Sport

Regional croquet masters on show at Rich River

By Matthew Kappos

Apr 15, 2025

Rich River’s Kenn Boal was the division one winner and will represent the GVCA at the country regionals. Photos: Matthew Kappos.

The very best of the Goulburn Valley region took to the croquet courts at Rich River Croquet Club last week, battling it out in a champion of champions event.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

Four divisions were contested over Tuesday, April 8 and Wednesday, April 9, with the winners of Goulburn Valley Croquet Association member clubs competing against each other in association croquet.

“Clubs play their championships and then the champions of those clubs go on and play in the Goulburn Valley (here),” tournament organiser Bev Floyd said.

“The winners of this go on and play in the country regionals, which will be played in Geelong at the end of April.”

Echuca-Moama’s John Alstin lines up a long shot. Photo by Matthew Kappos

Last year, the country regionals were held at Rich River, where the GVCA came second in the team event.

The GVCA championships featured players from as far as Mooroopna and Deniliquin, while there were plenty of local players among the field.

Some divisions, which are separated by player rating brackets, only featured two competitors who played off in the best of three, while others had up to five participating in a round-robin.

Rich River’s Kenn Boal won two straight to take out division one over Mooroopna’s John Young, while David Ryant, also of Rich River, claimed division three with two straight wins over Echuca-Moama’s John Alstin.

Rich River’s David Ryant won division three. Photo by Matthew Kappos

Rich River’s Ian Grant took part in division two, while teammate Cherie Lessing was runner-up in division four, which also featured E-M’s Greg Brierley.

The championships were for association croquet, which is a more strategic and complex version of the game than the alternate format, golf croquet.

Louise Vale of Numurkah takes a shot. Photo by Matthew Kappos

Each player has two balls on the court during the game and must take shots that cause the struck ball to contact any of the other three.

Doing so allows that player to continue taking shots, attempting to manoeuvre both their balls through a course of six hoops, while failing to contact another ball allows the opponent to take over and attempt to do the same with their own balls.

Mooroopna’s Ron Wrest plans his next move. Photo by Matthew Kappos

Games are played to a time limit, where the player scoring the most hoops is the winner, or if one player closes out by hitting the centre peg after completing the course and earning an immediate victory.

The country regionals will be held from April 27-30 in Geelong.