In 1868 the first all-comers’ meeting was held at Moreton-in-the-Marsh. In the same year the All England Croquet Club was formed, the annual contest for the championship taking place on the grounds of this club at Wimbledon.[1] But after being for ten years or so the most popular game for the country house and garden party, croquet was in its turn practically ousted by lawn tennis, until, with improved implements and a more scientific form of play, it was revived about 1894-1895. In 1896-1897 was formed the United All England Croquet Association, on the initiative of Mr Walter H. Peel. Under the name of the Croquet Association, with more than 2000 members and nearly a hundred affiliated clubs (1909), this body is the recognized ruling authority on croquet in the British Islands. Its headquarters are at the Roehampton Club, where the championship and champion cup competitions are held each year.
The Game and its Implements.—The requisites for croquet are a level grass lawn, six hoops, two posts or pegs, balls, mallets, and hoop-clips to mark the progress of the players. The usual game is played between two sides, each having two balls, the side consisting of two players in partnership, each playing one ball, or of one player playing both balls. The essential characteristic of croquet is the scientific combination between two balls in partnership against the other two. The balls are distinguished by being coloured blue, red, black and yellow, and are played in that order, blue and black always opposing the other two.
| Fig. 1.—Diagram of croquet ground, showing setting of hoops and pegs, and order of play in accordance with the official Laws (1909) of the Croquet Association. |
The ground for match play measures 35 yds. by 28 yds., and should be carefully marked out with white lines. In each corner a white spot is marked 1 yd. from each boundary. The hoops are made of round iron, not less than ½ in. and not more than ¾ in. in diameter, and standing 12 in. out of the ground. For match play they are 3¾ or 4 in. across, inside measurement. They are set up as in the accompanying diagram, the numbers and arrows indicating the order and direction in which they must be passed. Each hoop is run twice, and each peg struck once. The pegs may be struck from any direction.
The pegs are 1½ in. in diameter and when fixed stand 18 in. above the ground. The balls were formerly made of boxwood (earlier still of beechwood); composition balls are now in general use for tournaments. They must be 35⁄8 in. in diameter and 15 oz. to 16½ oz. in weight. It will be seen that for match play the hoops are only 1⁄8 or at the most 3⁄8 in. wider than the diameter of the ball. The mallets may be of any size and weight, but the head must be made of wood (metal may be used only for weighting or strengthening purposes), and the ends must be parallel and similar. Only one mallet may be used in the course of a game, except in the case of bona fide damage.
The object of the player is to score the points of the game by striking his ball through each of the hoops and against each of the pegs in a fixed order; and the side wins which first succeeds in scoring all the points with both the balls of the side. A metal clip corresponding in colour with the player’s ball is attached to the hoop or peg which that ball has next to make in the proper order, as a record of its progress in the game. No point is scored by passing through a hoop or hitting a peg except in the proper order. Thus, if a player has in any turn or turns driven his ball successively through hoops 1, 2, and 3, his clip is attached to hoop 4, and the next point to be made by him will be that hoop; and so on till all the points (hoops and pegs) have been scored. Each player starts in turn from any point in a “baulk” or area 3 ft. wide along the left-hand half of the “southern” boundary, marked A on the diagram, of the lawn—till 1906, from a point 1 ft. in front of the middle of hoop 1. If he fails either to make a point or to “roquet”[2] (i.e. drive his ball against) another ball in play, his turn is at an end and the next player in order takes his turn in like manner. If he succeeds in scoring a point, he is entitled (as in billiards) to another stroke; he may then either attempt to score another point, or he may roquet a ball. Having roqueted a ball—provided he has not already roqueted the same ball in the same turn without having scored a point in the interval—he is entitled to two further strokes: first he must “take croquet,” i.e. he places his own ball (which from the moment of the roquet is “dead” or “in hand”) in contact with the roqueted ball on any side of it, and then strikes his own ball with his mallet, being bound to move or shake both balls perceptibly. If at the beginning of a turn the striker’s ball is in contact with another ball, a “roquet” is held to have been made and “croquet” must be taken at once. After taking croquet the striker is entitled to another stroke, with which he may score another point, or roquet another ball not previously roqueted in the same turn since a point was scored, or he may play for safety. Thus, by skilful alternation of making points and roqueting balls, a “break” may be made in which point after point, and even all the points in the game (for the ball in play), may be scored in a single turn, in addition to 3 or 4 points for the partner ball. The chief skill in the game perhaps consists in playing the stroke called “taking croquet” (but see below on the “rush”). Expert players can drive both balls together from one end of the ground to the other, or send one to a distance while retaining the other, or place each with accuracy in different directions as desired, the player obtaining position for scoring a point or roqueting another ball according to the strategical requirements of his position. Care has, however, to be taken in playing the croquet-stroke that both balls are absolutely moved or perceptibly shaken, and that neither of them be driven over the boundary line, for in either event the player’s next stroke is forfeited and his turn brought summarily to an end.
