Category: Latest News

Formation of European Regional Committee [ERC] and Invitation to Nominate Candidates for the Committee

The WCF is delighted to announce, that following a recent WCF Council vote, our statutes now provide for the creation of a European Regional Committee (ERC) as a sub-committee of the WCF. The ERC will fill the gap left by the now defunct European Croquet Federation. As such it will run the European Championships and work to develop croquet within Europe.

We therefore now need to put a committee in place. In accordance with the agreed WCF statutes, this committee will consist of 5 representatives, elected by European WCF Full and Associate members (see list at end of this email). Nominations may be received from European Members, Associates or RCOs but only Full and Associate members will be entitled to vote should an election be required.

This committee will be joined on an ex officio, non-voting basis, by the members of the WCF Management Committee from European Members, one of whom will be chosen by the new elected committee as the Chair. The Chair will have a casting vote should the elected committee be tied on a decision.
Note: MC members may also choose to stand for election to the ERC, in which case they would be entitled to vote if elected.

The Terms of Reference for the Committee can be read here: ERC Terms of Reference version 1

Nominations should be made via your Governing Body who need to submit them to the WCF Secretary-General by the Closing Date of 20th February 2022. Please allow time for them to pass them on. Your application should include a brief résumé that can be used if we have more than five applicants and need to hold an election.

If an election is required, a formal Notice of Election will be emailed to the European Members together with a closing date, which will be the first Sunday four weeks later. Votes received after the Closing Date will not be counted. In the event of a tie, the decision will be made by drawing lots. Successful candidates will take office immediately.

Applicants will normally hold office for a four-year term. However, to ensure some retention and cross-over of experience, this first committee will be split into two groups:
i) 3 will remain in post until 31st December 2025
ii) 2 will remain in post until 31st December 2023
The split will be drawn by lots at the first meeting of the committee. At the end of their term, committee members may re-stand for election.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask either myself or Roberts Stafeckis who is acting as ERC Liaison in this interim period.

Debbie Lines - WCF Secretary-General
Roberts Stafeckis - on behalf of the ERC

Update to WCF Ranking Regulations

The WCF is pleased to announce the publication of version 1.1 of the Ranking Regulations.The only change is to amend clause 4.5 from 50% to 75%. It now reads:

4.5     Open nature of event
An event is not an Eligible Event if more than 75% of the places are reserved for members of one club.

The new version of the Regulation can be downloaded here: WCF Rankings Regulations version 1.1 or on the Statutes & Regulations page of this website.

The change was requested by Spain who have been struggling to run tournaments and grow our sport in an environment where nearly all their clubs are member-only sports clubs. The WCF Ranking Operations Committee (ROC) reviewed the request and concluded that no harm or damage was likely to result from this change. WCF Council voted to approve the change on 17th January 2022.

GC Country Rankings as at 31st December 2021

The latest GC Team Rankings (as at 31 December 2021) are:

Position

Country

Average

Players

1

Egypt

2,548

6

2

England

2,461

6

3

New Zealand

2,412

6

4

USA

2346

6

5

Australia

2,301

6

6

Spain

2,249

6

7

Wales

2,174

6

8

South Africa

2,164

6

9

Canada

2,144

6

10

Ireland

2,048

6

11

Sweden

2,021

6

12

Germany

1,996

6

13

Switzerland

1,986

6

14

Latvia

1,952

6

15

Scotland

1,942

6

16

Austria

1,924

6

17

Norway

1,871

6

18

Czech Republic

1,828

3

19

Finland

1,706

3

20

Mexico

1,607

3

21

Belgium

2,339

1

22

Jersey

2,008

1

Would you like to help run the WCF?

Amir Ramsis resigned from the Management Committee (MC) on 26th December 2021. The MC wish to thank Amir for his many years of service, including his 8 years as President, and wish him well with all his future endeavours.

This leaves a vacant position on the MC. We will therefore run an election, firstly asking Members for nominations, then following with a Council vote should we get more than one candidate.

If you are interested in helping to run the WCF, please contact your governing body and they will explain in full what is required for your nomination. Applicants from RCOs are welcomed but you need to be aware that you must be nominated by a Full or Associate Member.

Nominations are required into the WCF by Sunday 13th February 2022 at the latest, so please allow time to liaise with your nominating Member so that they have time to process your application.

I am happy to talk to anybody who wishes to discuss what is involved.

