Cheltenham, England: 28th June to 1st July 2007

The World Croquet Federation (WCF) in conjunction with the Fédération Européenne de Croquet (FEC) and with the grateful assistance of the sponsors Mitsubishi Motors, and the Cheltenham Croquet Club, England, are pleased to promote the “Mitsubishi Motors European Team Championship”.

Tournament

Results -

Third match in each is Golf Croquet, first two are Association croquet.

RED GROUP

Round 1

Isle Of Man 3 Finland 0
Kevin Garrad beat Juha Torkkeli +25
Kevin Wells beat Jan-Erik Frigren +25
Jean Wilcock beat Rami Pajula 5-7, 7-6, 7-6

Germany 3 Czech Republic 0
Bruno Hess beat David Hajn +4T (21-17)
Wolfgang Usbeck beat Vaclav Dokocil +12
Thomas Magin beat Jiri Plachy 4-7, 7-3, 7-5

Wales 2 Belgium 1
John Evans beat John Swabey +17
Garry McElwain beat Tony Falcon-Uff +22
Cliff Jones lost to Pierre Beaudry 6-7, 6-7

Round 2

Isle of Man 2 Czech Republic 1
Kevin Garrad beat David Hajn +12
Kevin Wells beat Vaclav Dokocil +11
Jean Wilcock lost to Jiri Plachy 5-7, 2-7

Wales 3 Finland 0
Ian Burridge beat Rami Pajula +26
Garry McElwain beat Juha Torkkeli +23
Kevin Ham beat Jan-Erik Frigren 7-0, 7-2

Round 3

Germany 1 Isle of Man 2
Bruno Hess lost to Kevin Garrad -26
Wolfgang Usbeck lost to Kevin Wells -3
Thomas Magin beat Jean Wilcock 6-7, 7-4, 7-1

Belgium 3 Finland 0
John Swabey beat Jan-Erik Frigren +25
Pierre Beaudry beat Rami Pajula +26
Tony Falcon-Uff beat Juha Torkkeli 6-7, 7-3, 7-5

Round 4

Round 5 Wales 2 Isle of Man 1
John Evans beat Kevin Garrad +19
Cliff Jones lost to Kevin Wells -1T
David Walters beat Jean Wilcock 7-4, 6-7, 7-3

Germany 3 Finland 0
Bruno Hess beat Juha Torkkeli +18
Wolfgang Usbeck beat Jan-Erik Frigren +25
Thomas Magin beat Rami Pajula 7-1, 7-4

Belgium 2 Czech 1
John Swabey beat David Hajn +14
Pierre Beaudry beat Vaclav Doskocil +13
Tony Falcon-Uff lost to Jiri Plachy 7-3, 3-7, 6-7

BLUE GROUP

Round 1

Switzerland 2 Norway 1
Norman Eatough beat Roar Michalsen +23
Dave Underhill beat Steinar Olsen +7
Paul Samson lost to Birger Steine 7-0, 5-7, 6-7

Scotland 2 Austria 1
David Magee beat Leopold Walderdorff +1
Bruce Rannie beat Martin Guntner +22
Jamieson Walker lost to Klaus Gollhofer 1-7, 1-7

Italy 3 Sweden 0
Edo Lualdi beat Simon Carlsson +1T
Andrea Pravettoni beat Jorgen Larsson +12T
Gianni Leoncini beat Ulf Soderberg 3-7, 7-5, 7-5

Round 2

Scotland 3 Norway 0
Bruce Rannie beat Roar Michalsen +20
James Hopgood beat Steinar Olsen +20
Jamieson Walker beat Birger Steine 7-4, 7-5

Switzerland 3 Sweden 0
Norman Eatough beat Simon Carlsson +8
Dave Underhill beat Joi Elebo +20
Paul Samson beat Ulf Soderberg 7-2, 5-7, 7-5

Italy 2 Austria 1
Edo Lualdi beat Klaus Gollhofer +2
Andrea Pravettoni lost to Leopold Walderdorff -18
Gianni Leoncini beat Martin Guntner 2-1

Round 3

Scotland 3 Sweden 0
David Magee beat Jorgen Larsson +19
James Hopgood beat Joi Elebo +13
Jamieson Walker beat Ulf Soderberg 7-5, 7-2

