INDOOR CROQUET MAKES ITS BOW NEXT MONTH

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30215, 21 August 1963, Page 13

INDOOR CROQUET MAKES ITS BOW NEXT MONTH

(CROQUET players who gather in St. Andrews Hall on September 24 to launch the golden jubilee celebrations of the Canterbury Croquet Association will be making a little history of their own. They will be participating in the Dominion’s first indoor croquet tournament—an appropriate way for New Zealand’s oldest croquet association to begin its second 50 years. The introduction of croquet as a parlour game has been a task which has ab-

sorbed one of the most enthusiastic of its devotees, Mr W. H. Kirk, of Christchurch, for four years. He experimented at length, even to the extent of exploring the possibilities of magnetising the floor so that the hoops would be held securely in place. But this idea was quickly discarded —it would have boosted the cost to £7O a set. Last summer visiting English players told Mr Kirk that they placed small pins through base plates on the

• hoops of their indoor sets , to effect stability. Armed ■ with this information, he ! compared notes with Mr A. 1 J. Bruning, a Christchurch ! croquet player and a retir- • ed engineer, and the decii sion was made to go ahead. 1 After much experimenting s with the length of mallets i and the size of balls and s hoops on an old carpet in Mr Bruning’s garage the prototype was at last pro- ' duced on June 9 this year, s Since that date Mr Bruns ing has turned out about 20

sets, each consisting of two mallets, six hoops and a finishing peg. Mr Kirk, for his part, has been busy buying and collecting secondhand snooker balls, four at which round off each set. Mr Kirk’s aim is to establish indoor croquet throughout New Zealand. To this end sets have been sent to Alexandra, Dunedin, Tirnaru. Methven, Oamaru, Ashburton, Whangarei, Hamilton and Lower Hutt. One of the reeopienits has been toe New Zealand men’s champion, John Prince, toe 17-year-old Lower Hutt player who beat toe great English croquet exponent, J. W. Soliomsn. during last season’s Miacßobertson Shield test series. “I was surprised to see how all the shots of the big game were possible,” wrote Prince to Mr Kick after trying out his indoor set. Indoor croquet is the same ais the outdoor game, only on a modified scale. The msltets, the hoops, the balls and the finishing peg are proportionately onethird of the size of outdoor croquet implements? The shots, too, are the same buit they are easier and run truer on a carpet. And there is more social appeal to the indoor version, if only because it is played in a confined space. The game can be played on either carpet or felt in an area 12ft x 9ft or more. The tournament on September 24 could answer several questions that remain in Mr Kirk’s mind. The duration of an indoor game is one; for the tourney it is probable that games will be limited to 30 minutes. Then, too, there are the rules to be considered. It is possible that some slight adjustment will need to be made. Mr Kirk is full of optimism for the future of the game. Next year he envisages inter-club play and a full-scale tournament being held. His views are shared by his wife. “The game is new and novel and I think it will take on,” she says. Whether this prediction is borne out or not, one thing is certain: indoor croquet will be ideal for teaching beginners the outdoor game.