Author: alisonadmin

The first time that you play a double-banked game, the idea of 8 balls on one lawn can be quite daunting. In many games, you hardly notice the other game, as you never seem to get in one another’s way, but occasionally there are games when you want to be in the same spot at the same time. There are a few simple rules which help to make games run smoothly.

1. When starting your turn always stop before you step onto the lawn to check that you are not walking across the path of the person in play.
2. Be aware of the other game, whilst in play  -  it is easy to become so engrossed in your game that you become oblivious to the other game.
3. Mark any ball that may be in the way of your shot, having first obtained permission from the person in play.  If in any doubt MARK IT – operator error can result in balls going off course.
4. Replace any marked balls before you play your next shot and at the same time let the players from the other game know.
5. If both games want the same hoop (the usual place a bottleneck occurs) then give way to the person there first. If you arrive together, then give way to the person most likely to get out of the way first. If in any doubt, give way to the game with the least marking to be done.

When marking balls please remember to use plastic markers, NEVER metal ones or coins which, if forgotten to be picked up, can cause immense damage to a mower.

Mark balls accurately by taking either the peg or the wire of a hoop as a guide and place the marker behind the ball in question before lifting it. If in any doubt as to how to mark the ball, then use two markers and place them either side of the ball.

If a ball is in a critical position it should not be marked; you should wait until it is cleared.  If it is going to hold up your game too much, then it must be marked very carefully, preferably by a referee.

Full details on Double Banking can be found in the Laws of Association Croquet - LAW 52.

She left me all day looking after the dog 
but being on nights, I slept like a log. 
Had to mop up the wet patch on rising at one - 
The dog is quite lucky I don't have a gun! 

I'm a martyr to croquet, the game played by kings; 
well, by Prescott at least, it's near the same thing. 
A civilised sport, where the winner buys tea 
and each player must act as his own referee. 

Outsiders and journalists both tend to scoff 
about vicars and Chequers and blazer-clad toffs, 
and cads and young ladies at skullduggery 
after hitting their balls to the far shrubbery. 

It's really not like that, it's quite a good game, 
not tainted by boot money, betting or fame: 
but there's one thing that stops it from being sublime -
it's the fact that it takes such a bloody long time! 

You each have two balls to get through six hoops, 
going one way to start, then back round in a loop, 
then each of them must hit a stout wooden peg 
which is set in the middle, half as thick as your leg. 

You play it in breaks, bit like snooker on grass, 
till you make a mistake, then the innings will pass 
to your oppo, then you must go back and sit "out" 
and try not to nod off, in case there's a shout 

of "ANKLES!" which means a ball bound your way 
and you jump, or to Casualty hobble away, 
as the balls are rock hard and roll like the wind 
and could easily fracture an incautious shin. 

You play with a mallet, a work of real craft; 
lignum vitae the head, and a fine carbon shaft, 
but the knack is in tactical thinking, and I 
can't think like a winner, however I try. 

We once played a doubles that lasted six hours - 
got my eye in by then and the victory was ours - 
but Lord we were stiff, and as cold as the grave. 
If we played tiddlywinks, just think what we'd save! 

The Missus has just passed her Grade 1 Coach course 
with me stuck at home with the doggy, of course, 
for three dismal days, but I fear, from now on, 
she'll tell me why each stroke I played was all wrong! 

Her handicap's ten which is better than mine 
(no, no, really, I don't, I think that's just fine) 
but she wants now, to get right down to scratch, 
as our lad's minus one, which is something to match. 

Her plan is "more tournaments - get some real play,” 
and every one lasts for - oooh - one or two days. 
She says she'll be happy when I can retire, 
but I’m hoping that's not till the dog has expired! 

So roll on a good croquet club, with a bar - 
ours only has a small lock-up, so far - 
where I’ll sit at my leisure and watch as my wife 
does jump-shots and cannons and triples for life, 

And nod off in the sunshine, till one day no doubt, 
I too, though an 18 with gout, will "peg out".

Rod Mackay (Dyffryn), originally written for his railway signallers’ forum during a quiet night shift

The following questions are a sample taken from the CA website where you will find a Fun Quiz in the Laws of Association Croquet section. Sadly there does not appear to be a similar quiz yet on the Golf Croquet Laws.

See below for the answers.

