New AC Initiative

Croquet is currently in a really strong position in New Zealand, with a growing membership (17% membership increase since 2014-15), more youth participating (96% increase since 2014-15) and success on the world stage (currently hold 3 of 8 World Championships).

Unfortunately, despite this success, the rise of Golf Croquet and the way people consume sport has left Association Croquet in a precarious position. With only 32% of CNZ members playing AC at any level in 2018, down from 47% in 2013. This trend is something being observed worldwide and a trend Croquet New Zealand is keen to reverse.

In an effort to reverse this trend, Croquet New Zealand is excited to announce a new initiative, The Croquet New Zealand AC Club Championships.

This new concept will see Croquet New Zealand invite four of the strongest AC Clubs from around New Zealand to compete in the inaugural event to be held at Epsom-Remuera Croquet Club from 26th to 28th October 2019. The clubs are: Epsom-Remuera Croquet Club (Auckland), United Croquet Club (Canterbury), Wellington Municipal Croquet Club (Wellington) and Whakatane Croquet Club (Bay of Plenty).

The objective of this event is provide development opportunities for individuals to reinforce and develop the competitive player base to support future performance objectives. Each team will consist of 6 players and will see every team play each other in a best-of-9 games test match.

In order to ensure the objective of development is fulfilled, Croquet New Zealand has reserved the rights to allocate a limited number of places on each team to players not directly affiliated with that club.

The teams for the inaugural event are:

* Player to confirm availability