Swanage Croquet Club teams through to the South West Regional Final and Semi-Final!
Swanage Croquet Club - going from strength to strength!
This year the club has gone from strength to strength. Swanage Croquet Club has welcomed new members who have picked up the skills and rules of the game very well and are enjoying playing croquet at the club regularly on a social basis. The club is now almost a full capacity!
Lawn preparation and maintenance have been carried out superbly by a group of club members who have worked tirelessly to convert the playing field, formerly a football pitch, in the grounds of Swanage Primary School, into what are now two competition standard courts. Last season, when work on the lawns was at an early stage, all the club league competition matches had to be played on away grounds. This year the playing surface has been greatly improved and home league matches have resumed. Swanage plays in the South West Federation League and has two competitive teams. Results have been fantastic!
The game of Croquet
Each match consists of 20 games played during a full day of play and is a mix of both doubles and singles games. A game is comprised of playing 12 hoops and the winning team needs to score 7 of the 12 hoops to win. In the event of the score being 6; 6 after 12 hoops there is a final 13th ‘golden hoop’ for one team to win the game.
Semi Finals and Final in South West Regional Competition!
The High Handicap Second Team has won all of its first three matches, beating Winterborne Valley at home 13; 7, local rivals East Dorset (Poole) 12; 8 at home and Winterborne away 11; 9. Most recently was a narrow loss to East Dorset 8; 12, but the league had already been won! The semi-final SW region match is against the winners of the match between St Agnes, Cornwall and Dowlish Wake, Somerset.
What a great season so far and excellent for this team to reach the semi-final stage for 2 years running. Last season they made it to the final, only to be beaten by Llandaff, Cardiff, and so we were 2023 runners up.
Swanage All Handicap First Team recently beat Bude in the SW Federation Semi Final and now await their opponents in the final. The winner of the final plays in the National Finals! The SF score was Swanage 12; Bude 4 in a 20 game competition
The 6th and final round of 4 games was not played as Swanage had already convincingly won the match. It was a full day of play starting about 1000am and finishing about 4.30pm
The team made the semi-final with two matches to spare having beaten Budleigh Salterton, Devon at home 19; 1 and 11; 9 away, Exeter away 11; 9 and 14; 2 at home and Taunton Deane at home 16; 4. In their most recent match away against a very good Taunton team the match was lost by the narrowest of margins 9.5; 10.5, but again the league had already been won!
Good luck to both teams in their matches, flying the flag for Swanage!
Swanage Croquet Club - an inclusive sport for all!
Within the club social play happens throughout the week, as do internal club competitions, which give all players the chance to play competitive croquet if they want to. Social events also happen throughout the season.
Anyone interested in joining the club should visit the Swanage Croquet club website and then contact the club via the website for an introductory session.
Swanage is a member of Croquet England, whose mission is to see ‘More people playing more croquet in more places’
It is a sport which is not only inclusive to all genders, abilities and ages, it also helps individuals improve their mental and physical wellbeing. It is a game of tactics, skill and accuracy and has been growing in popularity here in Swanage.
