EAST ANGLIAN CROQUET FEDERATION WINTER PLAY SURVEY RESULTS
played, but plenty of 14 point, Short Croquet and AC One‐ball. Of the clubs that don’t offer winter play, many have only one court. However, this doesn’t prevent Meldreth and Unity (Sudbury) from managing it. Few of the clubs with at least two courts have a fundamental objection to winter play – a couple more are hoping to introduce it. The usual reason is that the landlord doesn’t allow it and/or doesn’t maintain the lawns from November to March. In most such cases the landlord is the Local Authority. This is a shame – lawns benefit from being maintained and cut over the winter, especially with climate change. One appreciates the cost of labour and the difficulty of scheduling work with fewer hours of daylight and unpredictable weather. However, the point is surely that they want to provide sporting and leisure facilities, so why not in the winter? or at least for an extended season? Have they fully woken up to climate change?
It’s worth mentioning that Bury St Edmunds have an outdoor all‐weather artificial court. Also the monthly weekends on the indoor carpet at Soham. Many clubs offer indoor activities, whether or not they also play outdoors – lunches, coffee‐mornings, cards, dominoes, talks, quizzes etc. These are all good ways of keeping the club going. One point of this survey is to provide some useful facts when applying for funding, whether at a local or national level. Another is to be able to offer croquet to educational establishments for more than just one term (and for keen students to be able to continue into the autumn and beyond). Croquet is not just a summer game. It can be an all‐year‐round sport for all abilities.
by George Collin If someone wants to take up a sport, whether for social or health reasons, but not just for a few months in the summer, what can croquet offer? The following is a brief summary of winter activity at the clubs that are members of the East Anglian Croquet Federation. 37 clubs, with a total of 77 courts, membership 1115? Bear in mind that some clubs are also members of adjoining Federations and some players are members of more than one club. 28 clubs responded to the survey. Those that didn’t are chiefly the smaller ones, based on the Federation membership statistics (August 2023). Never‐the‐ less, I believe it gives a reasonable snapshot of activity, as at February 2024 (a mild but wet winter so far). All the clubs have courts available for at least five months, the norm is seven – April to October. Thirteen clubs offer some play outdoors throughout the year, involving 23 of their 39 courts. These thirteen clubs represent about 650 players, of whom about 250 (40%) take advantage of the opportunity to play regularly over the winter (ranging from 20% to 80% of their membership). No‐one expects to play if the ground is frozen or waterlogged. No‐one expects to use the summer hoop positions. So winter play involves adjustments, such as reduced size and giving each court time to rest in rotation. And of course, the cutting height is raised (8mm is common). Some comment that the lawns used in the winter are just as good in the following summer as the others. Golf Croquet is the most frequent winter activity – both level‐play and handicap/advantage, a mixture of social and competitive play, singles and doubles. Sometimes the Rules are adapted, e.g. “no jump‐shots”. The logical combination is “a hoop only scores if you run it in a single stroke”. (These were the rules under the “Old Laws” of Golf Croquet). Very little full 26 point Association Croquet is
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