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.
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- 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.