Nine Wicket News

What’s in a Name?

By Paul Bennett

Sometimes too much is read into a name and I apologize to the ones that took the renaming of our committee as a denigration of 9-wicket croquet players and 9-wicket croquet in general.

While 9-wicket is commonly played using garden croquet equipment in backyards and public parks, it is also played by serious players with competitive interests who have for years looked to the United States Croquet Association as its governing body to promote a higher version of the game.

Players in the Kansas City area helped relaunch the USCA 9-Wicket Nationals in 2008 and hosted the event annually through 2011 (and again in 2014 and 2017). The local association streamlined a rigid set of rules that offers basic gameplay and a single advanced version as opposed to the buffet of pick-and-choose options that the USCA 9-wicket rule book offers. The game has been played in the area by the most dedicated players using one-pound balls and tournament-level hoops primarily on long grass for decades. It would be tempting to say their game mimics American Six Wicket, but the reality is they are playing something relatively close to the same carry-over deadness, strict order version of 9-wicket that four of the five founding USCA clubs in the New York area would have played prior to the development of the American Six Wicket game (which, in fact, is a meshed version of AC and American 9-wicket rules on a six-wicket court). In one sense, area players are proud to support the legacy American game, but with only one true croquet court in the city, 9-wicket is also the practical option as it offers more places to play.

That group also has successfully experimented with 9-wicket on true, manicured croquet courts. I believe using courts 1 and 2 together at the NCC would make for an interesting 9-wicket layout, expanding the dimensions to 84 feet by 210

feet. The equipment required includes nine wickets (instead of 12 for the two courts) and two pegs: one at the north end and one at the south end.

In Kentucky, clay courts were used for 100 years providing a playing surface that was flat and fast. The court was divided into three zones, and when a ball was knocked off court, it was not allowed to hit a ball in that zone for at least one turn (it was placed on a spot and it had to vacate that spot before hitting another ball in that zone).

In the Kentucky game, perfected by Hall of Famer Archie Burchfield, players could wire balls without impunity and players, once dead, could not be cleared of their deadness without going through their proper hoops. (There was no clearing of deadness at the turning stake.)

The Kentucky game uses what I would refer to as an X setting instead of the double diamond setting. This setting spaces out the first two hoops about 12 feet instead of what is commonly less than a yard or two. Hoops 2, 3 and 12 are all horizontally aligned (as well as 5, 6 and 10).

When I decided to ask the management committee to change the name of our committee from “9-wicket” to “9-wicket and Long Grass,” I was hoping to be more inclusive in terms of picking up players that set up 6-wicket courts on long-grass park settings. The committee could test out how many new players and clubs adopt the 6-wicket long-grass setup for golf croquet, corporate 6-wicket long-grass outings and charity events.

Some have shortened the name of our committee to “Long Grass,” and some believe that our national events must be played on long-grass courts exclusively. This was not my intention, even though some members believe national championships can only be played on long grass.

In fact, the first National Championships were played on clay courts in the Northeastern states back in the mid-1800s. The game of champion players was considered “scientific” since the players used custom-made mallets and played all-around breaks to the peg. Players came from Chicago, New York and Philadelphia to play croquet in Connecticut.

Good players devoted to the game of croquet have always enjoyed trying to improve the sport both in its competitiveness and equipment standards. The best court surface is generally always desired. The most competitive players in the international game have sometimes put down American lawns when they were too green and perfectly smooth, but they have since modified their stance toward perfect lawns with very fast speed. They find them all the more competitive and challenging. The best players will always be the best at adapting to whatever court conditions are provided, but few

players enjoy plodding along on a long-grass court where solid straight strokes are often disappointingly not rewarded with a roquet, but a miss.

We simply, due to economic reasons, must begin playing croquet somewhere and often this is in one’s nearby park where a perfectly manicured putting green surface is not often found. Where possible, let’s welcome these players into our croquet world. We embrace all croquet players into the USCA. We want to help you enjoy the game and provide you with the resources you need to learn it and grow your club into a large enough body to build those fabulous lawns in your community.

Once again, I apologize for seeming to put down our 9-wicket players and clubs. My intent of being inclusive and diverse has been taken as divisive and shameful. Please forgive me.