Croquet Tournament Results

SUMMARY 2018

DETAILED RESULTS 2018

AC Bronze Singles, 5th - 8th February 2018

The NSW Bronze Singles didn't go ahead in February, as there were only three entries. This was very disappointing, particularly as this event has attracted quite strong fields in the past. By 21 January there was only one entry, so a reminder email was sent to 29 players. This resulted in two more players entering -- insufficient for the event to go ahead.

There was some feeling expressed that February is too hot for playing croquet, and the Tournament Committee will look at rescheduling this event for later in the year. Maybe the fact that it was to be played at Tempe, rather than at Strathfield where it has been played for the last few years might have had an effect on the number of entries.

David Stanton
CNSW Tournament Committee

AC 3 & Under Singles, 24th - 25th February 2018

WHAT A TRANSFORMATION !!

The 3 & Under AC singles was run at Tempe on the 24th and 25th of February. For most of us it was a revelation.

• The lawns were first rate, as good as any in Sydney. The days of bumpy roquet attempts and large roll-offs in front of hoops have gone (not before time)
• The facilities have had a transformation. The players area has freshly painted walls, modern furniture, storage units .. a huge improvement (not before time)
• Many fewer children and soccer balls on the lawns. The signage explaining the game (and the importance of the event) seems to be impacting on the German Club patrons

So if you haven’t been to Tempe for an event recently, give it a go - you will be pleasantly surprised.

The event ran well. We had the somewhat optimistic plan of 4 games on Saturday and 3 on Sunday, but in practice we were finished by 5:30 on Saturday, so it was not a problem. The weather did not accommodate us however - very hot and humid on Saturday, wet on Sunday, although only the last round was really affected by the rain. The standard of play was a bit like the curate’s egg: some really good breaks followed by egregious errors. The hot weather on Saturday may have contributed, but the usual excuse - the lawns got me - was no longer available. Rob Elliott won the event, going through undefeated until the last round when David Hanbidge ("he never misses" his opponents kept claiming) won his second consecutive 3-ball ending. There were many close matches, and several 3-ball endings which always make for good watching. Alison Sharpe managed the only triple, but there were several others that got close. Rob had 6 wins out of 7 games, I was second with 5 and then there were 4 on 4 wins, so there were few easy games.

So in summary, a most enjoyable event despite the weather. Come and play at Tempe and see the difference!

Mike Hughes
Tournament Manager

GC Division 3 Singles and Doubles, 5th - 9th March 2018

The Tournament was hosted by Canberra Croquet Club and played over 5 days from March 5 to March 9.

Nine pairs registered for the Doubles with three from Mosman, one from EDSAAC and five Canberra pairs. It was refreshing to see more than half the field playing in their first tournament.

Winners: Julie Toms and Jill Jones (Canberra)
Runners Up: Mark and Helen Scruton (Canberra)

All games were played in very pleasant Canberra Autumn weather.

The field for Singles was reduced to six after the withdrawal of a previous Doubles player due to medical problems. This meant the players had more byes and fewer games needed to be double- banked.

After three days of Singles the Winner was Mark Scruton (Canberra) whose handicap went from a 10 through 9 to 8. Mark and Helen have been with Canberra Croquet Club (CCC) for two weeks and hail from East Brisbane. The Runner Up was Craig Oxley (Canberra).

It was an exciting finish with the final round determining positions.

Special thanks to Peter Freer, tournament referee and Adrienne Fazekas, referee who managed play every day and ensured the tournament went smoothly.

Thanks also to all CCC members who volunteered their time and cooking skills to contribute to a successful five days of competition.

Photos...

AC 5 & Under Doubles, 10th - 11th March 2018

GC Division 2 Singles and Doubles, 18th - 22nd March 2018

The Doubles event, with 6 pairs entered, was set down as a two-day double round robin event over the Sunday and Monday. With the temperature at 35 degrees and still rising by 11.30am, the Tournament Referee (John Eddes) and I made the decision to halt all play for the day. The temperature reached 42 degrees in the afternoon.

As it was obviously impossible to complete the first half as well as the full second half of the double round robin on the Monday, we also changed the event format to a single round robin with the top 4 pairs to take part in a single game semi-final and final series.

The Singles event, with 13 entrants, was played without any change to the original format, i.e. a single round robin.

