Latest news
The national agency for sport, sportscotland, moved on the 1st of April 2009 from Edinburgh to Glasgow. Its new address is Doges, Templeton on the Green, 62 Templeton Street, Glasgow G40 1DA; telephone 0141 534 6500, fax 0141 534 6501. This is an interim address, with a further move planned for the second half of 2011 to a permanent site adjacent to the new National Indoor Sports Arena and Velodrome. Further information can be found on sportscotland's website at www.sportscotland.org.uk.
David Appleton is publishing a book on the history of the Scottish Championship (and related matters) from 1870 to 1914. It consists of 24 pages of A5 with 25 photographs, many in colour, and costs £6 + p&p (75p in the UK), with any profits going to the SCA. It is scheduled to appear in April 2009. If you would like a copy please contact the .
A croquet group has been formed in Strathpeffer, playing on a lawn beside the Pavilion. An article with a photograph of the players - including Edinburgh Club member Bob Cross - can be found in the online edition of the Ross-shire Journal. If you are in the area and would like a game, you can contact Sally and Stephen Dovey on 01997 423209.
The SCA's Annual General Meeting will be held in the Meadows pavilion at 12 noon on Saturday 29 November. The meeting will be followed by lunch and the presentation of trophies for this year's competitions. Lunch bookings should be made as soon as possible through the .
The annual Association Croquet test series between Great Britain and Ireland is coming to the Meadows Club in Edinburgh on 30 and 31 August 2008. With nine of the 12 players appearing in the world's top 100 [as at 19 August], this is widely expected to be the best croquet ever seen in Scotland. Spectators will be very welcome. The SCA is grateful for sponsorship of this match by Clydesdale Bank.
The teams are as follows:Great Britain: David Maugham, Keith Aiton, Samir Patel, Jonathan Kirby, Tony Le Moignan, Ian Burridge.
Ireland: Ed Cunningham, Simon Williams, Patsy Fitzgerald, Gerard Healy, Evan Newell, Nathaniel Healy.
Ian Wright is a category winner in the third international croquet photography contest run by Croquet World Online Magazine. His photographs can be seen here, under the headings "Referee on call" and "The sporting image". Congratulations to Ian on his excellent images. Maybe we'll have more Scottish entries next year?
Some changes to the Laws of Association Croquet have been adopted for the 2008 season. See the reference section for a summary and links to the full text.
The World Golf Croquet Championship is now in progress in Cape Town. Scotland's representative, Jamieson Walker, played JC and JC of New Zealand (Jenny Clarke and John Christie) in his first two matches, taking each of them to three games. [He was initially reported as winning the first of these matches, but in fact lost the deciding game; the correction appeared on 10 March.] Full results can be found on the WCF website.
The SCA Executive has conferred honorary life membership upon Tremaine and Gail Arkley, in recognition of their very generous donation of several early Scottish croquet trophies - described in David Appleton's article The early history of the Scottish Croquet Championship [appearing in expanded form as a book in April 2009]. They also offered a croquet painting (c.1867) by the Scottish artist William Crawford, and when the SCA had to decline this (being unable to store and display it properly) they offered it to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery; the painting is expected to appear in due course in the Gallery's new section on Scottish Victorian sport.
The SCA Yearbook for 2008 is now being distributed to members. The editor apologises for an error on page 21: in fact the 2006 MacRobertson Shield team was not the first one to include two Scots, as Martin Murray and Andrew Hope were in the GB team in 1982.
Scotland's Keith Aiton beat Toby Garrison (NZ) and Ian Dumergue (Australia) in the first two rounds of the World Championship knockout and will play Robert Fulford in a quarter-final tomorrow. Jonathan Kirby went out in the first round, as did defending champion Reg Bamford. See the Championship site for details. (Update: Fulford won the quarter-final before losing to the eventual winner, Chris Clarke, in the semi-final.)
The World Association Croquet Championship is now in progress in Christchurch, New Zealand. Results can be found on the World Championship website. Scotland's players are Keith Aiton and Jonathan Kirby. (Update, 3 February: after seven rounds of block play both have now qualified for the knockout stage.)
The Meadows Croquet Club organised a very successful Burns Supper, on the day after the poet's birthday, which was attended by more than 30 people including members of the Edinburgh, Kinross and Glasgow Clubs. See here for a few photographs.
See the events page.
This is it!
By the generosity of Gail and Tremaine Arkley of Independence, Oregon, the SCA recently received several trophies from the early years of Scottish croquet, including the silver cups presented to the winners of the Scottish Championship in 1906 and 1913. Photographs of these and of other historic trophies in the possession of the SCA, along with descriptions of the early championships held in Moffat and at Craiglockhart in Edinburgh, can be found in David Appleton's article, The early history of the Scottish Croquet Championship. [Update, 28 March 2009: the article no longer appears on this website, but an expanded version is to be published as a book - see above for details.]
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The SCA receives development grant aid from sportscotland.
