National Short Croquet Team Final - The funeral of Short Croquet?

[<<] [>>] by Tim King at Nailsea
12th October 2000 (Other News)

For a wake, the atmosphere was anything but sad. However, the decision by the CA to cancel the national Short Croquet competitions (team and individual) in 2001 appears to have left the future of the game in the balance.

On Saturday 9 September, Bury and Ashby arrived at Nailsea and District Croquet Club to join the hosts in competition for the xxx trophy (the Short Croquet National Team Final). Unfortunately, other clubs had withdrawn from participating.

The lawns were full of dew on a windless, murky but mild morning. However, everyone was fresh, willing and ready for action. The first shots of the day were marked by trails of spray but soon the early rustiness began to recede and the battle hotted up.

By the end of the second round, Nailsea had built up a lead with six wins. Bury stood on four and Ashby on two. The sleepy heads from Leicestershire looked in bad shape and everyone retired to lunch and catch a breath.

Round Three began to see the lawns speeding up, despite the lack of anything more than hazy sunshine and the occasional spell of light, misty rain. The recent weather had also left the grass longer than ideal but, above all, the worm casts posed the greatest difficulty.

The Tournament Manager laid the challenge to Bury at the beginning of Round Four: win all your last four games and the cup can still be yours! However, in the end, Ashby managed the clean sweep in the Round and the scores ended at: Nailsea 10, Bury 7, Ashby 7. All had shown great spirit and enjoyed the experience.

Thus, congratulations to Nailsea as both excellent hosts and worthy winners. Their name goes on the trophy for yet another year but if theirs is the last then perhaps it was fitting that previous winners Ashby and defending champions Bury were able to contest.

It was great to see two younger players in the Nailsea team, both of whom performed with great composure and enthusiasm. However, the death knell appears to have tolled on Short Croquet. The question is whether the nation's clubs really have the time and lawns to ignore all but Association Croquet as the only competitive proving ground for newcomers?