John Bennett
Club Captain
Sutherland Croquet Club

GC NSW Men's Singles Championship, 6th - 8th April 2018

This competition was held from 6-8 May. There was a strong field of 13 players who enjoyed many close matches. Ralph Richardson won the block, with 10 wins, closely followed by David Hanbidge and David Woods with 9 wins and John Levick with 8 wins. Three other players, John Cole, Peter Freer and Peter Montague all won 7 games.

The finals provided lots of excitement. David Hanbidge beat David Woods and had to wait to find who his opponent would be. John won the first semi-final game against Ralph, then Ralph fought back in the second game. Eventually John defeated Ralph and continued his winning streak to de-feat David Hanbidge in the final. David Woods meanwhile defeated Ralph by 2 games to 1 in the playoff for 3rd place.

Well done to all players. The weather was fine and the camaraderie strong. We warmly thank Alan Robinson, Ros Johnstone & Wendy Fothergill for refereeing.

Liz Montague & John Eddes: Tournament Managers

GC NSW Open Women's Singles Championship, 13th - 15th April 2018

The participants were: Pauline Markwell, Liz Montague, Dianne Bonnitcha, Georgina Carnegie, Kate McLoughlin, Brenda Wild, Pam Gentle, Lorraine Hatfield, Ros Johnstone, Nerida Taylor and Margaret Sawers.

The players provided a most enjoyable competition, exhibiting a high standard of play and sustained intensity throughout, and were unperturbed by hot sticky conditions at the start and increasingly gusty winds later on.

Kate McLoughlin dominated the block, looking unshakeable with 9 wins, and was followed by Brenda Wild with 7. Then came four players all on 6 wins, two of whom slipped through to the semi-finals on net hoops. All the other players had games they could be proud of.

In the semi-finals, Pauline Markwell showed steely determination and accuracy to overcome Kate, while Liz Montague fought off some strong roqueting and accurate placement by Brenda. Not surprisingly, the ensuing final was long and intense, with Liz ultimately holding on for the third game.

The tournament was greatly helped by having a strong body of referees - Peter Freer, Lynda Toms, David Gibson, Michael Morton-Evans, Ron Johnstone, Bill Munns and Stephen Howes - we are very grateful to them all for their time and expertise.

It was also a great pleasure that so many of the players and some others came back on the Sunday to support the finals series. They were attentive and even demonstrative, which gave spice to the occasion.

John Eddes and Peter Montague
Tournament Managers

AC Platinum Singles, 21st - 22nd April 2018

The Platinum Singles were played in ideal Autumn weather conditions on Saturday and Sunday April 21 and 22. The lawns were in top condition and the payers were impressed by the improvement in facilities at Tempe. There were four competitors who played six games in a double round robin.

The tournament winner was Steve Miles who was undefeated and the runner up was Stephen Howes. As usual there were some terrific breaks but also puzzling tactics. Long roquets seem to be made quite frequently but short roquets were also missed far too often.

There is no better way to improve your croquet than the intensive games you get in Croquet NSW competitions. And after all the excitement you can finish by having a beer at the Concordia club at the end of the day. Tempe is well worth a visit.

Steve Miles
Tournament Manager

AC NSW Handicap (Beryl Chambers Memorial Trophy), 8th - 11th June 2018

The Beryl Chambers competition is a state-wide event with the placegetters from regional events playing in a final at Tempe.

The Northern Sydney regional event was held at Cammeray from April 16 to 19. There were 6 entrants (5 from Cammeray and 1 from Chatswood) who played a single round robin with each player having 5 games. Games were scheduled around club scheduled playing times which led to a more relaxed timetable and a flexible program. Referees were Mike Hughes, Michael Strickland and Steve Miles.

The competition was tight with only 5 of the fifteen games going to peg out. The eventual winner was Steve Miles with four wins. Sue Eldridge Smith was runner up on net points with three wins, the same number of wins as Margaret O’Brien and Torben Albaek (Chatswood). Autumn is surely the best time of the year to play croquet and the lights at Cammeray meant that games were able to be played into the evening.

Steve Miles
Tournament Manager

AC Gold and Silver Singles, 30th April - 1st May 2018

The Gold/Silver Singles were played as a combined event at Tempe over the two days of Monday April 30 and Tuesday May 1. The first day consisted of a round robin of two blocks of four players. The block positions were then use for the draw for an exhaustive knockout on day 2 to determine the eight finishing positions.

It was very disappointing that only two Silver players entered the Silver Singles. Where are all the other players on handicaps 9 to 12? Special thanks to Sue Eldridge-Smith, on a handicap of 14, who decided to have a crack at the Silver event, and then agreed to play in the combined Gold/Silver event, where she played players mainly on handicaps 5 to 8. Well done, Sue!

