A monthly summary to the WCF Members of what the Management
Committee has been doing during the past month and what is on the agenda for the coming month. Your comments always very welcome.

Martin French
Secretary-General

Council debates and decisions
06 – Consultation and approval of new GC Rules: MC proposed Statute change and Terms of Ref, as the Second Cycle of discussion. The ACA have proposed a change to the wider consultation arrangements – a compromise between the CA and ACA lines is possible and will be proposed shortly.

08 – Nominations invited for “6th Member” of WCF GC Rules committee, after Garth Beresford’s resignation. A vote will be held shortly.

09 – Vote of specific investment account decision – proposal approved by 14 votes to nil. The ACA suggested investing more in the Australian market, due to better returns, but the MC concluded the WCF should not be gambling on future exchange rate movements.

2012 AC World Championship
The event ran from 28th April until 6th May. Congratulations to Reg Bamford for retaining the AC World Championship, beating Robert Fletcher in a 5 game final. Congratulations also to Aaron Westerby for winning the Bowl and to James Death for winning the Shield. By all accounts, the event was very successful and the event organisers are to be commended, especially for coping well with the complexities of a 10-venue event. The usual Player Survey will be sent out shortly. Stephen Meatheringham was WCF event lead, and is also to be congratulated for his efforts.

2012 Women’s AC World Championship
We are working with the event organising committee on specifics such as the statement of charges and the detailed timetable for all the preparations for this October event. There has not been much progress in the past month due to the focus on the current ACWC in Adelaide. [Stephen Meatheringham is WCF event lead]
A web page has been set up - www.wcfcroquet.org/Organisation/CharlesJonesTrophy - to call for donations to the Charles Jones Memorial Trophy for this event. Please advertise this to any of your clubs or members who may have met Charles and wish to commemorate him.

2012 GC World Team Championship
The Event Agreement has been formally signed-off for the 1st Division to be held in Johannesburg from 26th November to 2nd December – see www.gcwtcroquet.co.za. A draft bid document for the 2nd Division in Cairo has now been prepared. The MC is considering draft GC WTC regulations covering both divisions. [Ian Burridge is WCF event lead]

What have we been doing in April?
The WCF Refereeing Regulations were officially trialed in Adelaide, while the formal ratification vote continued. All votes received have been in favour, but several Members didn’t vote. CNZ submitted some detailed comments - it is likely these can be accommodated in a version 1.1 and published shortly, without the need for a further voting cycle.

During the ACWC in Adelaide, there was the first WCF Council Meeting under the new Statutes, which should provide for a more open and less formal opportunity for discussion between Members. Details will be circulated shortly.
Also during the ACWC, the WCF MacRobertson Shield Committee (MRC) met in this new guise for the first time, to progress the arrangements for the next MacRob in January 2014.

Family bereavements prevented an internal MC assessment of the new WCF website that has been developed by James Hawkins. Instead, we commissioned an external assessment which has concluded it is a suitable basis from which to go forward. So over the next few weeks, we will hopefully cut over to the new site and then begin refining it. James has unfortunately decided he must stand down as webmaster, so we will be advertising for a new webmaster shortly.

MC Topics completed/ closed this month
176 – Refereeing Regs – approved by MC and submitted to Council for ratification, as well as trialling in Adelaide.

182 – Statute change to cover Council proposals for GC Rules Committee – Statute drafted and circulated as Council Topic 06.

186 – Website review – approval to spend £150 – approval given.

Active open topics
173 – Individual awards for team events – some consensus, needs closing off.

180 – Security at events – consideration of issues around personal security.

184 – Coaching and ref training requests – half a dozen requests received from Members – this topic to track and ensure each has an owner.

185 – Risk, liability, indemnity, waivers – attempt to pull together the wide range of issues to do with risk (including stuck topic 152 on trustees), so we have a clear view on what we’d like to achieve before we take some formal advice.
Open topics that have got stuck

154 – Handicap/ Refereeing/ Coaching Co-ordination – examining whether we should reinvigorate or abandon past attempts to co-ordinate handicapping, refereeing and coaching.

