators or supporters.

Bob Alman (USA), a noted croquet organiser and populariser and the publisher of Croquet Online

Jose Alvarez-Sala (ESP), the founder and President of the Federación Española de Croquet

Jenny Clarke (NZL), one of the foremost women players of her generation

Salah Hassan (EGY), winner of the Golf Croquet World Championship in 1998 and 2000

Chris Hudson (ENG), the first Secretary-General of the WCF

Their citations can be found on our Hall of Fame pages here

Latvian Club project

This year, the WCF awarded its largest ever grant to the Latvian Croquet Federation to assist it in developing a new three-court club at Ikskile.  Work began in May with major groundworks including the installation of an underground automatic watering system with 10 high power sprinklers.  The courts were seeded by mid-July with a mixture of six different species of red fescue and has been growing well so far.  The first of the two clubhouses has just been finished.  The other clubhouse, which will have a large terrace for spectators, will be commissioned in January to be ready by April.

Regular play is expected to begin in May 2021.  The first international tournament will be the 10th holding of the traditional Baltic Open GC tournament.  This will take place as usual on the first weekend of September.

YouTube channel

The WCF MC is delighted to announce the launch of the WCF YouTube channel.  It provides a great collection of croquet video footage and is available at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeyP1BjtSwyDF3A5n142ffw/

Several playlists have been created that showcase some of the best croquet footage from recent World Championships.  These include both Association Croquet and Golf Croquet and women’s and U21 events as well.  There are also some other top class videos from European or national events.

When you click on the videos in the playlists, you will be taken into the original contributors’ YouTube channel.  We hope you enjoy the collections and the WCF MC thanks the many excellent videographers who have taken the time to film these events over the years.

If you are aware of any footage that is missing and that you think should be included, please let us know.

Stephen Mulliner

Secretary-General

22 December 2020

August 2020 Newsletter

WCF Newsletter – August/September 2020

Deputy Secretary-General

Debbie Lines (ENG) has been appointed as the WCF Deputy-Secretary General with effect from 1 September 2020.  This is a succession planning position and it is intended that Debbie will take over from Stephen Mulliner as Secretary-General when his term of office ends on 31 August 2021.

Debbie was introduced to croquet in childhood and soon became a first-class player, culminating in representing Great Britain in the 1996 MacRobertson Shield.  She has excellent qualifications for the WCF role after a career in industry in senior finance and change management positions.

Sweden elected as a Full Member

Sweden have successfully applied to change their WCF membership status from Associate Member to Full Member.  They become the WCF’s 11th Full Member.

 

Development Committee

This committee has been established, with an initial membership of Ian Burridge (Wales & WCF MC), Roberts Stafeckis (Latvia & WCF MC), Begoña Elzaburu (Spain), Sally Harper (Australia), Brian Lozano (USA), Logan McCorkindale (New Zealand), David Openshaw (England), John Swabey (Germany) and Rick Zazueta (Mexico).  In the first instance the Committee will be looking at the following areas:-

The recruitment of RCOs and development of existing Members

Development and growth of croquet in Continental Europe

Increasing the numbers of referees and coaches

Increasing the number of young players

Increasing participation in croquet generally and particularly in Association Croquet

The sharing of useful resources amongst all Members (Global Resources)

Working Groups

The WCF MC has created four specialist working groups to investigate the following areas, with initial reports expected from each by the end of the year:

Establishing a Global Handicap System

Establishing a Global Game and Player Database

An alternative to the current game of handicap Golf Croquet

Developing on-line referee training and certification.

New Latvian Club Progress Report

Roberts Stafeckis reports from Ikskile, Latvia:

“The groundworks are finished and the grass is growing.  The grass is a mixture of 60% Chewing’s Fescue and 40% Creeping Red Fescue.  Two and half months after seeding, it shows good results.  A 20-foot sea container has been purchased for use a storage facility.  A second-hand Toro Flex 2100 mower has been purchased and is being used for the courts as well as a household Hecht 5564 SXE mower for the green areas around the courts.  Next on the agenda is the selection of a company to build the first of the two small buildings that will together serve as a clubhouse.  The other one will be built next year as soon as the number of members increases.”