The eventual winner was Ron Buist who won his final against Ralph Richardson as the light faded on Tuesday afternoon. Ron grabbed the lead after time was called but then missed his roquet from a hampered shot after passing through rover, giving him a one hoop lead with Ralph on peg and hoop six. This error left Ron’s ball on A baulk with Ralph having a lift and all the balls in useful, if not ideal positions. Ralph’s last rush to hoop 6 went two yards behind the hoop and his return take off just managed to settle on the hoop leg, giving Ron an 18-17 victory.

Both Ron and Ralph reduced their handicaps over the two days, Ron from 5 to 4.5, and Ralph from 8 to 7.

The other places were also keenly contested with the final results for the Gold Championship being

1st - Ron Buist
2nd - Ralph Richardson
3rd - Barbara McDonald
4th - Ted Woodley
5th - David Stanton
6th - Tim Woolford-Smith
7th - Gerard Barry
8th - Sue Eldridge Smith

The Silver champion was Ted Woodley, and Sue Eldridge-Smith was runner up with the result determined from their relative finishing positions in the main draw.

Thanks to Tournament Referee Michael Strickland and referees Pat Gilchrist, Stephen Howes and Steve Miles.

Six matches in two days in great Autumn weather. Life doesn’t get any better than this.

Steve Miles and David Stanton
Tournament Managers

GC Division 1 Pennants Carnival, 21st - 24th May 2018

This year, nine clubs entered the Division 1 GC Pennants, the best turn-out to date. In order to give all clubs a full round of tests, it was necessary to organise a 4-day carnival in Sydney as well as a number of pre-carnival tests between Sydney clubs. These arrangements were designed to ensure that the regional clubs did not have to play pre-carnival tests (or in the case of Toronto and Maitland, only needed to play each other in the Hunter). The allocation of teams to venues was also designed to minimise the amount of travel between venues during playing days. We are grateful to John Eddes and David Stanton for achieving this complex design. In the end, Toronto were unable to take part, but the format was still broadly adhered to and worked well.

The Carnival was held at Sutherland CC and Tempe, with standard hoops at Sutherland and Quadways at Tempe. We are most grateful to Sutherland for providing their lawns and facilities, and for their support and generous treats along the way. The lawns at Sutherland are quite diverse in character but all were in good condition and ran true; the lawns at Tempe are now excellent also, thanks to Rob Elliott’s close supervision. Robyn Compton managed the event at Sutherland for three days and then at Tempe, John Eddes, Peter Freer and Peter Montague managed at Tempe on one day each. Lynda Toms and Lorraine Hatfield refereed at Sutherland, while the matches at Tempe were self-refereed. Many thanks to these people, and to all those players who set up lawns and helped with refereeing. Finally, the weather was cool and dry throughout, with almost no wind, so the conditions were ideal for good croquet.

And the croquet was very good. Every team won at least one test (and we should perhaps note Manly’s defeat of Canberra, which proved to be a key factor!). There were plenty of matches that went to three games, sometimes with remarkable swings of fortune from one game to the next. Killara was the strongest team on paper, but had narrow escapes in their pre-Carnival matches at Mosman, and were outfoxed by Canberra, so that the overall tournament result finally hinged on the hard-fought doubles between Killara and RSGC as the shadows lengthened on Thursday night.

Winners: Killara and Runners-up: Canberra, both with 6 tests, matches 18:3 and 14:6 respectively.

Photo

GC Selectors 1st 8, 1st - 3rd June 2018

GC Selectors 2nd 8, 1st - 3rd June 2018

GC Division 2 Pennants, 7th June 2018

This year there was a particularly strong field of 19 clubs, including several clubs new to the competition either this year or last. The four geographical zones were Hunter (5 clubs), North Sydney (5), South Sydney (5) and Southern (4). Hunter was won by Toronto, winning 3 of their 4 tests, while three other clubs battled it out winning 2 tests each. Canberra and Sutherland clearly won their zones, while Cheltenham just pipped Manly on net games.

The finals were played at Tempe on 7th June, under comfortable weather conditions and on excellent lawns. We were grateful to have 5 referees (Wendy Fothergill (TR), Michael Strickland, Bill Munns, Peter Freer and Adrienne Fazekas), so that all games could be closely supervised. No time limits were needed.

