Author: johngosden

Towards the end of August and in early September we played our last two games in the Federation AC U-league.

The first was against Surbiton away on 27th August. All games were played off Base 6 with all players from both teams receiving bisques except our Max Byfield and Ian Fugeman. Both Peter Adams and Max had comfortable wins in the morning singles whilst Ian and Richard Perkins struggled against two players who regularly play doubles together very effectively using alternate strokes. After an excellent lunch provided by Surbiton, Max again pegged out, Peter lost in the final moments by one hoop, Richard had a comfortable win and Ian achieved a close win.  Overall G&G prevailed by 5 games to 2. Fast lawns and occasional heavy rain added to the challenge.

The second match was against Hampstead Heath at home on 6th September. Despite being September the match `took place in pretty good weather, although not reliable enough to have lunch outside.  The two morning singles matches proved comfortable wins for Michael Clarke and Ian Fugeman’s opponent.  The doubles match (John Gosden and Julie Tremble) was much closer.  Our opponents had built a lead of several hoops but Julie clawed our way back into the match in the last hour, steadily making a hoop or two when in play.  This left us one behind with John in play as time was called.  He managed to make the two hoops necessary to take the lead before sending each ball to near  a different corner.  With the opponent unsuccessful with his last long shot, this gave G&G a 2-1 lead at lunch. 

Maggie and David Boyd provided a magnificent lunch, with David providing a croquet-themed chicken and ham pie and Maggie a lovely dessert and cake for tea.

Thus fortified G&G stormed to victory with Ian, Michael and Julie recording fairly comfortable victories and John the only loss.  The end result was 5-2 to G&G.

Thus G&G won all four of their games in the U-league, for probably the first time in recorded history; well our memories anyway! However, this wasn’t enough for us to win the league as Sussex County (who we didn’t play) also won all of their four matches. They were declared the winners of the U-league with 75% of games won, as opposed to G&G’s 68% of games won.

In the B-league for handicaps 10 and above, which we entered for the first time this year, we were also undefeated. We accumulated 7 points from 1 win and 2 draws. We played all three of our matches in July and had to wait for the other teams to play all of their matches before we could know the final outcome. Our points total was matched by Reigate Priory with 2 wins and 1 loss and we also both had the same percentage wins of 56%. G&G were declared the 2025 winners of the B-league, since we had beaten Reigate in our head-to-head.

Well done to all 11 of our members who represented the club in our league matches this year.

John Gosden & Ian Fugeman

Six of our AC players entered the All England handicap, which was played in two groups of three. The first between Bernie Phillips, Phil Davies and Steve Stuart-Matthews was played on Monday 7th August. Bernie comfortably beat Steve but then had a tremendous tussle against Phil, who took a substantial lead reaching peg and rover. Bernie slowly clawed his way back into the game and pegged out as time was called. In the final match Steve prevailed against Phil.

The other group, comprising Peter Adams, John Gosden and Richard Perkins, played the three games on separate days around a week later. John and Peter had a very close low-scoring game, which John won by two. Richard won the other two games.

Good luck to Bernie and Richard our two qualifiers for the Area Final at Surbiton on 9/10th August.

Last Monday we played our annual AC friendly against Watford as the first fixture on their annual weeklong tour.  Unfortunately one of their players had to drop out at short notice, but we were able to draft in Tim Dutton at the last minute to make up the usual five players per side.  In the end, because Peter Adams and Bernie Phillips were finding it difficult to schedule time to play their Pat’s Plate game, Bernie made up the numbers for Watford instead of Tim, so that one of the afternoon games could serve a dual purpose. 

The morning games were shared with John Gosden and Julie Tremble comfortably winning the doubles and Peter doing the same in his match, making good use of his seven and a half bisques.  The other two matches were very close with Richard and Tim both losing on time, by respectively one and two. 

Fortified by an excellent lunch provided by Andrew and Wendy Lockwood, Watford nearly swept the board in the afternoon, with the only home victory coming courtesy of Julie who won a closely contested game by three on time.  Even discounting the two games won by Bernie, the loaned player, Watford still won 4-3 overall.  Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable day of friendly competition. 

