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/