Croquet king back at Rich River

The Grants played host to Fletcher, and his brother Malcolm, as they were making their way through the ranks of the Australian croquet movement.

Robert and Malcolm were both members of the Australian team which won the world teams championship five years ago. They will again represent the country later this year as the Australian team defends its title, at the delayed event in Melbourne due to the COVID pandemic.

At the weekend Robert Fletcher was turning plenty of heads, as he has a habit of doing when he enters a tournament, as he participated in another chapter of the Rich River Anzac Classic.

When I caught up with him he had just completed his opening round win against arguably Rich River’s best exponent of the sport, Kenn Boal.

Croquet, for the uninitiated, has been likened to playing chess and snooker simultaneously — on a flat, grass court.

It is a game that requires tactical nous and a wide range of special skills, including strategy and precision.

The ultimate aim is to hit wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called wickets) embedded in a grass court.

Like snooker the multi-coloured balls have to be “run through hoops’’ in order and if a player can continue to achieve a result the other player is forced to watch from the sidelines.

In the case of Fletcher versus Boal, Fletcher only allowed his opponent two shots in claiming an opening round win.

That is not uncommon at the elite level.

Robert Fletcher has competed at the Rich River tournament on four occasions, his record of one win and one runner-up indicative of his consistency.

"Last year wasn’t so good,“ he said.

Fletcher and his brother play at the Victorian Croquet Centre, at Cairnlea in Melbourne, which is considered one of the world’s best facilities.

He is a member of the Ballarat-Alexandra Croquet Club member and will next compete on the national stage when the Australian titles are held at Cairnlea in October.

He is currently ranked number one in world and is preparing for the next world championship in the UK, next year.

“The world titles are shared between northern and southern Hemisphere every two years,” he said.

Fletcher first competed in the world titles in 2012, as an 18-year-old in Adelaide, achieving the feat of being the youngest finalist

He won the world title as a just turned 20-year-old and, after a lengthy break from the world stage, and was a semi finalist in 2020.

“I’ve competed at worlds four times, been a semi-finalist twice, runner-up once and had the one victory,” he said.

Fletcher was highly complimentary of the Rich River event, describing the event as “really good”.

“It attracts a good field. Because the sport doesn’t have much prize money it is very much about the competition, and the event itself,” he said.

When the Australian squad was recently announced for world team championships, in November this year, it was no surprise the Fletcher brothers were on the list.

“There are six members. I have competed four times in the world teams championship, it is like the Olympics of croquet. It was last held in 2017,” he said.

The Australian team win was its first in 82 years of involvement

Fletcher is no longer the baby of the team, with two national team members younger than him.

Fletcher said the country’s elite players were drawn to the Rich River competition.

He was involved in the two-day event with 15 other elite competitors.

“The winner of each block goes through to the final and the winner of that wins the tournament.

Fletcher grew up in the small Victorian country town of Lismore, which boasted a very popular and well-run croquet club.

“There was a great coach and we both (Malcolm and he) just ended up playing,” he said.

There is only 15 months difference between the brothers, who on achieving the level of the Anzac Day event, were regular participants.

“Once we got to this level Marjorie and Ian invited us up. They were very good to us,” he said.