There are three distinct methods of holding the mallet among good players. A comparatively small number still adhere to the once universal “side stroke,” in which the player faces more or less at right angles to the line of aim, and strikes the ball very much like a golfer, with his hands close together on the mallet shaft. The majority use “front play,” in which the player faces in the direction in which he proposes to send the ball. The essential characteristic of this stroke is that eye, hand and ball should be in the same vertical plane, and the stroke is rather a swing—the “pendulum stroke”—than a hit. There are two ways of playing it. The majority of right-handed front players swing the mallet outside the right foot, holding it with the left hand as a pivot at the top of the shaft, while the right hand (about 12 in. lower down) applies the necessary force, though it must always be borne in mind that the heavy mallet-head, weighing from 3 to 3½ ℔ or even more, does the work by itself, and the nearer the stroke is to a simple swing, like that of a pendulum, the more likely it is to be accurate. Either the right or the left foot may be in advance, and should be roughly parallel to the line of aim, the player’s weight being mainly on the rear foot. Most of the best Irish and some English players swing the mallet between their feet, using a grip like that of the side player or golfer, with the hands close together, and often interlocking. It is claimed that the loss of power caused by the hampered swing—usually compensated by an extra heavy mallet—is more than counterbalanced by the greater accuracy in aim. The beginner is well advised to try all these methods, and adopt that which comes most natural to him. Skirted players, of course, are unable to use the Irish stroke; and, as one of the most meritorious features of croquet is that it is the only out-of-door game in which men and women can compete on terms of real equality, this has been put forward as a reason for barring it, if it is actually an advantage.
When a croquet ground is thoroughly smooth and level, the game gives scope for considerable skill; a great variety of strokes may be played with the mallet, each having its own well-defined effect on the behaviour of the balls, while a knowledge of angles is essential. Skilful tactics are at least as necessary as skilful execution to enable the player so to dispose the balls on the ground while making a break that they may most effectively assist him in scoring his points. The tactics of croquet are in this respect similar to those of billiards, that the player tries to make what progress he can during his own break, and to leave the balls “safe” at the end of it; he must also keep in mind the needs of the other ball of his side by leaving his own ball, or the last player’s ball, or both, within easy roqueting distance or in useful positions, and that of the next player isolated. Good judgment is really more valuable than mechanical skill. Croquet is a game of combination, partners endeavouring to keep together for mutual help, and to keep their opponents apart. It is important always to leave the next player in such a position that he will be unable to score a point or roquet a ball; a break, however profitable, which does not end by doing this is often fatal. Formerly this might be done by leaving the next player’s ball in such a position that either a hoop or a peg lay between it and all the other balls (“wiring”), or so near to a hoop or peg that there was no room for a proper stroke to be taken in the required direction. Under rule 36 of the Laws of Croquet for 1906, a ball left in such a position, provided it were within a yard of the obstacle (“close-wired”), might at the striker’s option be moved one yard in any direction. This rule left to the striker whose ball was “wired” more than a yard from the hoop or peg (“distance-wired”) the possibility of hitting his ball in such a way as to jump the obstacle. The jump-shot is, however, very bad for the lawn, and in 1907 a further provision was made by which the player whose ball is left “wired” from all the other balls by the stroke of an opponent may lift it and play from the “baulk” area. This practically means that “wiring” is impossible. The most that can be done is to “close-wire” the next player from two balls and leave him with a difficult shot at the third. If, however, the next player’s ball has not been moved by the adversary, the adversary is entitled to wire the balls as best he can.
