Croquet in the North West

North West Federation of Croquet Clubs - for everything Croquet in the north west

You are here: Home / Archives for News

Pride of North West – Phil and Ged – Top Honours in All England AC Hcp

by

AC All England Final at Sidmouth 4/5 September 2021 by Peter Nelson

Philip Snowdon (Fylde) receiving the Trevor Williams Troph

Sidmouth courts were looking at their best in late summer sunshine on Saturday 4th September and play commenced promptly at 09.30. The tournament was played as a Swiss with games timed at 2 hours 45 minutes.

Due to some administrative confusion after the regional finals, nine players travelled to the final instead of the eight expected! After consultation with the tournament director it was agreed that all nine should play and the manager co-opted a Sidmouth player (Ed Dolphin) to play, making a viable tournament without players having “byes”. It was also agreed that as Ed Dolphin had not played in preliminary rounds he would not be entitled to receive the Trevor Williams Trophy should he win the event. It was fortunate that this was clarified beforehand as he won all his five games! The increased entry required a third court to be provided and we are grateful to the Sidmouth members who cancelled their games and thus enabled the event to proceed.

When the final round was played the event was still in doubt provided Ed Dolphin’s winning streak came to an end. This almost happened as his game against Philip Snowden finished level and had to be decided on a golden hoop, which went in Dolphin’s favour. As he was not entitled to the Trophy the runner-up had to be determined from 4 players each with 3 wins. No clear result was possible on the basis of who beat whom and the positions were based on net points gained. This resulted in Philip Snowden being the runner -up with Ged Smolskas in third place. Philip Snowden was thus awarded the Trevor Williams Trophy with his home club Fylde receiving the New Zealand Tray. This was a fitting result as Snowden was only denied being outright winner by losing his final game to a golden hoop.

PLAYERS CLUB HANDICAP WINS IN FINAL

Philip Snowden Fylde 14 3
Ged Smolskas Bury 12 3
Collin Wrest Park 0 3
Cliff Hunter Surbiton 8 3
Tim Brewer Wrest Park 3 2
John Coutts Rother Valley 6 2
Richard Leach Bury 16 2
Ian Wills Kington Langley 9 1
Margaret Murray Kington Langley 11 1
Ed Dolphin* Sidmouth 12 5

Great Opportunity for You ???

by

The Federation League Manager, Ivan Wheatley, has announced he will not be standing for re-election at the AGM in November. He has fulfilled the role in an excellent manner for the last five years. So now we are looking for a new League Manager for next season, would you, could you, do the job? This is an ideal opportunity for someone to make a real contribution to the work of the Federation and play a major role in developing the competitive side of croquet throughout the North West region.

The League Managers Year at a glance:

Here is the way it works at the moment:
Dec – send out entry forms for the following season and receive them back from Clubs before January.
Jan – devise the fixture lists for the forthcoming season – not as difficult as it sounds because it means basically interchanging the home and away teams from the previous year and making amendments due to new teams entering league or others dropping out.
Feb – send out fixture lists asking clubs to confirm dates or change them in consultation with opponents.
Mar – send out the official fixture list for the season
Apr – manage the league programme by receiving match results from clubs and passing these to the Web Master who keeps the League Tables up to date on the Federation website. As the season progresses you may occasionally have to adjudicate in disputes and make rulings about matches that did not take place on the scheduled dates. You have a set of League Rules to guide you.
Sep – as the league season ends, announce the league winners.
Nov – ensure all trophies are returned to the AGM. Present a report to the AGM on the success of the season and propose any amendments to the League Rules for the following season.

Over time, you may feel that some of the league documentation needs updating, especially the League Rules whenever the CA or WCF announce changes to the Laws. You do not have to be an expert player or have an in-depth knowledge of the Croquet world to do the job! You have a Federation Committee to rely on, so can always request them to propose any necessary changes to Rules, documents, etc.

The Best Job on the Federation Committee!

The role of League Manager is a very satisfying job – you devise a programme and have sole responsibility to manage it through to the end, but with a Committee willing to back you up whenever the need arises. You obviously need an ‘eye for detail’ and good organisational and time management skills. If you have a logical mind and like communicating with people, this is the job for you.

Interested?

Why not have a chat with Ivan Wheatley (07881 581 349), or his predecessor, Tony Thomas (07841 538 676), or the Federation Chair, Paul Rigge (07947 333 236) or indeed anyone on the Fed Committee. You can be assured of great support and advice when sought, indeed, Ivan is very happy to mentor the new manager throughout the first few months in the role.

Willing to have a go?

Just contact Federation Chair Paul Rigge or Federation Secretary Angharad Walters.

David Maugham won the North of England Championship

by

North of England Championship – 28th-30th August

Brian Storey presents the trophy to David Maugham

David Maugham won the North of England Championship at Bowdon, beating Mark Suter +20tp, +14tp, +5tp in the final. Full results are on Croquet Scores and in the Rankings.

The field of 16 included 15 minus players, 7 of whom were -2 handicaps or better, and the hoops were all set to just under 1/32″ in averagely firm ground. The weather was fine all weekend.

The first round went with seeding, as did the second (except for David Maugham beating Mark Avery), but in the semis Mark Suter beat James Death and David Maugham beat Alan Giraud – both in 3 straight games. In the final David shot well and made very few errors, so despite Mark playing well David was able to win 3-0.

A highlight of the event was James Death completing 7 peels of a nontuple against Michael Sandler – with the straight penult peel bouncing out (from about 9 feet slightly angled). Quite an achievement given the tight hoops. Surely someone will soon be the first to achieve this feat in a ranking game. Also of note was Alain Giraud’s 2nd ever sextuple – the only one in the event.

In the plate knockout, Ian Lines unexpectedly won +1 from 4 v 4 back after Sam Murray pegged out two balls, and then Ian beat James Death +26tp 7th turn in the final.

On the Saturday evening everyone enjoyed fish and chips at the club, and on Sunday there was an excellent dinner at the Griffin to celebrate Alison’s birthday.

The trophies were presented by Bowdon Club President Brian Storey, and thanks were giving to Bowdon for hosting the event in these difficult times and to Alan Mayne for preparing the top quality lawns and for setting the hoops so well.

Find a Category

Webmaster – Chris Alvey (webmaster@croquetnw.co.uk)