Ealing Croquet Club

Ealing hosted the South East Short Croquet Tournament on Sunday 7th July for the second year running. Short Croquet comprises 14 point games, which involves running six hoops and pegging out (compared to 26 point games in Association Croquet) and is played on half-lawns.

Each team comprised four players and Ealing fielded two of the six teams. This allowed five Ealing players to participate who were new to Association Croquet, with the shorter version of the game particularly suited to anyone who would like to try out AC. The tactics are essentially the same, but the smaller courts combined with fast lawns does present its own challenges, as all of the balls in play are much nearer to each other. It also meant that the lawns appeared much more crowded than usual.

In the end, Ealing Eagles came second after a penalty shoot-out, so unfortunately croquet didn’t come home on this occasion.

Nevertheless, the day was a great success. A full report by its organiser, Tony Elliott, can be read here.

Photographs: Tom Hartwell