Debbie Lines
WCF Secretary-General

Terms of Reference for the Management Committee

The MC shall settle urgent questions and have general administrative powers to carry out the work of the WCF and manage its financial affairs on a day-to-day basis, subject to the direction of Council.  The role includes condensing issues into a manageable size in order to facilitate Council considering them efficiently and in reasonable timeframes. Its terms of reference are:

    1. To implement policy and actions in pursuit of the agreed direction given by Council.
    2. To present to Council an annual plan for the following year including a budget.
    3. To manage the operating funds according to the budget.
    4. To inform Council regularly of progress, activity and issues.
    5. To prepare proposals and make recommendations as part of formal Consultations to Council.
    6. To distribute to relevant sub-committees the tasks they are to execute, to oversee their activity, to take decisions concerning the reports of these sub-committees, and to forward them to Council.
    7. To present to Council recommendations for the admission, the striking off the rolls, or expelling of Members, as well as for any sanctions which might be imposed.
    8. To monitor the Statutes with a view to identifying possible improvements for proposal to Council.
    9. To maintain and approve all WCF Regulations, subject to ratification by Council.
    10. To manage a rolling 10 Year Schedule of events, to solicit bids against this plan once approved by Council, to assess bids and reach formal agreement with the host Member, and to ensure the event is organised according to Statutes and Regulations.
    11. To publish the International Sporting Calendar for the year(s) ahead.
    12. To gain Council approval for any novel event types not already included in an approved 10 Year Championship Schedule, before soliciting bids.
    13. To promptly alert Council should the MC consider that the sporting interests of the WCF are not adequately defended in a particular territory.
    14. To appoint or dismiss the Secretary-General.

Advantage GC

Latest News - Advice released 30th June 2025

Advice to Tournament Managers for TIME-LIMITED ADVANTAGE PLAY GAMES

It has recently been brought to the Management Committees attention by the WCF Advantage Rules Committee and Golf Croquet Rules Committee, that the current GC rules do not adequately cover how to determine the winner of Time-limited Advantage games if play is stopped before either side has reached its target score.

The intent is that this omission will be addressed in the next edition of the GC Rules. In the meantime, we advise National Governing Bodies to deal with this by releasing advice to the managers of their tournaments.

The GCRC recommendation is to use the concept of ‘Scoring Fractions’ to determine who has won once play has stopped, as defined by Rules19.1. Stated simply, this means dividing the number of hoops a side has actually won (when play has stopped), by the total number they needed to win at the start of the game.

Example:

Side A: started on -1 and therefore needed to score 8 points to win a typical 13-point game.

Side B: started on 2 and therefore needed to score 5 points.

If the score was 4:5 when play was stopped,

      • side A would have won 4 - (-1) = 5 hoops with a scoring fraction of 5/8 = 62.5%, and
      • side B would have won 5 - (2) = 3 hoops with a scoring fraction of 3/5 = 60%.

Therefore, Side A wins the game, having achieved the higher scoring fraction.

Unless the organising body has stated that tied games are allowed, if the scoring fractions are equal when play is stopped, play is to continue and the side that wins the next hoop is the winner of the game.

This advice only impacts Rules 19.1.4, 19.1.5 and 19.1.6.

Advantage GC Committee

On 22nd February Members voted to approve the set-up of an Advantage GC committee. This is a sub-committee of GC Rules Committee. The WCF Statutes were amended to include a new clause 133.9 which defines the structure of the committee.

The current members of the committee are listed below. They will serve a four year term ending on 21st February 2029.

Roy Tillcock (Chair)
Chris Roberts
John Borner
Robert Ey
GC Rules Committee representative: Ian Shore
Management Committee representative: Roberts Stafeckis

2024/25 - Minor amendments   *December 2024 update*

Now that Advantage GC has been launched for a couple of years, Roy Tillcock has kindly reviewed the data and has produced improved Starting Tables. The WCF Management Committee have reviewed these with Roy and believe that these represent an improvement on the previous tables.

One major change is that the tables now have starting scores in the previously blanked out grey section. These games are unlikely to be played often, being games where the standards of the players is very different, but have been included for completeness. The tables include a warning that games in this grey area “may involve either excessively long or very short games”.

We appreciate that the time uncertainty may cause concern, particularly with respect to Managers and the scheduling of these games in their tournaments. The use of time limits has been proposed as a possible solution. The WCF recommend Managers consider the likely disruption these games might cause and plan accordingly.

