2023-08-23

HORSHAM CROQUET CLUB OPENING DAY held on Thursday 17/8/2023

Di Trotter from triple H Community Radio opened the Horsham Croquet Club by “running” the first blue ball through the hoop for our season 2023-2024

Unfortunately, the Weather was rather cold and damp, although 26 Club members managed to brave the conditions before lunch and played 2 13/hoop games. After lunch every one stayed nice and warm inside the air-conditioned club room and enjoyed a lovely social chat as the weather definitely was not going to improve.

 After a tasty afternoon tea and a cuppa was served up for all to enjoy, everyone went home rather tired to rest their weary bodies (not necessary from playing croquet though)

Thanks to all who helped in any way making this day possible.

...more

2023-08-20

”Carnival of Croquet“ at Cairnlea

A very successful and  enjoyable weekend was held at the ” Carnival of Croquet “ on August 19^th to 20^th.  Many participants came to Cairnlea for the 1^st time and enjoyed  the weekend of fun. Thanks to participants Rosie and Lynette who travelled from Traralgon, Janet and Margaret from Bacchus Marsh , Melinda, and Ray from Queenscliff, David and Clare from Kew , Loretta from Mooroopna and  the Eaglehawk club who supported the weekend  along with local participants who took time out to improve knowledge and skills.

Thanks sincerely to Kevin Beard for AC coaching, Elaine Coverdale for Gateball coaching and special thanks to Sarina and Maurice Cevaal-Hewitt for their coaching expertise in Golf croquet, Aussie, Ricochet and Snake in the Grass. The skill and expertise of these coaches put everyone at ease and ensured we all had a positive and fun experience. Part of the fun was meeting all the new faces and learning about their croquet experiences and travel.

...more

Victorian Women's and Men’s Association Croquet Championships

The Victorian Croquet Centre at Cairnlea hosted the Association Croquet Women’s and Men’s Championships on the weekend of 2^nd and 3^rd September. We had some interstate players – Nerida Taylor and Tim Murphy from NSW and Dwayne McCormick from SA.  Also, it was great to have Greg Fletcher playing again.  He is living in Germany and playing a few tournaments while on a shortish visit to Australia.

There was a field of 6 in the Women’s event and so they all played each other in a round robin.  Elaine Coverdale (Essendon) and Tricia Devlin (Castlemaine) both won 4 out of their 5 games and played off in the final. Tricia got a bit of a start with both balls but lost the innings.  Elaine played some great shots to start her first break of 9 including a take-off the full length of the lawn and then a superb 30-yard rush from corner 3 to hoop 1.  Her second break was equally impressive. Elaine won the final 21-4 for her 4^th Victorian AC Women’s Championship.

There were 2 blocks of 6 in the Men’s.  Dwayne McCormick (Norwood, SA) won all his games in Block A and Greg Fletcher (Ballarat Alexandra) was 2^nd after losing his only game to Dwayne.  In Block B, Greg Hill (Brunswick) won all of his games and Ken Bald (Kalimna Park) was 2^nd with 4 wins out of 5.

In the first semi-final, Dwayne McCormick did his 2^nd triple Peel of the tournament to beat Ken Bald 26TP-9.  In the other semi, Greg Hill prevailed over Greg Fletcher 26-22 in a close fought game that could have gone either way.  The final was played on Court 2 and Greg Hill beat Dwayne McCormick 14-13 in a game that could be described as scrappy, but was quite exciting for us spectators.  This was Greg’s first Victorian AC Men’s Championship win.

The full results can be found at:

https://croquetscores.com/2023/ac/vca-womens-singles-championship and https://croquetscores.com/2023/ac/vca-mens-singles-championship

Thanks again to Lester Hughes and Suhail Hondi for mowing the courts, Chas Quinn, Tim Murphy and Greg Hill for setting the courts and all the players and referees for clearing the courts afterwards.  Many hands make light work!

Many thanks to the referees Brian Foley, Mike Cohn and Chas Quinn for with work covering 9 courts over both days of the weekend. 

Thanks also to the players for their wonderful display of skills and for making this event a priority at the start of the new croquet season.

Kevin Beard
Tournament Manager

Photos

Victorian Women's AC winner Elaine Coverdale (Essendon) with Men's winner Greg Hill (Brunswick).jpg
Elaine Coverdale (Essendon) being presented with her Vic Women's trophy.jpg
Greg Hill (Brunswick) being presented with his Vic Men's Championship trophy.jpg
AC Women's Runner up Tricia Devlin (Quarry Hill) with Tournament Manager Kevin Beard.jpg

edit

2023-09-07

Robert Fletcher success in England

Croquet Victoria congratulates Robert Fletcher on taking out the 2023 British Golf Croquet Open. Robert defeated Reg Bamford of South Africa, 7-0 & 7-5 in the final.

 Robert began his Championship campaign with wins over Richard Bilton and Aston Wade of England before beating Stephen Mulliner, also of England 7-5 & 7-5 to qualify for the final.

...more

2023-09-10

Association Croquet – Brian Reither Challenge Cup 2023

The Victorian Croquet Centre at Cairnlea hosted the Brian Reither Challenge Cup on the weekend of 9th and 10th September. This is the third year the event has been run and it is named in honour of Croquet Victoria Life Member, Brian Reither.  Brian kindly offered to be Tournament Manager this year.

There was a field of 10 playing in two round robin blocks of five.  In Block A, Robert Fletcher won all four of his games while Greg Hill lost only one game, which was to Robert.  In Block B, the 3rd seed Lachlan Berryman was the standout winning all his games.  Second place getter in the block was Greg Fletcher with 3 wins from 4 games. Greg completed two triple peels whilst Lachlan completed one.

...more