| In the 1870ties croquet had already
reached South Africa and contemporary writers refer to
croquet being played "under the oaks in Wynberg "Cape
Town" and "in the park at Pietermaritzburg".
Information regarding the subsequent development of
the sport is sketchy, but it is clear that it first
spread within the two British colonies of the Cape and
Natal. There are, for example, references to croquet
clubs in places such as Beaufort West, Oudtschoorn,
Mossel Bay, Graaff Reinet and similar country towns.
It is not known what version of croquet was played in
this period, but what is noteworthy is that in the
Cape Colony, with its dry summers, it was generally
played, not on grass, but on clay/gravel. In Natal,
however, the climate would more likely have permitted
grass courts to be used, although even there gravel/clay
courts are known to have existed.
At a later stage, with the British occupation of the
former Boer republics, croquet spread further into the
north of present-day South Africa, with clubs springing
up in places like Harrismith in the Free State and Pretoria,
Johannesburg, Boksburg and other mining towns in the
Transvaal. Indeed, in a monograph on croquet in South
Africa, written in the 1950ties, a former South African
croquet doubles champion, Lt.Cdr Alex Clark suggested
that there were probably a good hundred or so croquet
clubs in existence throughout South Africa in the early
years of the nineteenth century. Many of these clubs
were however single court clubs, not linked to any
associations and as elsewhere in the world, interest
in the sport was often overtaken by the emergence of
other sports.
The support for croquet was apparantly sufficient by
1911 for the first recorded South African croquet
championships to be held at Newlands, in Cape Town,
in the grounds of the Western Province Cricket Club.
Two years later, what is today one of the leading clubs
in South Africa was established at Rondebosch, Cape
Town.
At least two provincial croquet associations came into
existence, one in Natal with clubs in Durban (Berea
and Montpellier Road), Pietermaritzburg, Pinetown and
Richmond amongst others. In the Western Cape the
leading club was in the Strand, near Cape Town, with
clubs at Rondebosch, Simon's Town, Sea Point, Pinelands,
Malmesbury and Stellenbosch.
In 1936 a certain Mr Oakeshott took the initiative in
bringing about the foundation of the South African
Croquet Association (S.A.C.A.) which occurred in the
following year, with Mr Oakeshott as first President.
South African croquet championships were resumed in
East London (where there were at least two clubs),
play being for the Belcher Cup, donated by Captain
Reginald Belcher, who succeeded Mr Oakeshott as
President, following the latter's death that year.
The headquarters of the S.A.C.A. was initially in
Natal and after the Second World War, sterling work
was done, with limited resources, by George Neaves, a
six-times South African singles champion, as secretary.
Neaves was based in Pietermaritzburg, as was Myrle
Simkins, who took over from Captain Belcher as
President for sixteen years. She in turn handed over
in 1972 to Ian Gillespie, from the Rondebosch club,
who was to continue in the post for the next 22 years
until his retirement in 1994. He was succeeded by
Advocate Brian Bamford until his death early in 2003.
The current President is Carole Jackson, also of
Rondebosch.
The 1953 and 1957 South African open singles champion,
Edward L. Ward-Petley, of Bellville, was the most
distinguished player in South Africa. Winner or
joint winner of such events as the English men's
championship (1947), open doubles (1935), mixed
doubles (1939,1947), Ward-Petley was invited to play
for England in Australia in the 1935 tests and in New
Zealand in the 1950 tests. In 1946 he tied for first
place for the President's Cup, played in England, and
generally regarded as the world croquet championship.
By the 1970ties, despite the best efforts of George
Neaves, Myrle Simkins and others, croquet had seen a
steady decline in support and less than ten clubs
remained affiliated to SACA. In the Western Cape
Rondebosch became the last remaining club in 1956,
the year that Ian Gillespie, then in his early twenties,
joined (later to become president). Fortunately a
number of younger players then joined the club and by
1963, after a break of over half a century, the South
African croquet championships were once again held in
Cape Town. The site was the Rondebosch Croquet Club
which had just moved (thanks to a road-widening) to
new premises with three courts (two grass and one
gravel) after fifty years of only playing on gravel.
The greater attractiveness of playing on grass plus
sterling support by players such as Dilys Hobbs, first
as secretary and then as president of the club, gave
a considerable boost to the sport in Cape Town.
Considerable efforts were now made to improve the
standard of play. Earlier the sport had benefitted
from the skill of such players as Edward Ward-Petley,
a former England player, who had moved to the Cape,
Alex and Dorothy Clarke (a gifted doubles pair with
Australian connections) and George Neaves. Now, with
small Government subsidies, it was possible to invite
players such as Patrick Cotter, William Ormerod, Bryan
Lloyd-Pratt, John Solomon and Richard Rothwell (secretary
of the British association) to tour South Africa
giving clinics and conducting referee examinations.
With the resultant improvement in standards the first
national (Springbok) team was put together in 1976 for
a visit to Britain. The team played in several centres
in England, including Hurlingham, Roehampton and
Cheltenham and played a single two-day test against
Scotland in Glasgow, being well beaten by 4 games to
1, with one drawn. The team consisted of Tom Barlow,
David Cunningham, Lester Sullivan and Ian Gillespie.
Lester Sullivan was the one winner, whilst he and Ian
Gillespie, playing on a sun-baked court reminiscent
of gravel, drew their doubles encounter by one game
each, there being no time left for a decider!
In 1981 croquet was invited to participate in the
South African Games, held in Pretoria, where the South
African A and B teams, led by Tom Barlow and Ian Gillespie
respectively met each other, the A team, not unexpectedly
proving the winners. Notable was the presence, as
official observer, of Jack R. Osborn, founder and
president of the U.S. Croquet Association. This led
to an invitation to visit the U.S. the following year.
In the northern spring of 1982, accordingly, a six
person Springbok team travelled to Palm Beach, Florida
to play a test against the U.S. alternately playing
according to International Laws and U.S. Association
Rules. South Africa won the event by the narrowest
of margins, with Carole Jackson then Knox, and a young
schoolboy, 14 year old Reginald Bamford winning the
deciding game when Jackson, the only woman member of the
team scored the peg-out.
These international encounters were the precursors of
a series of international matches featuring Scotland,
an English team, Ireland and Japan. Recent years
have also seen the participation of individual South
African players such as Tom Barlow and Reginald Bamford
in overseas events, culminating with Bamford winning
the official World Championship, not once, but twice,
the latest occasion in August 2005.
In South Africa itself, however, the fortunes of the
sport have swayed, especially since the cessation of
the small but most helpful Government subsidies in
recent years. The "South African Croquet Chronicle"
issued by Brian Bamford, David Cunningham and Tom Barlow,
did sterling work in encouraging interest and support
of croquet. The Western Province Croquet Association
has held regular tournaments which have been well
supported by overseas visitors. The Kelvin Grove Club
has had considerable support in encouraging golf croquet
and new clubs have been formed in Fish Hoek, Somerset
West and at the Waterfront. On the other hand support
in KwaZulu/Natal has been restricted to Durban and
Pietermaritzburg. In the former Transvaal, the old
Pretoria club no longer exists but new clubs have
sprung up in Johannesburg and in the Eastern Cape there
now exists three clubs. |