Keith Aiton (Captain)

Born in 1958 Keith took up croquet seriously while a student at Cambridge University where he was captain of the team against Oxford in 1982.  The next year he reached the final of the Open Championship and won the Chairman's Salver.  For the next six years he was near the top of the game in Britain while also developing an interest in coaching.  From 1988 to 1992 he ran the National Junior Squad that produced world champions Robert Fulford and Chris Clarke and several other Great Britain internationals including the mighty David Maugham.  Keith was coach of the winning Great Britain team in the MacRobertson Shields of 1990, 1993 and 1996.  Keith's playing career became revitalised in 2005 due to the purchase of a new (modern) mallet, and he won the President's Cup that year.  In 2006 he played in the Great Britain team that retained the MacRobertson Shield in emphatic fashion.  Keith was the only player to win all six of his singles matches. He is a member of Nottingham and Bowdon croquet clubs.

Outside of croquet Keith works as a business coach and commercial mediator and is a doting father to his two children.  He plays chess for his local club and golf when time permits.

Rutger Beijderwellen

Rutger moved from the Netherlands to England to follow a croquet dream.  With two major opens recently under his belt (New Zealand and the British) and being a member of the British Test Team he now has his sights firmly set on becoming the World Champion.

Chris Clarke

Born in 1971, Chris started playing croquet at the age of 13. He has won every major championship in the sport, but is particularly proud of his 15 National Doubles Titles.  Chris moved to live in NZ in 2005 and lives in Christchurch with his wife Jenny (see NZ team) and their golden Labrador, Amy.  He is President of the Canterbury Croquet Association and Coach of the NZ Youth Squad.  Health permitting, this will be Chris’ sixth MacRobertson Shield.  He has been the world number 1 for the past two and a half years.

Robert Fulford

Robert made his debut in MacRobertson 1990 helping Great Britain to win a tight series in New Zealand. Since then GB has been unbeaten in the MacRobertson with Robert ever present in the team.  Outside of the MacRobertson Shield Robert has won the World Championship 5 times, is current holder of the President's Cup and is chasing after John Solomon's record for who has won the British Opens the most times.  Robert is a member of Colchester Croquet Club were he first started playing back in 1985.  He lives in Lower Raydon, Suffolk with his wife Susan and works for the NHS diabetic eye screening service.

David Maugham

David Maugham, born in 1969 is the IT manager for a natural stone company, he was introduced to croquet by his father in 1981 and started playing competitively in 1985.  He has won various singles honours including the British Open Championship, British President's Cup on 4 occasions, the Sonoma-Cutrer World Championship 3 times, the Australian Open, the US Open and 17 British Regional Championships.  His doubles successes include three British Open Doubles titles (with Steve Comish, Chris Clarke and Mark Avery) and two British Mixed Doubles (with Jenny Williams and Ailsa Lines).

David has also been on five MacRobertson Shield winning Great Britain sides, and considers his best match to be the one in which he completed a TP to win the deciding game of the final match of the test against New Zealand when the scores were level.

Outside of croquet, David has a black belt in ju-jitsu; recently gained a degree in IT with the Open University; enjoys computer games; and practices modern jive dancing.

Stephen Mulliner

Stephen Mulliner, 56, first played in the Mac in 1982 and this will be his 6th appearance for Great Britain (1982, 86, 90, 2000, 03, 10).  He has won the British Open Championship on 3 occasions (1988, 1990, 2000), the President’s Cup 5 times, the Sonoma-Cutrer version of the World Championship event 4 times, the European Championship 11 times and finished runner-up in the WCF World Championship twice (1997 and 2008).  He does not mind who he plays doubles with and has won the British Open Doubles on 8 occasions with 4 different partners and reached the final on 9 other occasions with 3 others.  He awarded himself three years off work in 2007 to travel and play more croquet and, in 2009, added the New Zealand, Australian, Irish, German and Austrian Opens.  In his spare time, he is a business angel, a member of the WCF Management Committee, a former mayor and active local politician and a keen golfer and runner.  He and Sarah have clocked up 30 years of marriage, four children aged from 27 to 21 and, so far, no grandchildren that they know of.

Reserves

Ian Lines

Ian started playing croquet in 1993 at the age of 27 and made steady progress, winning the All England Handicap Championship in 1995, and has now been ranked in the world top ten for the last two years.  However, it wasn’t until after he won the Chairman’s Salver in 2004 that he began to play at an international level, representing GB in the successful Solomon Trophy teams in 2005 and 2008.  He has also represented England in several Home Internationals, and in 2008 he won the both the Coles Championship and the Chairman’s Salver for a second time.  His most recent successes were winning the 2009 New Zealand Open Doubles Championship with Michael Wright, and winning the 2009 North of England Championship.  Ian works as Risk Management Consultant, specialising in health and safety issues for major hazard installations such as chemical plants and refineries.  When away from the lawn he is one of those that the sport needs by giving up his time to coach, organize tournaments and acting as Tournament Secretary for Bowdon Croquet Club and as Secretary of the North West Croquet Federation.  He also enjoys travel, walking and climbing volcanoes.