An exciting new event designed to give club players throughout Europe the opportunity to play abroad
and also to find the Champion club team in Europe.

The winners of 6 Qualifying Stages will compete in the Grand Final to be held at the prestigious
Roehampton Club, London (England) 13-15th October 2023.

Each qualifying stage will consist of 4 teams of 4 players, who will all play each other over the course
of a single weekend. The first Qualifying Stage was held at the Algarve Club (Portugal) in November
2022 when the Roehampton Club were victorious:

https://croquetscores.com/2022/gc/european-club-league-algarve-1

Five further Qualifying Stages are planned throughout 2023:
• 29-30th April Dulwich, London (England)
• 10-11th June CERN, Geneva (Switzerland)
• 8-9th July Ikskile, Riga (Latvia)

Two additional Stages will be arranged during 2023, in the first instance open to those that have been
unsuccessful in gaining places in the above heats.

If you are interested in hosting one of these further Qualifying Stages please contact Ian Burridge burridge.ian@gmail.com

All clubs are encouraged to enter, the commitment for each team is to play in just one Qualifying
Stage from those listed above and if victorious participation in the Grand Final, 13-15th October.

If you are interested and wish to enter please return the attached completed form (available here), to burridge.ian@gmail.com

Entries must be received by Sunday March 5th 2023.
Further details can be found here and the competition rules are available here

Crake Valley will host 3 National GC tournaments, a Ladies GC Open and 2 Advanced AC tournaments during 2023.

We will also be running, for the first time since 2019, the popular AC Alternate Strokes tournament on Thursday 20th April. 

Registration for all tournaments is via the CA website.

All visiting players will be made most welcome.

Thanks

David Cornes

Crake Valley Croquet Club

Nigel Matthews (Bowdon) and David Cornes (Crake Valley) have both accepted invitations to join the 2023/24 GC International Development Squad. With a maximum of 8 players selected each year it is a credit to the Federation that the North West’s improving talent has, at last, been recognised. Both players are relatively new to the game and will join up with the squad for its first session at Wrest Park in April.

The selection criteria for the Development Squad is players must have the POTENTIAL to progress to Elite Status and play at International Level. 

David has been playing competitively since 2018 and is well known on the GC circuit; winning tournaments in East Dorset, Budleigh Salterton as well as locally at Bury, Pendle and Crake. In September 2022 he was runner-up (losing 6-7, 7-6, 6-7) in the A level National Finals at Wrest Park. David’s GC handicap is -1, his AC handicap has improved to 8 after playing more of this format since 2022.  

Nigel first picked up a mallet in 2019 playing AC and was in the Bowdon Short Lawn Team that won the national knockout later that year. His current AC handicap is 0. Nigel’s GC career started in September 2021 when he was asked to make the numbers up in Bowdon’s National interclub finals team. Since this “baptism of fire”, Nigel (GC handicap 0) has developed a strong playing record in the NW League and Internal Competitions.

Both players aim to advance both their GC and AC skills and welcome this amazing opportunity. They are looking forward to attending the squad weekends and playing in tournaments during the coming season.