172 – Membership Categories – several attempts to come up with a clear proposal, considering the known problems and responses to the Member Survey have failed so far to reach any clear consensus on the MC.

Outlook for May
1. Still aiming to progress the several MC topics which have been lingering for too long.
2. Kick-off the Player Survey from the AC World Championship in Adelaide.
3. Investing large amount of time needed to cut across to new website.

WCF Media Release
10th February 2010

The World Croquet Federation is pleased to announce that the Danish Gymnastics and Sports Association (DGI) has been accepted as an Observer member.

The DGI is an umbrella sports association representing a total of 5,000 local association and sports clubs of all types based in Vejle, Denmark, including Danish Croquet.  Within that, it has an active croquet membership of approximately 5,000 players in 226 croquet clubs. A small number of these clubs have their own special lawns dedicated for croquet only, but most clubs are playing on football pitches.

The variation of croquet that they play in Denmark is rather different from that played on an International basis, with small mallets, playing one handed, nine hoops with an irregular peg setting but with great spirit and competitiveness.

Danish Croquet forms part of the DGI Landsstaevne festival, which last took place 2009.  It is a major sports event for amateur sportsmen and women and is held every four years organized by the Danish Gymnastic and Sports Associations and the Danish Shooting Organization in cooperation with a host town.   The 2009 event attracted over 10,000 participants playing all types of sports.

The idea behind the festival is to organise a large amateur sports event in which challenge, health and togetherness are the main ingredients. They want sportsmen and women to come together during the festival and be able to experience the joy of sharing sports experiences and accomplishments. On top of this, are added cultural elements such as conferences, workshops and events.

In 2006 the then WCF President, David Openshaw, Kevin Garrad (Isle of Man), Simon Carlson (Sweden) and Tore Gulbrandsen (Norway) attended the event to give demonstrations of Association and Golf Croquet to the local enthusiasts. In 2009 David Openshaw attended the event in Holbaek, a Danish town situated in Zealand. The event takes normally place every 4 years. The next DGI Landstaevne Festival will be taking place in 2013 in Esbjerg situated on the westcoast in Jutland.

WCF President, Charles Jones, said, “I was delighted to see that Denmark will be joining the WCF. It is pleasing from both a European and World perspective to have Denmark as part of the global organisation. Given the sheer numbers involved in Denmark I am certain they will make a great impact on WCF.”

WCF Secretary-General praised the level of commitment in Denmark, “The Danish Croquet Federation is now the largest member, by numbers of players, within the WCF and we welcome them.  They will now be eligible to compete in our own Championships and with their enthusiasm, will undoubtedly be very competitive.  Much of the groundwork for this membership was undertaken by David Openshaw (WCF immediate Past-President) and it is to him that many of our thanks are given. Croquet is played all over the world, some in small pockets of interest, in others they are more organised with larger numbers.  It will continue to be the mission of WCF to bring them all together, under the WCF umbrella organisation.

DGI member of the Danish Croquet Board, Kirsten Bjarnholt said: “The Danish Croquet Federation hope that our membership will enable us to be part of international cooperation with participation in arrangements in Denmark and in other countries. We feel that the International Croquet Federation will be able to gain a wider knowledge of the Danish way of playing croquet, which offers a strategic planning and technical ability, which we feel we haven’t experienced especially in Golf Croquet. In Denmark most of the croquet players are more than 60 years old. Our oldest player is a lady of 100 years old!”

Note to Editors:
1.      The DGI becomes the 27th member association of the WCF.
2.      This decision of the WCF Management Committee to admit Denmark as members will require ratification by the WCF Council at their next General Meeting on 23rd August 2010 in London, England.
3.      WCF acts as the coordinating body for its member associations, holding regular World and Regional Croquet Championships.

 -end-

regards
Brian Storey
Secretary-General
World Croquet Federation
www.wcfcroquet.org