Canberra defeated Sutherland (2 matches to 1) in one semifinal and Cheltenham defeated Toronto (2:1) in the other. Both tests were well-fought, with most matches going to three games. It was good that so many players stayed on to watch the final, along with a considerable number of spectators. With Cheltenham and Canberra scoring a win each in the singles, the result of the doubles turned out to be crucial. The third game of the doubles went to the thirteenth hoop, and the tension was showing! The outcome was in doubt right until Cheltenham scored the decisive hoop.

Winner: Cheltenham
Runner-up: Canberra

Peter Montague - TM

GC Division 3 Pennants, 14th June 2018

A total of 14 clubs entered teams in this competition, stretching from Nelson Bay to Canberra. Mosman club entered two teams in this division; one played in the South Sydney zone and one in the North Sydney zone.

Congratulations and thanks to the captains of every team that participated! They organised all the required matches smoothly and sent in results promptly. Nelson Bay were the undefeated winners from Hunter zone (4 teams) and Sutherland were the undefeated winners of South Sydney zone (3 teams). North Sydney zone (4 teams) was represented by Cheltenham, who won all but one of their contests. Jamberoo were the winners of the Southern zone (4 teams) by a margin of just 9 hoops!

Finals Day - June 14 - was a beautiful clear and sunny day and excited groups of players from the 4 zone winning clubs gathered early at Tempe ready to begin "battle" on the lawns. Thank you to referees Lynda Toms (TR), Wendy Fothergill and David Gibson who supervised play throughout both the semifinals and the final.

Sutherland defeated Nelson Bay (2 matches to 1) in one semifinal. In the other semifinal, Jamberoo won both the Singles contests. However, the Doubles contest could not be completed because one of the players - Robyn Capple from Cheltenham club - became ill and could not continue. Robyn would like to have recorded her appreciation for the support given to her by the players from Jamberoo Club at this time. An ambulance was called and they took Robyn to RPA. It's a delight to be able to include the news that Robyn only stayed in hospital overnight and was cleared to return to playing croquet after a few days' rest.

Following a short lunch break, it was on to the Finals. One of the Singles contests was rather like a rollercoaster ride, requiring a third game. The eventual winner of this tussle was Jamberoo. The first games in the other Singles contest and in the Doubles were very close; both went to "golden" point (hoop13). Sutherland prevailed in both these games and continued their dominance to win both these contests in 2 straight games. So the Sutherland club were eventual winners - 2 matches to 1.

It was an especially sweet victory for them because, despite many previous attempts, this is the very first occasion on which Sutherland Club has won a GC Pennants competition.

Winner: Sutherland
Runner-up: Jamberoo

Lorraine Hatfield - TM

Photos

GC NSW Open Doubles, 15th - 17th June 2018

The CNSW GC Open Doubles was held on a cold and windy 3 day weekend in June. The only good thing to be said of the weather was that at least we weren’t deluged by rain as the Beryl Chambers had been the previous weekend but it was so cold, especially on lawn 2 before the sun hit it around 10.30, that our fingers froze in locked position around our mallets.

After the withdrawal of one group the competition was a best-of-three round robin between 5 pairs and was not decided until the last round when the hitherto undefeated Alix Verge and David Hanbidge needed to win just one game of their match against John Levick (back to his best form) and Rob Elliott (still experiencing a near-vertical improvement curve) to take the tournament.

The match was a real cracker with Verge/Hanbidge taking game 1 most convincingly and then struggling against the ever-improving Levick/Elliott pairing who took games 2 and 3.

The excitement of the final match followed a string of similarly exciting rounds with some superb play from all pairs. Notably Montague squared. Thanks also to Peter Montague for managing in addition to competing.

Alix Verge

Photo

GC NSW ACA Bronze Medal, 22nd - 24th June 2018

GC NSW Open Singles Championship, 6th - 9th July 2018

25 players took part, a record for a CNSW Open event in recent years. Initial play was in 4 blocks, three of 6 players, one of 7. The top 4 from each block went into the knockout, while the remaining 9 played a round robin followed by semi-finals and a final for the Plate.

Block play was single 13 point games, and all knockouts (including the Plate final) other than the semi-finals and final were best of 3 13 point games. Semi-finals and final were best of 5.

First round losers from the "X" knockout went into the "Y", and second round losers into the "Z". First round losers in the "Y" went into the "W".

Peter Landrebe won the event, beating David Hanbidge 7-6 in the 5th game of the final. Alison Sharpe came 3rd, beating Jamie Gumbrell in the 3rd.4th playoff. John Levick won the "Y", David Woods the "Z", Liz Montague the "W" and Stephen Howes the Plate.

