Competitions & Tournaments

Club Competitions & Tournaments

The Edinburgh Croquet Club holds several Competitions and Tournaments each season.

Competitions are season-long and generally played as knock-outs. In croquet it is common practice to play knock-out competitions as "double-life" events, known as the Draw and the Process. The Draw is like any other sport, with players drawn against each other at random. The Process transposes the Draw by fixed rules to create an alternative draw with players meeting in the first round of the Draw only meeting (if at all) in the later rounds of the Process. It is therefore possible for a player to end up "playing themselves" in the Final, should they manage to win both the Draw and the Process.

Competitions

Open Singles

Handicap Singles

Veterans' Handicap Singles

Full Bisque Singles

Champion of Champions

Handicap Doubles

Sunday League

Golf Croquet

Tournaments are generally played over a short, fixed time-frame, e.g. one day, and are generally played as round-robins (known as an American Block). Depending on numbers it may be necessary to have two blocks with the block winners playing a final game to determine the winner. Alternatively, rules such as most wins, points difference or hoops scored may be used. The ultimate method of separating tied players is the shoot-out to the peg, similar to the penalty shoot-out in football.

Tournaments

Beginners' Ells Tournament

Fun Doubles Tournament

Short Croquet Tournament

High Handicap Tournament

Stuart McKendrick Trophy

Midweek Tournament

Information on this year's Competitions and Tournaments may be found below, while a complete list of past winners can be found on the Club History page.

To print any of the competition draws place your cursor over the picture, right click and select "Print Picture"; it is advisable to use your Printer Settings to select "Landscape" mode.

Open Singles (Lauriston Cup)

Association Croquet (Advanced Laws). Singles. Level Play (i.e. without handicap). Knock-out, with Draw and Process. Games played in this competition against opponents with handicap of 20 or less count towards SCA Index. Suitable for good to expert players.

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Open Handicap Veterans' Full Bisque Golden Jubilee Doubles Sunday League Golf Croquet

Ells Fun Doubles Short Croquet High H'cap (18+) Stuart McKendrick Trophy Midweek Tournament

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The Handicap Trophy

Handicap Singles (Handicap Singles Trophy)

Association Croquet (Advanced Laws). Singles. Handicap Play. Knock-out, with Draw and Process. Games played in this competition against opponents with handicap of 20 or less count towards SCA Index. Suitable for moderate to expert players.

The C.J. Tait Cup

Veterans’ Handicap (C.J. Tait Cup)

Association Croquet. Singles. Handicap Play. Knock-out, with Draw and Process. Games played in this competition against opponents with handicap of 20 or less count towards SCA Index. Suitable for players of all abilities. Entry restricted to members aged 60 and over on the first day of the season.

Full Bisques Handicap (18+) (Basil Townsend Trophy)

Association Croquet. Singles. Full-Bisque Handicap (i.e. both players allocated their full complement of bisques). Knock-out, with Draw and Process. Entry restricted to players whose handicap is 18 or more at the start of the season. Games played in this competition against opponents with handicap of 20 or less count towards SCA Index. Suitable for those with a high handicap who wish to develop their break-building and tactics.

The Golden Jubilee Ball

Champion of Champions (Golden Jubilee Trophy)

Association Croquet. Singles. Handicap Play. American Block (i.e. round-robin). Games played in this competition against opponents with handicap of 20 or less count towards SCA Index. Suitable for players of all abilities. Entry restricted to the winners of the four knock-out singles competitions in the previous year (i.e. Open Singles, Handicap Singles, Full Bisque Singles and Veterans’ Singles).

The Lamont & Elliott Trophies

Handicap Doubles (Lamont & Elliott Cups)

Association Croquet. Doubles. Handicap Play. Knock-out, with Draw and Process. Suitable for players of all abilities but particularly good for novices and improvers who wish to learn about competition play by partnering a better player.

Sunday League (Pat McCann Trophy)

Association Croquet. Singles. Handicap Play. Egyptian Format. 18-point games. Games played in this competition against opponents with handicap of 20 or less count towards SCA Index. Suitable for players of all abilities.

Golf Croquet (C.J. Tait Salver)

Golf Croquet. Singles. Handicap. Depending on numbers this may be played as a single American block (i.e. round-robin) or as two American blocks. The final is played on the last day of the Edinburgh Tournament between either the two people heading the single block or between the winners of the two blocks.

One of the Ells Trophies

Lauriston Ells

This half-day Association Croquet tournament is played on the sixth Saturday of the Beginners' Croquet Course to Handicap rules and entry is restricted to those people who have attended the course. Depending on numbers it may be played as singles or doubles and is normally played as one or more American blocks.

There were 10 entrants on the day for the 2008 edition. Played as two rounds of 14-point games on half-size laws, with a 50-minute time limit. The winners were Sarah Duguid and Muriel Sim.