The following is a specimen of elementary croquet tactics. If a player is going up to hoop 5 (diagram 1) in the course of a break, he should have contrived, if possible, to have a ball waiting for him at that hoop and another at hoop 6. With the aid of the first he runs hoop 5 and sends it on to the turning peg, stopping his ball in taking croquet close to the ball at 6. The corner hoops are the difficult ones, and after running hoop 6 the assisting ball is croqueted to 1 back, the peg being struck with the aid of the ball already there, which is again struck and driven to 2 back. If the player has been able to leave the fourth ball in the centre of the ground (known as a centre ball), he hits this after taking croquet, takes croquet, going off it to the ball at 1 back, and continues the break, leaving the centre ball where it will be useful for 3 back and 4 back. A first-class player should, however, be able to make a break with 3 balls almost as easily as with 4. A useful device, especially in a losing game, is to get rid of the opponent’s advanced ball if a “rover” (i.e. one which has run all the hoops and is for the winning peg) by croqueting it in such a way that it hits the peg and is thus out of the game. This can be done only by a ball which is itself also a rover. The opponent has then only one turn out of every three, and may be rendered practically helpless by leaving him always in a “safe” position. Inasmuch as a skilful player can cause an opponent’s ball to pass through the last two or even three hoops in the course of his turn and then peg it out, it is considered prudent to leave unrun the last three hoops until the partner’s ball is well advanced. There is a perennial agitation in the croquet world for a law prohibiting the player from pegging out his opponent’s ball. Many good players also think it desirable that the four-ball break should be restricted or wholly forbidden, e.g. by barring the dead ball.
To “rush” a ball is to roquet it hard so that it proceeds for a considerable distance in a desired direction. This stroke requires absolute accuracy and often considerable force, which must be applied in such a way as to drive the player’s ball evenly; otherwise it is very liable, especially if the ground be not perfectly smooth, to jump the object ball. The rush stroke is absolutely essential to good play, as it enables croquet to be taken (e.g.) close to the required hoop, whereas to croquet into position from a great distance and also provide a ball for use after running the hoop is extremely difficult, often impossible. To “rush” successfully, the striker’s ball must lie near the object ball, preferably, though not necessarily, in the line of the rush. By means of the rush it is possible to accomplish the complete round with the assistance of one ball only. To “cut” a ball is to hit it on the edge and cause it to move at some desired angle. “Rolling croquet” is made either by hitting near the top of the player’s ball which gives it “follow,” or by making the mallet so hit the ball as to keep up a sustained pressure. The first impact must, however, result in a distinctly audible single tap; if a prolonged rattle or a second tap is heard the stroke is foul. The passing stroke is merely an extension of this. Here the player’s ball proceeds a greater distance than the croqueted ball, but in somewhat the same direction. The “stop stroke” is made by a short, sharp tap, the mallet being withdrawn immediately after contact; the player’s ball only rolls a short distance, the other going much farther. The “jump stroke” is made by striking downwards on to the ball, which can thus be made to jump over another ball, or even a hoop. “Peeling” (a term derived from Walter H. Peel, a famous advocate of the policy) is the term applied to the device of putting a partner’s or an opponent’s ball through the hoops with a view to ultimately pegging it out.