David Stanton

AC Pennants, 24th - 26th July 2018

The AC Bronze, Silver and Gold pennants were played over 6 weeks from early June. The weather was for the most part well behaved - one Silver test had to be abandoned after a downpour turned Cammeray into a lake. The drainage at Cammeray has improved markedly since the repairs last year, but were not up to the volume of water that day. As usual the pennants were played in good spirits and most tests were very close - in 18 of the 24 matches the result was a 2-1 victory, only 3 were 3-0.

Bronze

4 teams contested the Bronze pennants : Strathfield, Mosman, Manly and Cammeray, playing a double round robin so each team played 6 tests. Congratulations to Strathfield, who won with Mosman second. It could have gone either way : they played each other in the last round. A 2-1 win to Mosman would have seen both teams equal on tests and matches won, but Strathfield prevailed 2-1 to take the pennant. Congratulations to Geoff Boyce, Ruth Bridger, Jo Constable, Bill Keaton, Ann Shaddick and Yvonne Webster.

Silver

3 teams contested Silver pennants : Cammeray A, Manly and Cammeray B playing a double round robin, 4 tests each with 2 byes . The Cammeray B team consisted mostly of players eligible to play bronze, but who wanted to play up a division. As in the Bronze, the result was in doubt until the final test where Cammeray A played Manly. A 2-1 win to Cammeray A would have seen both teams equal on tests and matches won, but Cammeray A won all 3 matches to steal victory. Congratulations to Ian Lucas, Graham Maynard, Marg O’Brien and Georgie Ofner.

Gold

3 teams contested Gold pennants : Chatswood, Mosman and Cammeray again playing a double round robin, 4 matches each with 2 byes. In contrast to the Bronze and Silver pennants this was a 1 horse race : Chatswood had it won with a round to spare, losing only in the last round (to Cammeray, giving them their only win!). Congratulations to Bebe Abdullah, Gerard Barry, Charles Britton, Peter Montague and Pat Nosworthy.

Conclusion

By all reports the pennants were enjoyed by all participants. It gives players a chance to meet others of a similar standard, play at other clubs and enjoy their hospitality. It would be nice to see more clubs entering teams next year.

Mike Hughes

AC Fransted Trophy, 7th - 9th August 2018

GC Division 1 Doubles, 18th - 19th August 2018

GC Division 1 Singles, 20th - 22nd August 2018

AC ACA Bronze Medal, 25th - 26th August 2018

The NSW state running of the ACA association croquet Bronze Medal was held at Tempe on the weekend of the 25th & 26th August. Despite weather forecasts of rain and possible thunderstorms the conditions were fine, with only the occasional drop of rain, light winds and a comfortable temperature. The Tempe lawns were in good condition, moderately quick and challenging but not frightening hoops. As an ACA event the matches were untimed, but as we needed to complete four matches in about 9 hours on Saturday it was decided that a clock would be put on games the threatened to unduly delay proceedings. One match in the first round ran just over 3 hours (a 1 hour clock being imposed a bit after 2 hours when it appeared a 3-ball ending might be about to happen), but it was pegged out inside time, and thereafter the remaining three rounds all completed by about 4pm. Players were wasting no time between games. Much the same on Sunday when only three rounds were to be played: two more games did involve a clock, but all games pegged out within time.

The standard was in general quite high. Five of the eight players completed at least one triple, and there were a similar number that either broke down or were abandoned. Several games ended in 3 ball endings (one 2-ball) and there were plenty of close games to keep the spectators interested (two each of 26-24 and 26-23 endings). With full seeding the top 4 seeds played the bottom 4 on Saturday, then played a round-robin on Sunday. This format is likely to lead to the winner being decided in the last round. This was indeed the case, but not in the way that was expected. Going into the last round the top seed Trevor Bassett had 5 wins out of 6, but so did the 5th & 6th seeds Alan Walsh and Mike Hughes. Trevor won his match quickly and convincingly, and Alan’s hoop quotient was such that if he won his match he would win the event. Mike could not win the event because of hoop quotient, but if he won the game, Trevor would win the event. It was not exciting - Mike did not take croquet and quickly lost 26-0 to leave Alan a deserved victor, and he will go on to play in the Australian Gold Medal in Perth next year.

All games were played in good spirit and it was a most enjoyable event.

Mike Hughes, Manager