Click
Here
for more articles |
|
|
Croquet:
A History |
by:
PlayCroquet Column |
|
http://www.playcroquet.com/index.php>Croquet
is a classic yard game that has been played
for centuries all over Europe. A game similar
to croquet is believed to have been played
in Ancient Rome. The current version of
croquet, however, originated in about the
14th century by French peasants who used
wooden mallets to hit wooden balls through
wickets made from willow branches. Croquet
became popular in Ireland in the early eighteen
hundreds and transferred to England around
1851. It quickly became popular and spread
throughout the colonial empire, reaching
virtually every area of British colonial
rule by the year 1870. Traditionally, croquet
was played on a professional playing field,
with the grass trimmed, similar to a golf
course. At the turn of the century, however,
Americans, disagreeing with new English
rules outlawing mallets with rubber heads,
and introducing a six-wicket court, maintained
their own version of nine-wicket croquet.
Many Americans also developed a more simple
and rugged version of nine-wicket croquet,
which could be played casually in their
own backyards. This is the version of croquet
that many Americans know and play today.
The well trimmed croquet field is still
used in professional play, both in America
and at the international level.
Croquet was a popular game among the
youth of the British Empire, who could
use it to socialize and flirt without
their parents constantly peering over
their shoulders. It was initially more
popular among women, but in 1874 there
was a decline in the popularity of the
game among women, because it was becoming
too scientific. The game also decreased
in popularity as lawn tennis began to
replace it, bringing in more money than
croquet.
As the games popularity declined in
England, it increased in America. In 1865,
the Newport Croquet Club in Rhode Island
was formed. In 1871, Milton Bradley published
“Croquet – Its Principles and rules.”
In New York, in 1882, twenty-five clubs
from the National American Croquet Association.
The game met with some setbacks in America,
when in the 1890’s, the game was condemned
by the Boston clergy, who spoke against
it because of its association with drinking,
gambling, and licentious behavior. Croquet
was played as an Olympic sport in the
1900 and 1904 Olympic Games. Croquet is
more popular as a competitive sport outside
of the United States. It began to catch
on more in the United States again, in
the 1960’s. In 1969, the first six wicket
croquet tournament was held in at the
Colony Hotel in Palm Beach between the
New York Croquet Club and the Palm Beach
Croquet Club. Several other clubs eventually
joined in, and once creating a uniformed
code of rules, they established the United
States Croquet Association, under Jack
Osborn. Since 1980, croquet professionals
in North America have grown from about
fifty to around 4000. Croquet is now played
in over twenty countries as a competitive
sport. National tournaments are held often
within these countries, and international
tournaments are held at the international
level.
Many association and clubs have now
been established in the United States
and the international standards of croquet
are being played more often by American
croquet players. Most Americans, however,
still play the more simple and casual
backyard, nine-wicket version of croquet.
Many Americans also play “poison croquet,”
which is similar to nine wicket croquet,
but is not played in teams. Instead, each
player competes for him/herself to see
who can hit their ball through all of
the wickets first, making their ball “poison”
and then eliminating the other players
by hitting their balls with the poison
ball.
Peter Jay is a yard game enthusiast
with Yard Game Central and a manager and
web administrator with http://www.playcroquet.com/index.php>Play
Croquet. For information about a http://www.playcroquet.com/index.php>Croquet
set, visit www.PlayCroquet.com.
|
|
