Wild Card Selection for World Championship Florida May 2009
This document describes the decision making of the WCF committee set up to select wild cards for the World Championship Florida May 2009.
The committee consisted of Brian Storey, David Openshaw, Charles Jones, and Rhys Thomas.
David, Charles and Rhys have all been Chairman of the Selection Committees of their respective Member Association at some time. Brian Storey did not take part in those discussions which might have an impact of his own selection. All discussion was conducted by email.
In addition to the 6 wild cards set aside there were 8 places not taken up by members. It was agreed by the committee that these should be treated as extra wild cards. So there were 14 wild cards in total. There were 33 applications.
The committee operated within the Sports Regulations set out in Appendix B (pages 33 to37). The relevant regulation applying to wild cards is reproduced below:
Wild Cards shall be issued by the WCF taking into account the following:
9.4.1.1 For Association Croquet events with 80 places, priority will be given to ensure that players in the top 50 of the World Ranking List, who are available to play, can get a place;
9.4.1.2 The playing strength of a player;
9.4.1.3 The distribution of places between countries;
9.4.1.4 The need to ensure that the event has the minimum number of entrants;
9.4.1.5 A player's performance in previous WCF Events;
9.4.1.6 The need to provide encouragement for developing countries;
9.4.1.7 Additional places for the host country;
9.4.1.8 The support given by each Member Association in previous WCF Events with a bias towards the most recent event. (end quote)
Priority was given to any players who were in the top 50 by playing strength.
The committee first selected Beijderwellen, Farthing and Patmore.
After further discussion and recognising the volatility of the rankings Trimmer and James LeMoignan were also selected under this criterion.
The committee then considered the other criteria under which players could be selected. A further selection was made based on playing strength: Murphy.
All the above decisions were unanimous.
It was agreed that a number of places should be allocated to development places. The committee noted that in 2005 50% of wild cards had been selected under this category and in 2008 1 player (the only applicant) was selected. Also further places should be selected on player strength.
The following players were selected Ojeda (unanimous), Wahban (majority) as development places and Irwin (unanimous) on playing strength.
The committee then discussed the issue of selection on strength and the issue of whether to use the order of strength provided by member associations or to consider modifying these on the basis of our own views. This applied mainly to English players. The committee asked the CA Selection committee for advice on why they had selected certain players in particular places. We were informed that the selection had been conducted in line with the criteria for selecting players for World Championships as stated in the CA Selection Policy. However this policy also did not allow them to communicate reasons for selection to other parties.
After discussion it was agreed to follow the order of strength supplied by the CA (majority decision).
There were now five places left. It was agreed (majority) after much discussion to allocate these as follows one more development place, two extra places to host nation and two extra places based on strength. The following were selected for the development place Alvarez-Sala (majority), for the two extra host member places Osborn and Bast (unanimous), for two places based on player strength Winn and Jenkins (unanimous).
Selection of reserves: It was agreed that the committee would for selection of reserves use it own view of player strength. It was agreed that the four reserves would all be chosen on player strength. These were selected unanimously as Cornelius, Murray, Storey and Guest.
A further reserve list was then required and it was agreed that this should be based on a mixture of the distribution between countries (mainly) and player strength.
The following was agreed unanimously as an additional reserve list in order.
Mayard-Husson, Walters, Jackson, Emmett, Hopgood, Lawrence, Billings, Kelley, and Weston.
The Committee recommend that the issue of whether to select on player strength as recommended by Member Associations alone, be subject to further consultation by the WCF MC and Member Associations.
WCF Wild Card Committee 2009