1. Ray is playing with Red which is for the peg. He rushes Yellow across the lawn and Red bounces off Yellow and strikes the peg. Is Red pegged out?
2. Ray plays a croquet stroke with Red on Yellow and Yellow comes to rest between the yard-line area. Is Yellow now a ball in hand?
3. Red, Yellow and Blue are in a line on the yard-line with Yellow in contact with both Red and Blue. At the start of his turn Ray elects to play with Red and takes croquet from Blue, which is not in direct contact with it. Is this permitted?  
4. Ray shoots with Red at Blue which is on a corner spot and misses going off the lawn in the corner. Ray places Red correctly on the yard-line in contact with Blue. Without leaving the lawn, he notices that he has left a double for Black. He then picks up Red and places it on the other yard-line in contact with Blue leaving a single ball target for Black. Bab objects and says Red must be put back to his first choice leaving the double. Who is right?  
5. Ray playing with Red roquets Blue which is a yard-line ball. Blue then hits Black off of the lawn while remaining within the yard-line area. Ray then correctly places Blue on the yard-line and then places Red in contact with Blue for his croquet stroke. He then places Black on the yard-line in contact with Blue as Red now prevents Black being put in its correct position. Have the balls been placed on the lawn in the correct order?  
6.  Ray is finishing his turn with just one continuation shot remaining. Before playing this shot he notices that Blue may be wired. He finds it difficult to decide by eye and therefore uses some spare balls to test whether Blue has a lift. Is this correct?  
7. Ray attempts to peg out Blue with Red with a firm croquet stroke. Both balls are rover balls. Blue glances of the peg and knocks Yellow through its hoop in order. Does Yellow score the point?  
8. On an undulating lawn, Ray places Red in contact with Yellow such that Yellow is slightly resting on Red. He then aims his croquet stroke so that Red is hit slightly away from Yellow. None-the-less, Yellow shakes as the stroke is played. Has the stroke been played correctly?      
9. The striker may play a game using more than one mallet. Is this true?  
10. Ray has Red in corner 1 and Yellow in corner 3 in an advanced game. Bab has laid up with a simple rush to 1-back with Blue, which is for that hoop. As Blue would concede a lift when it runs 1-back, Ray states that he is not going to play a stroke as he wishes to leave the balls where they are. Is this permitted?

In 2005 the Golf Croquet Laws stated that “If the striker first strikes any ball other than the striker’s ball ..... a non-striking fault is committed”. The penalty for committing a non-striking fault was that the opponents chose whether or not to leave the balls where they came to rest or have them replaced and the side committing the fault missed a turn.  Furthermore, for this particular fault the limit of claims was eight strokes (four for each side). Although the penalty was severe, I felt that it was fair and the original offender nearly always had to pay the penalty.

In 2008 the wrong ball law was changed. In singles if the striker plays his partner ball, there is no penalty; the balls are replaced and they continue by playing the correct ball. In all other cases of playing a wrong ball, the opponent chooses whether to leave the balls where they came to rest or have them replaced and as the sequence has been broken they may choose which ball to play next. However, the error must be noticed by the opponents before they play their next stroke, otherwise they have condoned the error and if they continue playing out of sequence, they become the offenders and are liable to be penalised. I have always felt uneasy about these changes – firstly, in singles if a player plays out of sequence why shouldn’t they be penalised?  But more importantly I didn’t like the reduction in the limit of claims – I felt that all too often the wrong player could be penalised – but I didn’t feel strongly enough to object to the changes.

At the end of last season, something happened which has made me hate the wrong ball law even more. It was the semi-finals of our club’s level play golf croquet competition – a single game, best of 13 hoops, with a time limit. The first six hoops were hard fought with some excellent clearance shots by my opponent and the score was 3-all approaching hoop 7. My opponent played blue into the jaws; I attempted an ambitious jump shot from the boundary, missed the hoop completely and red finished in a good hoop-running position in front of hoop 8. Oppo played black onto blue, knocking it through the hoop and immediately asked for red to be moved to the east boundary penalty spot. Red was in the way, so I rolled it towards the penalty spot before playing my next shot. I then played yellow to a good position, slightly angled a yard in front of hoop 8. As I was walking towards red to retrieve it and place it on the penalty spot, oppo played black (wrong ball) to a good position, slightly angled a yard-and-a-half in front of hoop 8. I placed red on the penalty spot and played it to a good position, condoning oppo’s error and playing a wrong ball myself. Oppo then shot hard at yellow with blue, condoning my error, playing wrong ball himself, but missed. I was about to play yellow when I spotted blue on the boundary behind the hoop, and as that was the last ball to have been played realised that we were playing out of sequence, so blue was replaced and oppo played black, running the hoop and taking a two-hoop lead. So even though I had not committed the original error and I was the one to spot the error, I felt that I was the one who had been penalised. At the next hoop oppo enquired how much time we had left – I checked the timer – “three minutes“. I scored hoop 9 and oppo played short towards hoop 10 and although I got in good positions in front of the hoop during the extension period all he had to do was to hit me away, to win 5-4 on time. To rub salt into sore wounds, at the end of the game oppo proudly told me that this was the first time he had ever beaten me at golf croquet, either level or handicap. Oppo played well and may well have won the game, even if the error had not occurred, but at least I would not have felt cheated by the laws. The moral of this story is “If your opponent plays a stroke when you have your back to them, always check which ball they played before taking your turn.”