Now what? Eventual winner Sarah Duguid ponders her next move, while mentor Sheila Tibbels looks on

Fun Doubles at Lauriston

Fun Doubles (Harold Wright Rosebowls)

Half-Day Tournament. Association Croquet. Doubles. Level Play. Winners are the partnership scoring the most points. Points are scored by scoring hoops. Players with higher handicaps score more points per hoop than those with lower handicaps. Suitable for players of all abilities.

The 2007 event was played in reasonable weather, leading to a turnout of 20 members. Although three pairings (including both the defending champions) managed to record scores in the seventies and eighties, the clear winners with 100 points were Marjorie Elliott and Fiona Stewart

The John Blaikie Cup

Short Croquet Tournament (John Blaikie Cup)

Half-day tournament. Short Croquet (i.e. 14-point Association on half-size lawns). Singles. Handicap Play (reduced handicaps). Multiple American Blocks. Entry limited to players of handicap 16 and above.

The 2007 tournament was held under heavy overcast, in contrast to the brilliant sunshine of the day before, but at least the rain held off. There were 8 entrants and the tournament was played over three rounds with a one-hour time-limit for each game.

Sheila Tibbels in winning action

The start of round two was delayed as the first round game between Hamish Duguid and Joan Marshall went to a golden-hoop which required over 15 minutes to resolve, with good defensive play by both players preventing either of them getting the opening they needed.

After the first two rounds of games only Sheila Tibbels and Joan Marshall were undefeated, so their third-round match was effectively the final. In a tense game, the scores were close through the first forty minutes until a mistake by Joan allowed Sheila in for a break and a good leave enabling a second break after which, with Joan having used all her bisques, there was no way back.

Short Croquet Action

The final standings were:

Sheila Tibbels – Won 3/Played 3

Joan Marshall – 2/3

Evelyn Mackenzie – 2/3

Morven Cross – 2/3

Marjorie Elliott – 1/3

Hamish Duguid – 1/3

Jean Forshall – 0/2

Peggy Bartlett – 0/2

The Adam Trophy

End of Season High Handicap Tournament (Adam Cup)

Association Croquet. Singles. Handicap Play. Format dependent on numbers, but typically one or more American Blocks. Entry restricted to players of handicap 18 or over.

The 2007 tournament was won by Hamish Duguid.

Stuart McKendrick Trophy

Stuart McKendrick Trophy

This half-day Association Croquet tournament is played as a Progressive Doubles Handicap event over two rounds. After the first round pairings are re-ordered, the winner being the person most succesful over the two rounds.

It is open to members of both the Edinburgh Croquet Club and the Meadows Croquet Club, as a means of fostering friendly competition between the two.

The 2007 tournament was played as a Progressive Doubles with two rounds of 14-point games. In view of the weather the time limit for games was reduced to 75 minutes. The rules at “time” were slightly unusual in that they initially followed normal croquet rules i.e. the side in when time was called finished their turn, followed by one turn for their opposition. However, play then stopped, even if the game was tied, rather than continuing to a “golden hoop”. This allowed for the possibility of a tied game.

To be in with a chance of winning a player had to win in both rounds. The tie-break rules were as follows:

1) Cumulative margin of victory over the two rounds

2) Cumulative hoops scored by the player and partner over two rounds (on the basis that the player having the sense to allow their partner to take advantage of a position was demonstrating their knowledge and skill, and to avoid unseemly punch-ups as two partners fought for the right to score points!)

3) Shoot-out to the peg

For this tournament we were able to obtain use of the glasshouse enabling us to provide refreshments and have the trophy presentation inside.

In the first round partnerships were drawn at random. In the second round, winners from round one were partnered with “runners-up” from the first round.

Janice Duguid receives her trophy from Club chairman and defending champion Sheila Tibbels

Fortunately, in view of the weather, the competition was settled without resort to a shoot-out. It was also pleasing that the top three included representatives from both the Edinburgh Club and the Meadows Club, since this competition is intended to foster ties between the two clubs. After all, Edinburgh is the only UK town or city, other than London, to have two croquet clubs (unless you know different of course… in which case contact us to put us right.)

The winner was Janice Duguid, with Tony Brightman in second place and Hamish Duguid keeping it in the family in third place. Congratulations to them all, and thank you to everyone who entered.

Results

Round 1

Tony Brightman & Sheila Tibbels beat Allan Hawke & Joan Marshall +4T

Joyce Buckler & Fiona Stewart beat Evelyn Mackenzie & Jean Forshall +6T

Hamish Duguid & Janice Duguid beat Margaret McBride & Jola Jurasinska +4T

Peggy Bartlett & Fergus McInnes tied with Jamie Edgar & Marjorie Elliott

Round 2

Hamish Duguid & Joan Marshall beat Fiona Stewart & Evelyn Mackenzie +2T

Janice Duguid & Allan Hawke beat Joyce Buckler & Jean Forshall +6T

Tony Brightman & Margaret McBride beat Sheila Tibbels & Jola Jurasinska +2T

Peggy Bartlett & Jamie Edgar beat Marjorie Elliott & Fergus McInnes +4T

Final Standings

Name

Club

Wins

Round1

Round 2

Cumulative