To avoid distribution of out-dated documentation you are strongly advised to publish a link to this PAGE and not links to individual FILES. The most recent version of Advantage GC will always be accessible here.

How-to-play-Advantage-GC-Complete 2024-25 revision (Dec 24)

If you've not tried this variant yet, then we invite you all to give the game a try and, if you wish to, please send us feedback. Please let us know your impressions and observations and also provide game results which show the handicaps and/or DGrades of the players.  Please use the dedicated email address set up for this purpose – advantagegc@worldcroquet.org

History of Advantage GC

The existing form of handicap GC uses extra strokes and is played mainly in Australia, England, and New Zealand and almost nowhere else.  It is not generally regarded as the optimal way of allowing players of different abilities to compete on equal terms.

In 2020, the WCF Management Committee (“MC”) obtained details from the Croquet Association of Ireland of a form of handicap GC that it had used successfully in recent years.  This did not use extra strokes but instead gave the weaker player an advantage in the form of a certain number of hoops.  Unlike the current form of handicap GC, this version did not require different tactics from the level game and it was believed that this made it easier for new and improving players to develop.

The MC then established a Working Group with representatives from Australia, England, Latvia, Uruguay and USA with the task of coming up with a statistically sound and yet simple-to-use algorithm which would give both players a 50/50 chance of winning a game through an adjustment of the number of hoops that needed to be scored by one or both players to win a game.

The Working Group developed a form of GC which was named “Advantage GC”. After exploring options, the MC decided to work with Roy Tillock from the Southern Federation to run a series of trials starting in 2021.

2021 Official Trial Results
An official trial took place during the English CA's Southern Croquet Federation (SCF) 2021 League season.

The MC are pleased to report that the trial was completed successfully, with both good data and subjective feedback received.

Roy Tillcock, who organised the trial, has analysed this data and it is extremely encouraging. We know that many clubs around the world tested the new variant, and their feedback was also extremely favourable. We thank everyone who has helped test the game and submitted their data.

The full results can be seen here > SCF 2021 Advantage Trial Report

2022 update - amendments identified
The trial showed that most people felt this game provided a closer experience to level play GC than using extra strokes. The data showed that this variant provided closer matches than the use of extra strokes. Previous analysis has shown that extra strokes generally favours the stronger player, however, data collected over some 836 games of Advantage GC, showed that in some cases there was a slight advantage for the weaker player. To correct this, the Starting Scores Table was been amended.

2023 update - further amendments identified
After capturing further data during the 2022 season, amendments to the tables were approved by the WCF GC Rules Committee in July 2023. Please ensure you use the file at the top of this page which includes the latest information.

2024 update - amended with:
- how to score timed games, and
- the addition of starting scores in the 'grey section' of the table.

 

2024/5 Advantage GC Starting Scores Table - First to 7 Points

An example Advantage Post - useful for placing starting clips to avoid overloading hoop 1

GC Rules 6th Edition – Consultation Draft published * Interim Update 22-12-21 *

** Update ** 22nd December 2021
The GC Rules committee has shared an interim update of the proposed changes, following feedback received so far through this consultation. The Interim Update document below includes a Changes Log and the Rules in the form that will be submitted to Members for approval in due course if no further changes are thought necessary.  The Rules are also fully commented in the text to explain the reasons for each change.

The purpose of sharing this document now is to allow further feedback to the WCF GCRC before the consultation closes on 15 January 2022.

Your attention is also drawn to the fact that the WCF GCRC will not reach a final view on the responses to the two Consultation Questions concerning Rules 5.1 and 10.5 until the end of the Consultation Period.  The draft alternative wordings are on page 45 of the Rules section of the Interim Update document.

6th Ed public consultation Rules Version 21Dec21 Interim Update

Original Post
The WCF Golf Croquet Rules Committee has published a Consultation Draft of the proposed 6th Edition of the WCF Rules of Golf Croquet. The relevant documents are:

6th Ed public consultation_Introductory Statement
6th Ed public consultation_Rules
6th Ed public consultation_Comparison with 5th Edition
6th Ed public consultation_Consultation Questions

Comments on the Draft are welcomed from all interested parties and should be made via your Governing Body or its Golf Croquet Rules Committee.

The Consultation Period ends on 15 January 2022 and it is hoped that the final form of the 6th Edition will be in place by early next year.