Croquet: A History
PlayCroquet Column.
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 Play Croquet. For information
about a croquet set, visit
www.PlayCroquet.com
Back to Index of All Sports Articles
Find More Sports Related Information:
Index of all Baseball Articles