Be positive in all there is about a game of croquet.

Never doubt about succeeding.

Own the court, even when you are left in a very difficult position by your opponent. You can always make it a little less easy for your opponent and little less difficult for yourself.

Never practice a shot that has just gone wrong, it will only re-enforce bad muscle memory

Better to retake the good shot.

If you play very well and lose, be proud of that.

If you play well and win, be very happy.

If you play badly and win, be very grateful and then forget the game.

If you play badly and lose, immediately forget the game and think of a memorable win.

Strive for perfection - There is always a better place than where you presently are.

Think about every element of every stroke, then fulfill each one.

If you think you can, you will, If you think you can’t, you won’t.

Think not “If I hit” but “When I hit”.

Have a clear plan. Plan well ahead. If you fail to plan you plan to fail.

Think about making shots as easy as possible, think about alternatives.

Avoid all negative thoughts. Do not listen to negativity and avoid negative people.

Turn a deaf ear to stories of woe, of bad courts, of double bankers, of hills around hoops.

They do not concern you.

Enjoy the game, enjoy the company, enjoy croquet. It is a privilege to be blessed with the ability to play.

The away team decides time limits before the game starts.

Someone, preferably an independent person, should be detailed to call time accurately and clearly.

1. When time is called, the person in playcontinues until the end of his turn and then his opponent has one further turn. Game ends (but see below) or:
2. When time is called, if no-one is in play at that point because one player has completed his turn and his opponent has not yet started his turn,each player gets one further turn and then game ends (but see below).

The problem arises when time is called and it is debatable whether the person in play has ended his turn or not.  The CA ruling for exactly this situation says that in this case, the turn ends at the point of striking the ball if the ball then fails to make a roquet or score a hoop. Therefore, if the player strikes the ball, time is called and the ball fails to make a roquet or score a hoop, his turn ended before time was called (2 above applies) BUT if that ball does go on to make a roquet or run a hoop-in-order, it is not the final stroke of his turn and he completes his turn (1 above applies).

No bisque or half bisque can be played in either of these further turns (called the extension period).

Croquet does not permit a draw so if, after this extension period, the score is level, the game continues until the next point has been made.  During this further period of play, bisques and half-bisques may be played.

If Wharrad Turns are to be used (normally 12 each), time is reduced (normally by one hour) by the team captains’ agreement.

When Wharrad Turns are employed, the normal timed ending applies first except that bisques and half-bisques can be played in this extension period and throughout theWharrad Turns. If, at the end of Wharrad Turns, the score is still level, play continues until one more hoop is scored (this is often informally called The Golden Hoop).

Taking a bisque or half-bisque during Wharrad Turns does not count as one of the turns but is as an extra turn.

See The Laws of Association Croquet.  Law T2

Q1. In a singles game, Mabel, playing her Blue ball, scores hoop 5 immediately after her opponent had played his Red ball – Her opponent then plays Red again – Mabel then plays her Black ball and as it comes to rest, her opponent realises that when Mabel scored hoop 5 she did so with the wrong ball.

What should happen now?

Q2. James, using his Red ball, runs hoop 2 with a jump shot and in doing so digs his mallet head into the ground leaving a substantial divot, a fault, which was noticed by both himself and his opponent. The shot was exceedingly spectacular and much praise was afforded by the opponent who, in the           excitement, and temporally forgetting about the fault, immediately played Black towards hoop 3. James followed by playing Yellow. When the balls came to rest, both players remembered about the jump shot fault at hoop 2.

A referee is called. How would the referee resolve the situation?

