World Croquet Federation

Minutes of his First General Meeting held at the Hurlingham Club, Ranelagh Gardens, London, at 10am on Saturday 15th July, 1989.

Present:

T. Arkley - USA
C. Farioli - italy
A. Ferrarlo - Italy
Dr C. van Griethuysen - Scotland
J. Grochain - France
A.B. Hope - England
C. Hudson - England
Prof N. Ikeda - Japan
Mrs C. Knox - South Africa
C. Landini - Italy
D.C. Milne - South Africa
S.N. Mulliner - Enqland
Dr M. Murray - England
Prof B.G. Neal - Enqland
C. Pickering - Australia
Mrs D. Prentis - Canada
R.D.C. Pritchard - Wales
J.G. Prince - New Zeeland
A. Ravez - France
F. Rogerson - Ireland
J. G. Solomon - England
R.A. Williams - Scotland

Welcome
Mr, Solomon, as acting President, took the chair and welcomed the delegates. He commented that, to anyone looking back in future years, the formation of the World Croquet Federation would be seen as a milestone in the history of croquet.

Apologies
Mr. Hudson, as acting Secretary-General, reported that he had received apologies for non-attendance from:
R. Carter - USA
D.F . McKenzie - Dubai
M.Nielsen - Denmark
M. Quinn - Switzerland
Dr J. Schulze-Smidt - Germany
R.C. Sowerby - Jersey

Applications for Membership
Subject to receipt of the necessary documentation and fees, it was agreed by the meeting that the following countries should be admitted to membership:

Full Members
Australia
England
Ireland
Japan
New Zealand
Scotland
USA

Observer Members
Canada
France
Itally
Jersey
South Africa

The Management Committee was asked to define the minimum requirements that would be used to assess future applications for full membership. A certain amount of substance was required to maintain credibility.

Minutes of meeting on 17th July 1986
These were accepted without comment by the meeting.

Resolution
On behalf of the Steering Committee, Mr. Mulliner proposed the following resolution:
"That Rule 5(A) be changed so that the composition of the Management Committee becomes "President, Treasurer, Secretary General, and three other members", to be effective forthwith.

Mr. Mulliner explained that the Steeling Committee wished to change the title "Chairman" to "President" to bring the WCF into line with other International sporting bodies. Increasing the size of the Committee from 5 to 6 would allow for wider representation.

The Steering Committee also felt that there should be a change of emphasis in the composition of the Management Committee. Improved communication meant that there was no longer any need to have a majority of members from one country. It might be better to spread membership of the Management Committee amongst as many members bodies as possible. He suggested that the four largest associations should provide one member each, and that the other two committee members should be elected from other organizations, perhaps one to represent "Observer" members.
The resolution was passed by the Meeting.

Election of Management Committee and Auditors
The following were elected to form the Management Committee for the years 1990 - 1993.
President Mr A.D.J. Heenan O.B.E. - New Zealand
Secretary-General Mr C. Hudson - England
Other members Mr R. Carter - USA
Brig C. J. Miles - Australia
F .J. Rogerson - Ireland
Prof M. Ikeda - Japan

The Management Committee was delegated by the Meeting to elect one of their members to act as Treasurer.
It was agreed by the meeting that the Management Committee should seek to appoint as Auditors, the Auditors of the Treasurer's national governing body.

Mrs Prentis asked the Management Committee to consider how the interests of "Observer" members of the WCF might best be represented on the Committee.

Report of Steering Committee
Professor Neal presented the Steering Committee's Report. He mentioned that the trophy presented by the All-England Tennis & Croquet Club for the World Championship would be known as the "Wimbledon Cup", and would be for Association Croquet. This would leave the way open for the WCF to sanction "World Championships' for other forms of croquet in the future.

The Meeting passed a vote of thanks to the All-England Club for their generosity in presenting the trophy.

A vote of thanks was also passed for the work the Steering Committee had done since it was set up in 1986.

It was confirmed that South Africa's participation in future World Championships would be reviewed before each event took place.

The Report of the Steering Committee was accepted by the Misting.

WCF Logo
Members were invited to submit suitable designs to the Management Committee for consideration. There was little enthusiasm for either of the two logos tabled at the meeting.

Finances
It was accepted nem con. that subscription levels should be in proportion to the number of votes held by each member and should also relate to the type of membership.
The following subscription rates were agreed:
Full Members:
Annual subscription - £150 per vote.
Entry fee - one fifth of the subscription.
Observer Members:
Annual subscription - £75.
Entry fee - one fifth of the subscription

Following Rule 12, these fees would be due on election and on 1st January subsequently.

The Management Committee was asked by the Meeting to consider whether the full subscription or a reduced amount should be charged for the current year or a reduced amount should be charged for the current year for those organizations elected to membership, and to advise them accordingly.

The charging of a licence fee for each World Championship of the order of £1000 was approved in principle by the meeting, on the basis that the charge would normally be borne by the sponsor.