Italy 3 Switzerland 0
Edo Lualdi beat Norman Eatough +13
Andrea Pravettoni beat Dave Underhill +20
Gianni Leoncini beat Paul Samson 7-4, 7-3

Austria 3 Norway 0
Klaus Gollhofer beat Steinar Olsen +21
Martin Guntner beat Roar Michalsen +5
Leopold Walderdorff beat Birger Steine 7-2, 7-1

Round 4

Scotland 2 Italy 1
David Magee beat Edoardo Lualdi +10
Bruce Rannie beat Andrea Pravettoni +22
Jamieson Walker lost to Gianni Leoncini 7-5, 5-7, 6-7

Austria 2 Switzerland 1
Klaus Gollhofer beat Norman Eatough +11
Leopold Walderdorff beat Dave Underhill +18
Martin Guntner lost to Paul Samson 3-7, 4-7

Norway 2 Sweden 1
Steinar Olsen lost to Simon Carlsson -24
Roar Michalsen beat Jorgen Larsson +2T
Birger Steine beat Joi Elebo 2-1

Round 5

Italy 3 Norway 0
Edoardo Lualdi beat Steinar Olsen +25
Andrea Pravettoni beat Birger Steine +25
Gianni Leoncini beat Roar Michalsen 2-1

Sweden 2 Austria 1
Simon Carlsson beat Klaus Gollhofer +2
Ulf Soderberg lost to Leopold Walderdorff -19
Jorgen Larsson beat Martin Guntner 5-7, 7-5, 7-5

Management

The Championship Manager is Andrew Gregory

The Championship Referee is Martin Murray

Entries

Italy (Edoardo Lualdi, Andrea Pravettoni, Gianni Leoncini)
Switzerland (Norman Eatough (Captain), David Underhill and Paul Samson)
Belgium (John Swabey, Pierre Beaudry and Tony Falcon-Uff)
Austria (Klaus Gollhofer, Martin Güntner, Leopold Walderdorff)
Germany (Bruno Hess (Captain), Wolfgang Usbeck, Thomas Magin)
Wales (Ian Burridge (Captain), John Evans, Kevin Ham, Cliff Jones, Gary McElwain, David Walters, Chris Williams)
Norway (Rune Johansen, Roar Michalsen and Steinar Olsen)
Czech Republic (David Hajn, Jiri Plachy, Vaclav Doskocil)
Finland (Jan-Erik Frigren, Rami Pajula, Juha Torkkeli)
Sweden (Simon Carlsson (Captain), Jörgen Larsson, Ulf Söderberg, Joi Elebo)
Scotland (Bruce Rannie (Captain), James Hopgood, David Magee, Jamieson Walker)
Jersey (Matthew Burrow,Sarah Burrow,Tony Le Moignan)
Isle of Man (Kevin Wells, Kevin Garrad, Jean Wilcock)
Ireland (Gerard Healy, Evan Newell and Charles von Schmieder)
England (Stephen Mulliner, Robin Brown, Ivor Brand, David Foulser)

The Murray Jones Trophy

Kindly donated by Max Murray (Australia) and Charles Jones (New Zealand), the trophy shall be perpetually awarded to the winner of the Championship.

Main Event Dates & Times

An opening ceremony will take place at 9.15am on Thursday 28th June 2007

The event will take place from 9.30 hrs Thursday 28 June to 13.00hrs Sunday July 1 2007 and is open to all national associations who are members of the WCF and FEC.

Refreshments

A meal will be provided each evening (Wednesday to Saturday) at the club. Lunches will be available for purchase also at the club.

The club has bar facilities.

Practice

Practice lawn facilities will be available at the club from Wednesday evening (27th June 2007)

Coaching

There will be opportunity for coaching on Wednesday and Sunday afternoon for those that request it. Dr. Ian Vincent will hold a training session on AC Laws and Tactics 8pm on Wednesday.27th June 2007.

There will be experienced players to act as mentors to teams and for players to ask questions about tactics/ rules at the end of each match.

