| Can Australia’s elite croquet players hold on to the MacRobertson Shield?
The Australian team won it in California in 2017 – for the first time for 82 years – and we are defending it in Melbourne in November 2022. The Australian team includes
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They will compete with teams from New Zealand, England, and the United States, over fifteen days from 12 to 29 November.
Now one of world croquet’s premier events, the MacRobertson Shield began as an Association Croquet team contest between England and Australia in 1925.
The Shield is named after the man who originated the contest, Sir Macpherson Robertson, who is remembered for his confectionary company (think Freddo Frogs and Cherry Ripe) and for the MacRobertson Girls High School, which he endowed.
Robertson was a keen croquet player and vigorously promoted the sport, which he believed taught young people self-discipline, risk management and other attributes necessary for business success. In 1925 he took a four-man Australian team to England, and the competition he initiated has continued for almost 100 years.
Today it is a four-country contest, played about every four years, with six-player teams from Australia, England, United States and New Zealand fighting out a series of Test Matches. This is a chance to see the best players in the world in action.
Outstanding young talents in the competing teams include Matthew Essick (US), the current Golf Croquet World Champion; Felix Webby and Edmund Fordyce (NZ), both former Under 21 World Champions. The most experienced players on the courts are Greg Bryant (NZ), Jeff Soo (US), and Steve Forster (Australia), who have all played in five previous MacRobertson Shields.
Croquet is a growing sport in Australia with more than 250 clubs and 10,000 active players, the highest number of any country.
The two-weeklong competition is open to spectators and will be live-streamed throughout Australia and other competing countries.
http://macrobertsonshield.com
More information: Kate Patrick, 0403 108 215