We have played five AC matches against other clubs across June to mid-July with varying degrees of success.

Rother Valley friendly (away) Tuesday 24th June – it was a very hot day punctuated with annoying regularity by a car alarm sounding in the adjacent village hall car park. We were 2-1 up at lunch with John Gosden and Julie Tremble winning their doubles and Ian Fugeman his singles. However, the tables were turned in the afternoon with our only success being Tim Dutton, resulting in an overall 4-3 loss.

SECF U-league, Reigate (away) 11th & 18th June – Reigate being a single lawn club, this had to be played across two separate days. The unusual nature of this match was also compounded by the dimensions of their lawn which is 34 yards long by 21 yards wide i.e. somewhat narrow. Peter Adams and Ian Fugeman played on the 11th. There were a number of irregularities in the play they faced; trying to take croquet from the wrong ball; picking their own ball up after a roll shot and trying to take croquet a second time and neglecting to take croquet after making a roquet; possibly due to one of the Reigate players being a recent convert from GC. Ian had a magnificent turn in the doubles running all twelve hoops in one turn, with Peter already on 4-back. Unfortunately our opponents got in and steadily progressed, including pegging Ian out, to eventually peg out and win. Peter won his afternoon singles, leaving us 2-1 down on the day. Julie Tremble and John Gosden formed the other half of our team and played one week later. All four matches were close. In the morning John had two good turns to get well ahead in his singles before his opponent started catching up but John managed to peg out just as time was called. Julie played well but eventually went down by two. Needing to win both afternoon matches for victory, Julie finished first pegging out to win by 6. John’s match went to time where he prevailed by 2, giving us an overall 4-3 victory.

SECF U-league, Ealing (home), Saturday 28th June – our team comprised Ian Fugeman, Tim Dutton, Bernie Phillips and Julie Tremble. It was warm but cloudy and windy in the morning and turned into a hot and humid afternoon. The hoops were firm in the ground which most players found challenging. Peter and Tim were undefeated at the end of the day. Several matches were very close but we ended up with a 5-2 victory. Our thanks to our friends from Ealing for travelling to play us. Thanks also to Wendy and Andrew Lockwood for a lovely lunch that was enjoyed by all.

Longman cup, East Dorset (home) Monday 30th June – East Dorset are the holders of the Longman Cup and this again turned out to be an unusual match. East Dorset applied to the tournament director for permission to field a team of 5, using a substitute for the afternoon game, on the basis that one individual was not available in the afternoon and this was the only date they could play before the deadline, despite East Dorset having initiated the offer of this date. The afternoon substitute was with us for the whole day, so could quite easily have played the morning session as well. So much for competition rules! Our team comprised just the four players; John Gosden, Michael Clarke, Julie Tremble and Richard Perkins. Richard won his morning game comfortably, Michael lost by 3 and John threw away the doubles with a late error, when we were one up, allowing the opponents to score three hoops as time was called to win by 2. In the afternoon Michael won comfortably, while John did the reverse. Julie lost a game of attrition, while Richard almost pulled off a victory with a spectacular last turn running hoops from 10 and 6 yards but in the end losing by two. East Dorset continue on their path to defending the trophy with a 5-2 victory.

SECF B-league, Reigate Priory (home) Friday 11th July – in a new venture for us we entered the B-league for players with handicap 10 and above. The format comprises three rounds of 14-point games to handicap base 6, with each round consisting of a singles and a doubles. Our first game was against Reigate Priory with a team comprising Michael Clarke, Julie Tremble and Paul Stroud. Julie was delighted to report that we won 4-2. Paul was the star of the team winning all three of his games. All three doubles matches went to the golden hoop; it was very close.

