Swanage Croquet Club’s top team is celebrating after a semi-final victory in the South West Federation’s regional competition.
Swanage’s all handicap team, led by captain Tony Green, beat Bude by twelve games to four on Thursday 12th September 2024 to set up a final showdown with either Cheltenham in Gloucestershire or Nailsea in Somerset, where they will play for a place in the all England finals.
Tea on the lawns – but Swanage Croquet Club would rather have a permanent pavilion
Sights set on a permanent pavilion
To make things doubly sweet, Swanage’s high handicap team also has a semi-final match to play in the South West league, at home to Dowlish Wake from Somerset on Wednesday 18th September 2024, with their eyes on reaching a second final in two years.
The croquet club is playing matches at home again this season, having recently moved away from the Swanage Cricket Club’s ground in Day’s Park where it was founded in 2005, to Swanage Primary School’s playing field off Bon Accord Road.
An agreement was reached for the club to convert a football field into two croquet lawns, and last season in 2023 was spent upgrading them to competition standard – which seems to have paid off.
Now sights are set on getting a long term lease arrangement with the school – previously known as Mount Scar – and hopefully a permanent pavilion to host visiting teams instead of the marquee and motorhome currently being used.
A former football field at Swanage Primary School has been transformed into two croquet lawns
Turning football pitches into croquet lawns
Club spokesperson Nick O’Connor said:
“This is our second season here, but our first season playing league games. There are members of the club who have put in so much time and effort into turning football pitches into croquet lawns, it’s astonishing.
“Our captain, Tony Green, decided last year that the ground wasn’t good enough for competitive croquet matches, so we played all our fixtures away while the lawns were being cleared of weeds, levelled, rolled and mowed.
“They have done wonders, particularly where the football goals were, it was completely worn out and without grass. The next thing for the club is to get security of tenure, and then we could apply to see if we could get funds for a pavilion here.
“Sport England and Croquet England would both be happy to support us, and there are water pipes here already, so a building could be put up – they’d just need to know that we would be here for the long term.”
A mixture of doubles and singles games were played across the day
Swanage flew into an early lead
During the all-day semi final match on Thursday 12th September 2024, Swanage flew into a 7-1 lead by early afternoon and eventually won by twelve games to four, with the last round of four games not needing to be played.
Opponents Bude, who faced a 280-mile round trip to Swanage to play, had driven up the night before and stayed in hotels to start the day afresh, but found themselves outclassed by the home team.
Swanage themselves may face a similar journey later this season if their final is played at the prestigious home of Cheltenham, which has some of the best lawns in the South West.
Swanage’s all handicap team are now through to the South West regional finals
Players are in top form this season
Swanage’s all handicap team are previous winners of the South West Croquet Federation trophy from 2022, and while they lost in the first round of the national finals to eventual winners Henley, they are keen to have another shot at glory.
The players are in top form this season, reaching the semi-final with two matches to spare having beaten Budleigh Salterton at home 19-1 and 11-9 away, Exeter 14-2 at home and 11-9 away and Taunton Deane at home 16-4.
Swanage seconds – the high handicap team, whose players all have handicaps of eight or above – beat Winterborne Valley at home 13-7, local rivals East Dorset from Poole 12-8 at home and Winterborne away 11-9 and again clinched their semi-final spot before league games were completed.
They reached the South West finals in 2023, only to be beaten by a team from Llandaff, Cardiff, and are keen to go one better this year.
Nick O’Connor says the sport is not only sociable, but also improves mental and physical wellbeing
A game of tactics, skill and accuracy
Nick O’Connor said:
“This year the club has gone from strength to strength – results have been fantastic and to have two teams in the South West semi-finals is pretty good.
“We have welcomed new members who have picked up the skills and rules of the game very well and play croquet at the club regularly on a social basis.
“It is a sport which is inclusive to all genders, abilities and ages, and also helps individuals improve their mental and physical wellbeing. It’s a game of tactics, skill and accuracy and has been growing in popularity here in Swanage.
“Croquet is stereotyped as being for the privileged, elderly few, but Croquet England has a big push at the moment to get more people playing more croquet in more places, and one of the top international stars is Jack Good, a 19 year old from Bolton.
“There are not a lot of youngsters playing croquet, but England has many of the best – there was a recent test match against Spain where all six players were under 25.”
Golf croquet is played one shot per turn, with easy to understand rules
Golf croquet a great choice for beginners
The club now has around 70 members, but as it can play seven days a week through the summer, there is space for more to join in.
Swanage plays a variant of croquet called Golf Croquet, which takes less than 10 minutes to learn, making it a great choice for beginners.
Unlike Association Croquet, which has much in common with snooker, players take one shot per turn in a strict rotation of colours and cannot earn extra strokes or breaks.
As a result, it has become the most popular form of croquet for social play, with games usually lasting between 30 and 60 minutes.
Concentration is key, and being able to think three moves ahead will help improve your game
A jump shot is attempted, to get blue through the hoop over the top of black
Club is not at all elitist
Nick added:
“Our club has a very low annual membership to play and is not at all elitist – it’s meant for people in the town who want to play croquet, which is as it should be. All competitions are played by men and women on an equal level.
“Most of our players have played another sport before – tennis, cricket or hockey which all help with hand and eye coordination, and in croquet tactical awareness is also crucial.
“It is said that skills needed to be good at croquet are a third physical, a third mental and a third psychological, because you have to play the opponent, tactics are crucial and you have to think two or three moves ahead.”
Move aside, Harry Kane – England’s star croquet player is 19-year-old Jack Good of Bolton
Further information
- Find out how to join Swanage Croquet Club on its website
- For chapter and verse on the sport, visit Croquet England’s website