World Championship
Bids for 1990 World Championship
Notice of intention to bid for the 1990 World Championship was given by:

The Croquet Association (England), who proposed to repeat the 1989 event in London in Jluy 1990
The New Zealand Croquet Council who proposed to hold the World Championship in conjunction with the NZ Open Championships after the MacRobertson Shield competition. Proposed dates were 29 January to .4th February, 1990. It was anticipated that about 60 players would take part.
The Scottish Croquet Association who proposed to hold the World Championship as part of Glasgow's year as European "City of Culture". The event would be held from 22nd to 29th July 1990, and would accommodate about 48 players.

All three bids were currently without a committed sponsor. It was agreed that the Management Committee should try to make a decision by 31st August 1989, or earlier if possible.

The Management Committee was asked to consider what procedures should be used in future, particularly how and when bids for future World Championships should be submitted.

Format of future Championships

A number of views were expressed about the conditions for future World Championships listed in Annex A of the Steering Committee's Report. The following would be considered by the Management Committee:

(a) The number of players to be flown in from each country.
(b) The minimum number of overseas players.
(c) The selection of players for sponsored travel.
d) How the quality of individual applicants should be assessed.
e) Whether every member organization of the WCF should have the right to be represented by at least one player, regardless of standard, and whether such players should necessarily get sponsored travel.
(f) Whether the allocation of sponsored travel should be strictly on merit, regardless of country.
g) The possible expansion of Items 7 and 8 in Annex A to make them more specific.

Championship Ball
Professor Neal outlined the need for an internationally-agreed ball specification. More manufacturers were springing up. Very helpful comments on the proposed ball specification (given in Annex B of the Steering Committee's Report) had been received from South Africa and USA.

The Meeting agreed that the Croquet Association's Equipment committee (who had originally drafted the Annex B specification) should be asked to consider comments received and solicit further comments from interested parties before recommending an amended specification to the Management Committee. It was agreed that the dimensions quoted in the final specification would be metric.

GAISF & the World Games
The Meeting agreed that the WCF should apply for provisional membership of GAISF, subject to a satisfactory visit to demonstrate croquet in the 1989 World Games at Karlsruhe.

The Meeting agreed in principle that if the WCF were to promote a "World Team Championship" at future World Games, then the teams would be small in size, and would probably consist of just two players per country.

Any Other Business
The following points were raised:

By Professor Neal: that a clause be inserted in the Rules of the WCF to the effect that it was "committed to non-racial and non-discriminatory sport". This suggestion had in fact come from South Africa. Agreed by the Meeting.

By Dr van Griethuysen: That the existing Rule 5(C) discriminated against her, as she did not have political rights in Scotland, being a Dutch national.

By Mr Arkley: the term "Permanent resident" in WCF Rule 18(A)4 could be interpreted in different ways by individual WCF members. Mr. Mulliner explained that the WCF interpretation was a permissive one.

By Professor Neal: Rule 11 should be changed so that applicants for membership can be admitted by the Management Committee and ratified formally at a later General Meeting. Agreed by the Meeting.

By Mr Mulliner: That the Rules should allow for postal voting at the end of each year. Applicants could then be formally admitted by this method. Agreed by Meeting: Management Committee to set up postal voting system.

By Professor Neal: Mr. Gillespie (South Africa) had pointed out that the Rules should be altered to allow a delegate to record his organisation's full number of votes. Agreed by the Meeting.

By Mr Pickering: The Australian Croquet Association wished to propose a wider range of vote entitlements for individual WCF members. The Meeting agreed that the Management Committee should study the proposal and make recommendations.

By Professor Neal : Mr Gillespie had suggested that the Law-making function should not be confined to those countries listed in WCF Rule 16(B). Professor Neal proposed that all relevant countries should be consulted on proposed changes to the Laws of Croquet, and that the countries named in Rule 16(B) should be responsible for deciding on the final wording. Agreed by the Meeting.

By Mr. Rogerson: That the WCF should do its utmost to obtain income from rights arising from media coverage, and that there should be careful monitoring of income and expenditure on WCF events. Mr. Mulliner said that the Croquet Association intended to publish a report on the whole of the World Championships "experience", complete with a statement of accounts. This would be useful for future events.

By Mrs Prentis: That the World Croquet Federation should not attempt to stage separate Championships for Men and Women. Agreed by the Meeting.

By Mr. Milne: That the WCF should attempt to obtain sponsorship through its own members who held influential positions, and that in the longer term, the WCF should investigate the setting up of a Trust Fund for "education in sport". Tax-free income from this fund could then be used to finance future World Championships. Passed to the Management Committee to consider.

Conclusion
On behalf of the WCF, Mr Solomon thanked the Italian Croquet Association for their gift of a "Fun Cup". This trophy is to be awarded to the outstanding "personality" of each World Association Croquet Championship.

He concluded the meeting by expressing the hope that the 1989 World Championships would produce some excellent and exciting croquet.