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