Rich River hosts Croquet Regional Championships

Australian men’s singles runner-up Stephen Forster was among the field and took out the division one singles, helping Geelong to claim victory in the team’s event.

“It’s probably the best Victorian Event there is because you have people that have played in the interstate cup playing,” said Tournament organiser Kenn Boal.

“(We’ve got) one person, Stephen Forster that was runner-up in the Australian men's singles, state team members, and a lot of people that are just coming on.”

Boal compared the game of croquet to snooker in the way it tests precision and focuses on setting up advantageous angles and ball positions.

“If you can play snooker then you can play croquet,” he said.

“It’s all about angles like in snooker, you hit a ball, pot a ball and then you pot another one to keep progressing, and that’s what croquet is.

“You make a hoop and you hit other balls as stepping stones to get to the six hoops and go round twice with both balls and hit the peg.

“You’re hoping to do 96 turns and not sit down so the other person can get frustrated.

“If you do not go through a hoop or hit a ball, then you sit down, and you give the opposition a go, and the idea is to keep progressing.

“As you realise, when you’re a newbie, that doesn’t happen, but if you’re at the top, you can.”

There are two main styles of game for croquet, with golf croquet featuring jumps and other modified rules, while the Regional Championships were contested under association croquet rules.

Geelong finished ahead of local team Goulburn Valley to claim the teams event title, while Murray Valley claimed third.

Northern District, Gippsland, Ballarat and South Western rounded out the seven region field.

The Country Regional Championship comes at a busy time for Rich River Croquet club with the club set to host the Rich River Anzac Classic from April 20 to 25.

The tournament will be held over four divisions with each section playing over two of the days.

Division one will play on April 20-21, followed by division two on April 22-23, while division three and four both compete on April 24-25

The club is still welcoming entrants in divisions three and four.

The club will hold a Come and Try Day for members of the public on Sunday, May 5, at the Rich River Golf Club croquet courts from 2pm.

To find out more about Rich River Croquet Club and the Come and Try Day contact Marjorie or Ian on 0459 030 338 or Cherie on 0409 509 295.