By Luke Voogt
Torquay couple Anna and Eric Miller can’t wait to get out their mallets when world-championship croquet comes to Geelong for the first time.
The 81-year-old former doctors play at the Belmont Croquet Club, which will host qualifiers for the championship when it comes to Melbourne on 25 February.
“It’s very special for our club to be hosting some of the world championship events,” Anna said at a croquet tournament in Melbourne last week.
“We’re looking forward to watching the world’s best play – especially the Egyptians, because they’re very good players.”
Anna enjoys being out in the fresh air and the challenge of trying to outthink the opponent.
“I hope to continue playing croquet for much longer,” she said.
The couple, who have played croquet for more than 30 years, will play a qualifier themselves.
“It will be a tough one,” Anna said.
Eric shared his wife’s assessment.
“We probably won’t get very far,” he said.
He added croquet was more challenging than it looks.
“It’s a fascinating game – you’ve got to be very accurate with your shots. There’s only a 32nd of an inch clearance between the ball and the hoop.”
Anna introduced Eric to croquet, which he said kept them fit.
“It gets you out and you meet a lot of interesting people. We’ve both had a lot of fun with it over the years travelling all over Australia.”
Eric said both sexes could compete in croquet on equal terms.
“There are probably an equal number of men and women playing. There are women right up at the top level.”
Belmont Croquet Club will host daily matches during 12th Golf Croquet World Championships from 25 February until 2 March.
About 80 players from 14 countries will play in the championship, which runs until 5 March.
Venue manager Kevin Bluff was thrilled Geelong would feature in the event.
“We will have three of our local members playing in the qualifiers hoping to secure a place, so this will be an exciting time,” he said.
With a new sun shade structure and three new sets of Quadway Hoops (the Australian standard for international play), the club is ready to host.
“It’s also a wonderful opportunity for people to see the sport in action, at its best,” Kevin said. “We hope to inspire even more new players to give croquet a go.”
President of Croquet Victoria Jim Clement said the sport was far from“old-fashioned”.
“Croquet is growing in popularity with 89 clubs and more than 2800 members in Victoria alone – 265 clubs and 9000-plus players nationally,” Jim said.
“Some of the most successful players at the moment are only young.”
Golf croquet is a simpler and quicker version of the game and takes about 50 minutes to complete.
Admission is free by registering at croquetvic.asn.au.