John Gosden

We arrived to set-up the Association Croquet 7+tournament just before 9 o’clock in pouring rain. Fortunately it eased-off, and by 9:30 it was dry and the sun was starting to come out. Ten players assembled with handicaps ranging from 7 to 12, representing six different clubs. The manager, Tim Dutton, had threatened to play four rounds of shortened games, which was unlikely to see a finish before 8pm. This gave Bernie Phillips a problem as he was travelling to Wales that evening! Tim decided to change the tournament format to three knock-out rounds with a progressive Swiss for him and Bernie and those knocked out of the main event. Adam Newbold, Robin Morrison, Sean Doherty and Peter Adams won their first round matches and progressed to the semi-finals. Fortified by an excellent lunch provided by Jan Honeysett the tournament continued in bright sunshine.

There were several very close games. In the first round Bernie beat Tim by 2, making those two hoops after time was called. In round 2 Tim lost by 1; Karen Newbold beat Bernie by 1; and Julie Tremble beat Simon Ling by 1. In that game, in the turn where time was called Simon took his ball round all the way from hoop 6 to peg it out, leveling the scores. Julie hit in from over 5 yards and took off from near hoop 3 to rover leaving a 3 yard angled hoop, which she managed to run to secure the victory.

In the final, Adam set off like a train and completed an all-round break with one ball with the other ball on hoop 6. Sean managed to get in and took his first ball round to four-back but stooped there to avoid giving contact, but eschewing the chance to go to the peg and peg out Adam’s forward ball. Adam took his lift shot and made the 10 yard roquet. With Sean’s two balls near hoop 2, Adam was able to take his backward ball from hoop 6 to the peg but missed a relatively short peg-out, ending up pegging out only one ball, giving Sean another chance. That only delayed the inevitable by one turn with Adam pegging out his second ball from 14 yards. As well as winning the day, Adam had a well-deserved handicap reduction to 6, which will give others a chance to win next year!

Tim presenting Adam with the spoils

We arrived at Woking for our first round Longman Cup match to find the lawns being mown.  The opposing captain had been very unhappy with the condition of the lawns when he arrived at 7am, so their grounds team had been preparing the lawns by scarifying and mowing ever since.  Their efforts were successful as they lawns played pretty well. The white lines were painted to enable everything to get going just after 10 o’clock; that did mean that the balls picked up white paint when crossing the boundary for a little while!

Richard P received 9 bisques from his opponent and used them all up early-on to build a substantial lead, before hanging on to win by 4 on time.  His match was livened by his opponent on more than one occasion mis-hitting, leaving a large gouge in the lawn and Richard correctly claiming a fault.  John G and Peter A had difficulty hitting-in to start with and fell several hoops behind, before judicious use of their first bisque enabled Peter to make a 6-hoop break.  Thereafter John and Peter remained largely in control to win by 8.  Ian F after a slow start got going and won comfortably, to make us three nil up at lunch.  Could we maintain the pace in the afternoon after a two-course lunch, comprising macaroni cheese with cheesecake for dessert?

Ian didn’t play as well as in the morning and lost comfortably.  Peter had a reasonably close game but eventually lost by 5.   John was 15-2 down with his opponent making one or two hoops a turn before he finally hit in and took his first ball most of the way round.  After a couple more turns trying to set up a rush to the first hoop, John got a three-ball break underway but decided it was too risky to attempt a long angled four-back hoop and retreated to guard the boundary.  Nevertheless, his opponent took on the 7-yard roquet and hit.  He then remained in control, leaving John widely separated at the end of each turn, while making one or two hoops a turn again.  John never took croquet again, leaving the fate of the match resting on Richard’s shoulders.  Fortunately, Richard had got well ahead again using his bisques, resulting in a demoralised his opponent.  Just before time was called Richard pegged out for the first time in a competitive AC game i.e. one recorded on his handicap card.  All of the team contributed to our 4-3 victory, but particular congratulations go to Richard for winning both of his games.  On now to the second round; where we play the holders, East Dorset, who defeated us in the quarter-final last year, but on this occasion we do not have to travel.

John Gosden

Ten of us gathered on a warm, sunny Spring morning for our traditional AC season-opening tournament to compete for the Applewood Bowl.  The tournament comprises four rounds played on handicap, with the games taking between one and two hours. 