Team Format

Teams of three players, although squads may be larger: Each Match to consist of two Association Croquet matches (single games - 14pts or 26pts AMD) and one Golf Croquet match (Best of three games, 13 point). Players may play either code (Association or Golf) throughout the course of the Championship, but the Team Captain shall nominate their chosen players in writing prior to each relevant match and exchange the details with their opponents. The two Association Croquet players must be placed in their order of playing strength.

Laws and Rules of the Games

The Championship shall be played in accordance with the Laws of Association Croquet, 6th Edition, under Law 36 Advanced play conditions, as amended from time to time, the WCF Rules of Golf Croquet (2005) edition and the WCF Sports Regulations as amended from time to time with the exception of Regulations 18 – 21 inclusive and amendments to Regulations 15 and 16 incorporated below.

Format: 

• Three teams are seeded (England, Ireland, and Jersey);

• These seeds shall not be required on Thursday, but shall commence play at 9.30am on Friday 29th June 2007;

• The remaining twelve teams shall be split into 2 all-play-all groups of 6 and commence play at 9.30am on Thursday 28th June 2007;

• All matches (with the possible exception of the Final – at the Managers Discretion) to be 2 games of 26pt AC plus 1 best-of-3 13pt GC;

• 2hr 30min time limit per match – at the Managers Discretion;

• Play each day shall commence at 0930hrs and finish at dusk, approximately 22.00hrs;

• Teams and Players must be prepared to play until dusk each day. 

Thursday:

4 rounds of group play (2hr 30min time limit per match).

Friday:

The three seeds each to play 4 rounds against unseeded teams.

Unseeded teams to play 3 games: 

• the 5th and final round of their block;
• a match v a seed;
• and a match against the team finishing in the same position in the other block (the "bonus round").   

Saturday: 

Top eight teams (on percentage match wins) qualify for quarter-finals. 

At the Managers discretion the final shall be 2 best of 3 games AC plus best of 5 games GC;

One game of each match to be played on Saturday evening

Other seven teams to compete in a supplementary Plate event.

At the manager’s discretion, there may also be a further consolation event for the 3 (or possibly more) teams other than 5 strongest teams who reach the last 8.

Sunday:

The Final, plus possibly a 3rd place play-off and/or other matches at the manager’s discretion (The Final to be single-banked).

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Entry Fee

The entry fee to the Championship is £45 (GBP) per team.

Closing date: 10th April 2007, with the entry fee, payable to the WCF to:-

Brian Storey

WCF Secretary General

secretary@wcfcroquet.org

For easy payment, click on the card logo below and you will be taken to our exchange affiliate, "Paypal".

All costs transferring funds will be paid by the WCF.

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Venue

• Cheltenham Croquet Club

Maps

• Location of Cheltenham Croquet Club overview
• Close up of Cheltenham

Location of Cheltenham Croquet Club overview

Close up of Cheltenham

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Local Transport

Bristol and Birmingham airports are approximately 60 - 90 minutes away from Cheltenham. Upon request, it may be possible for transport to be arranged to Cheltenham. There may be a small charge for this service.

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Accommodation

Teams will be given assistance in securing accommodation.

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Climate

During the summer months of June and July, is when the weather is its warmest, and it rains the least.  The warmest months of the year on average are July and August, during which time the daily high temperatures will generally hover around the upper 60’s.  Temperatures in the 70’s will come during extremely warm days, but it never gets much hotter than that.  The nighttime temperatures during these months will generally drop to the lower 50’s. The summer months are the driest, but rain is a possibility any time of the year. 

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Passport and Visas'

National Teams that are members of the European Union, the European Economic Area and Switzerland are required to produce a passport or national identity card upon entry to the United Kingdom.

Visitors from other countries may be required to obtain a Visa prior to travel. Please check with your local British Embassy at the earliest opportunity.

The WCF will give all possible assistance to non UK nationals upon request.

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Day Trips

Details of local amenities can be found via the Cheltenham Tourist Board web site.

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General Information

Barbecues would be organised at the club on two of the evenings.

WCF Development Programme Funding

This event is seen by the WCF and FEC as an important opportunity to develop the sport throughout its membership.

Some associations may find the cost of entry, travel and accommodation to be excessive or outside what they feel they can afford.

All WCF Association members are encouraged to make an application to the WCF Development Programme for funding to defray these costs.

WCF Development Programme Application Form

WCF Development Programme Details

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