Club

Croquet

Wrest Park

Advanced Tournament 2/3 August



Rod Ashwell runs 3-back(!) in his game against George Woolhouse. Now read on...

The time: 11.30am on Sunday 3rd August 2014, two hours after the start of play.

The place: Wrest Park.

The event: The club’s Advanced tournament, attended by 11 experienced players.

The scene: See above.

The Law: 2 THE COURT

(b) VARIATIONS TO THE STANDARD COURT

(4) TOLERANCE ON SETTING Each hoop and the peg may be displaced up to 6 inches from its standard position provided that . . . etc.

(5) ACCEPTANCE OF SETTING Once players have started a game, it is deemed that they have accepted that the locations of all boundary markings, hoops and the peg are correct. Material discrepancies may be remedied under Law 55.

The circumstances: Days before the tournament it was determined that lawn 1 would be moved about three yards further south, and the new lines were duly marked and new hoop holes made. Early on Sunday morning the hoops were dropped into the holes prior to their being reset, but hoop 4 was accidentally placed in the old hole. The lawn had flooded the day before, and scraping off the water had left the surface a little rough, so George Collin (the ROT) decided to mow the lawn before play, lifting the hoops out of the way and replacing them en route. The hoops were then set and play started. At around 11.30 a double-banked game was due to start on lawn 1, and it was at this point that one of the players in the new game (who happened to be the ROT) was the first to notice that something was amiss.

The remedy: The ROT exercised his right and moved and reset the hoop there and then, wondering, as we all did, why nobody had noticed it before. It just shows it can happen to anyone.

And what became of it at last? Rod and George later played each other (on lawn 1, naturally) to decide the overall winner. In a close game Rod eventually prevailed at around 7.15pm after George had just fallen off the south boundary when taking off to Rod who was joined up near corner 4 wanting 2-back and rover. The rover peel was perfectly executed, which was just as well as all the balls were within two yards of each other. The only witness was your reporter, as everyone else* had long since left.

*Chris Roberts, Frances Colman, Jonathan Wolfe, Keith Rhodes, George Woolhouse, Terry Mahoney, Nick Steiner and David Woolley.

Being in a hurry and not having the full results to hand I sent this report and a photo to the CA, but it has yet to appear on their website.

Casual water on lawn 1 at 4pm on Saturday afternoon.

© Wrest Park Croquet Club  

George Collin, Rod Ashwell and their shadows.