The first round of one-ball got under way just after 9:30am, with a further round of one-ball following immediately after.  At the end of this two players had two wins, David Boyd and Richard Perkins, with 6 all on one win and two who had yet to get off the mark. 

The next two rounds were 14-point games (6 hoops and the peg for both balls) played to advanced rules, to provide more opportunities to get into the game.  Most of the third round games broke for lunch half-way through.  Four of the five games were very close with the highest winning margin of these being +4. 

On to the final round. Richard was in pole position on three wins but four players, Peter Adams, David Boyd, John Gosden and Bernie Phillips were on three wins and in with a chance if Richard were to trip up.  Bernie was playing Richard on Lawn 1 and a titanic struggle ensued.   The game went right down to the wire, with Bernie leading as time was called.  Richard hit in on his final turn but ran out of hoops to run with his striking ball and ended up one behind.  With both now being on three wins, this was still sufficient for Richard to be ahead of  Bernie on net hoops (+9 cf +6). 

However, both Peter and John had big wins in the fourth round to also end up on three wins: with net hoop counts of +14 and +11 respectively, Peter was declared the winner.  An exciting climax to a very enjoyable day of friendly competition (everybody won at least one game) enhanced by the fine weather.

Peter receiving the trophy from the manager, John.

We had mixed fortunes in our last three AC matches of the season; our two away SECF U-League fixtures against  Ealing and Sussex County and our return friendly match against Rother Valley at home.  Eight G&G players took part across the three matches with all bar one contributing to at least one win. 

We had a narrow loss to Ealing by 4 games to 3, thanks to Simon Tuke of Ealing completing a 10 hoop break after time was called to win his game against Peter.  Against Sussex County the only game we won was the doubles, but two games were lost by a single point on time, so on another day the result could have looked very different.  Against Rother Valley it was G&G’s turn to be  convincing winners by 6 games to 1.  The last game to finish was very close with Julie holding her nerve to making the winning hoop after the scores were level when time was called. 

We received excellent hospitality from both Ealing and Sussex County who both provided a substantial lunch. 

.After a 7am start and a long journey to East Dorset CC the G&G AC team faced a very stiff test in the Longman Cup quarter-final against the runner-up in both of the last two years. In the doubles John Gosden was not on form, missing several medium-distance roquets, but Julie Tremble kept us in the game with several good hits-in and roll approaches.  We were level around 30 minutes before the end, but judicious use of their single bisque gave our opponents the victory by 4 on time.  Bernie Phillips had a very tight game and just managed to scrape a victory by 1 in the final turn after time had been called with a roll approach from 20 yards and a successful long hoop.  The fourth member of our team, Tim Dutton, lost his game meaning we were 2-1 down at lunch.  We were provided with a lovely fishcakes, chips and salad ‘light’ lunch by our hosts.  The afternoon was very hot, approaching 30 degrees, as we got underway with the four singles matches.  Tim fought hard creating chances to catch up with his opponent who had both balls on the peg for around 40 minutes before Tim finally succumbed.  Julie had an early strong lead, but her opponent used his bisques to almost catch-up, however she then forged further ahead to peg out and win.  Meanwhile Bernie could not overcome a very strong opponent, who had won the C Level AC tournament at G&G in June.  John battled away but eventually lost on time, making the final result 5-2 to East Dorset.    

On a sunny and very hot day play started promptly against Royal Tunbridge Wells in which 3 of their team were low HC players. The morning games were very close; Ian Fugeman and Martin Seidel won their doubles by 2 and Bernie Phillips his singles by 3 (both on time), while Tim Dutton lost his singles by 2.

In the afternoon singles games both Martin and Bernie pegged out with impressive cores whilst Ian and Tim battled against their low handicap opponents with Ian winning by two points and Tim loosing by one (both again on time).

Neither doubles teams chose to adopt the new Alternate Stroke option. The new Base 6 rule made a difference to the tactics in the doubles and in one of Bernie’s matches, with both players now receiving bisques, his opponent received 10 bisques instead of the customary 5 but this was balanced by Bernie receiving 5.

Overall a good win for G&G 5 games to 2.