Q3. During a handicap game between Robert and Jenny, Robert attempts to run hoop 5 but strikes the ball twice with his mallet. Both players agree that this was a fault and so Robert decides to then use one of his free turns. Jenny is not sure that Robert is entitled to use a free turn after a fault and a referee is called.

What would the referee decide and how would he explain the law to the players?

Additional question by Ros Key-Pugh

Q.4. Red realises hoop 7 will be taken in the next shot by Black, which is nestling in the hoop and Red cannot remove it or jump it. Blue and Yellow are past hoop 7 towards hhop 8. Red aims carefully and skims off Blue in passing on to hit Yellow firmly. Yellow is promoted past the half way line. Black takes hoop 7 and immediately calls for Yellow to be placed on the east penalty spot, claiming it is offside. Red argues that the shot that moved Yellow past half way was as a result of his ball hitting an opposition ball (Blue) and so meets the exception 10b(3).

A referee is called. Who is correct? Red or Black?

Compiled by the Secretary of the Much Myssing Croquet Club

Advanced

Average age of our members.

Breaks

Popular and profitable (see Teas).

Crush

Large excitable crowd – not relevant to this club.

Double Banking

Error by the Treasurer, who never really got the hang of the internet.

Elections

Allowed for in the constitution, but in practice never held (see Volunteers).

Facilities

Victorian, listed.

Note to self: investigate possibility of grant.

Grass

Essential component of any club (see Tea, Volunteers).  

Note to self: who else knew that I’d lost the AGM minutes?

Handicapper

A player it is unwise to beat.

In

My opponent’s ball regularly just manages this.  

Urgent note to self: speak to groundsman before my next game.

Jump

Usually occurs when lined up for a perfect rush down the lawn to Hoop 1

(see Non-Advanced). 

K

Looks like a diagram from a coaching session. Either a wide split shot from near the boundary or a jump shot against a hoop upright. I wouldn’t attempt either of these.

Lawn

Something this club has a lot of.

Money

Something this club hasn’t got a lot of.

Non-Advanced

Me.

Opportunity

My opponent leaves a ball at my hoop and another in the middle, then I miss a short roquet.

Pass Roll

See Tea.

Queen

Apparently the CA Patron, although I’ve never seen her at this club.

Rush Shot

I’ve just remembered I’m supposed to be at the dentist at two o’clock.

Spectators

I thought we had a visitor once, a couple of weeks ago, but he turned out to be a VAT inspector.

Tea

Essential component of any club (see Grass, Volunteers). A good money-spinner.

Up

The direction my handicap has steadily been going, and where the subscriptions are also going to have to go.

Volunteers

Essential component of any club (see Grass, Tea).  Note to self: try to find some.

Wiring Lift

We’re going to have to replace the wiring soon, but a lift?  With £200 in the bank?

X

Looks like a voting slip but I don’t remember ever having a committee election. Could be from when we were going to remove the birds’ nest from the ladies’ toilets and that RSPB guy objected. 

Yellow

Yellow attracts bees.  Note to self: choose the dark colours when near a flowerbed. 

(See Jump).

Zzzz

Distracting bee noise (see Yellow) or someone asleep (see Advanced).

Submitted by Liz Potter (Cheltenham)

Playing the wrong ball

In simple terms, if the error is discovered before the first stroke of the opponent’s next turn, the error is rectified and the turn ends. In other words, if a player roquets blue with black and then plays blue in error during the croquet stroke, the balls are replaced in contact and the turn ends. In handicap play the offender may take a bisque if he wishes, after the balls have been replaced, and continue with the correct ball.

Taking croquet from a dead ball

If a player tries to take croquet from a dead ball and the error is discovered before the first stroke of the opponent’s next turn, the error is rectified and the turn ends. If the opponent shouts “You have already roqueted blue” before the striker picks up his ball and puts it in contact with blue, then the turn ends at that point and the balls remain where they lie. If the striker has already picked up his ball then he must replace it where it came to rest after the “roquet” was made. In handicap play the offender may then take a bisque if he wishes and continue by playing the striker’s ball from where it lies. All balls will become live.

Running the wrong hoop

If a player runs the wrong hoop, or runs a hoop in the wrong direction, then he is not entitled to a continuation stroke and so his turn will end, unless he roquets a live ball in the same stroke, in which case he may take croquet but he will not have scored a hoop point.

NB, in the three errors above, the opponent must not forestall, but should point out the error clearly immediately it has occurred.

The croqueted ball does not move

End of turn. The opponent has the choice as to whether the balls are replaced in contact or left where they came to rest after the fault was committed. In handicap play the offender may wait until after this decision has been taken before deciding whether or not he wishes to take a bisque.

Misplaced clips/balls

A player should forestall if he notices that a clip has been misplaced or that his opponent is about to play a ball that has been moved because of double banking.

A player pegs one ball out in a handicap game when his partner ball is not for the peg.

The ball is replaced where it came to rest after hitting the peg, and the turn ends. A spectator referee may intervene if he sees a ball about to be wrongly removed from the lawn.

I believe the time has come when we need to reconsider how we fund croquet in England. In my article in the October Gazette, I showed how the CA raises its money, and also how it spends it. Just to recap; about 57% of income comes from tournament players in one form or another – that’s including tournament levies, and individual CA membership (which most people only take out when they need it to play in tournaments).  I think the perception is often that the CA is for elite players, or at least tournament players, but the reality is that most of the money raised goes towards the development of the game in one form or another. In fact taking all the CA spend on tournaments, including organising them, administration, producing the fixtures book, office time, etc., and adding in what we spend on international events both home and away, the total expenditure comes to just 18% of the overall budget.  Development loans and grants, and work done in sorting out handicaps, coaching, refereeing, etc., is a much more significant element of our expenditure.

Does this imbalance matter?

Well, there is of course the question of what is fair to consider, but putting that aside for a moment then one might argue that it doesn’t if that is the end of the story. Tournament players are, of course, the most enthusiastic among us, and for the most part they do not begrudge the relatively small amount they pay for their CA membership. They tend to spend a lot more travelling and staying overnight in order to compete anyway.  However, it does become more clearly an issue if we believe tournament play is likely to decline.  If this were to happen, then the CA’s income is reduced, and consequently the money we put into development comes under threat.

Is a decline in tournament play likely?

In its current form, I believe it is and that’s for two reasons.

1. The survey of croquet players carried out in 2012 showed a worrying trend that many clubs are seeing an increase in the number of ‘social’ players, who are not really interested in competitive play. That tends to mean that the number of competitive players is falling.
2. When we analysed what has been happening in the federations, we saw a significant shift in how many people play their croquet. The success of the federations in organising leagues, especially in the SW and SE federations, has led to as many competitive man-days being played through federation-led or advertised events, as there are in the whole of the CA fixtures book. This is a significant shift from say ten years ago, and we think the trend is likely to continue. That’s great, of course, but it does mean that for many, they get all the competitive play they want without having to join the CA or play in fixture-book events. I have increasingly found when asking players if they would join the CA that I am getting that reaction, and it’s a message I’m getting from other people trying to recruit CA members too.

At the moment, the CA’s finances are sound, and we have been able to continue our grants programme unabated. We have not yet seen any significant fall-off of tournament members, however, we have seen a decline in tournament levies (about a 10% decline over the last 5 years, after correcting for inflation and the reduced percentage the CA introduced a few years ago). I believe that if we continue the way we are, then a fall in CA membership is almost inevitable. We are fortunate that we have a large number of loyal members, who tend to stay members once they’ve been hooked, even if they no longer play in tournaments. However, if we can’t get new members to replace them, then eventually numbers will decline.

The advantage of taking action now, rather than waiting for a crisis, is that we can introduce change gradually. I believe we need to shift towards charging clubs more for their membership (thus effectively charging ALL croquet players, rather than just tournament players). Done slowly over a period of time, this should not be too painful for club members – after all if we scrapped tournament membership completely and put the whole burden on club players, then it would mean charging them only an extra £10 per head or so. I’m not actually suggesting we need necessarily go that far, but even if we did then croquet remains a cheap game to play, and for most clubs this increase would be small compared to overall membership costs.

Changes to the fee structure is just one aspect of the report put forward by the Federation Working Party, albeit probably the most controversial. The report also proposes changes in the relationship between Federations and the CA, changes to the boundaries between federations, widening the CA’s membership base to include all club players, and other factors affecting the overall administration of croquet.  If you would like to learn more then please read their report on the CA website www.croquet.org.uk. The CA is keen to hear your views – why not write a letter to the Gazette or email me directly and let me know what you think.

Jeff Dawson

Chairman of the Croquet Association

jeff.p.dawson@gmail.com