Die Pressesprecherin des Deutschen Krocket Bundes (dkb) im Interview mit Bastian Konczak (Redaktion hobbymap.de)

Dear All, 

The dates of the European Golf Croquet Championship have been moved to one week later, from Thursday 27 May to Sunday 30 May.  Direct entries are very welcome. 
CA members are asked to use the CA web-site to indicate their availability.  Non-CA members should e-mail me directly to snmulliner(#)googlemail.com  (#=@)

Direct entry allocation will now be carried out on 12 March 2010 so please submit your entry by that date.  

Regards,
Stephen Mulliner

WCF Media Release
10th February 2010

The World Croquet Federation is pleased to announce that the Danish Gymnastics and Sports Association (DGI) has been accepted as an Observer member.

The DGI is an umbrella sports association representing a total of 5,000 local association and sports clubs of all types based in Vejle, Denmark, including Danish Croquet.  Within that, it has an active croquet membership of approximately 5,000 players in 226 croquet clubs. A small number of these clubs have their own special lawns dedicated for croquet only, but most clubs are playing on football pitches.

The variation of croquet that they play in Denmark is rather different from that played on an International basis, with small mallets, playing one handed, nine hoops with an irregular peg setting but with great spirit and competitiveness.

Danish Croquet forms part of the DGI Landsstaevne festival, which last took place 2009.  It is a major sports event for amateur sportsmen and women and is held every four years organized by the Danish Gymnastic and Sports Associations and the Danish Shooting Organization in cooperation with a host town.   The 2009 event attracted over 10,000 participants playing all types of sports.

The idea behind the festival is to organise a large amateur sports event in which challenge, health and togetherness are the main ingredients. They want sportsmen and women to come together during the festival and be able to experience the joy of sharing sports experiences and accomplishments. On top of this, are added cultural elements such as conferences, workshops and events.

In 2006 the then WCF President, David Openshaw, Kevin Garrad (Isle of Man), Simon Carlson (Sweden) and Tore Gulbrandsen (Norway) attended the event to give demonstrations of Association and Golf Croquet to the local enthusiasts. In 2009 David Openshaw attended the event in Holbaek, a Danish town situated in Zealand. The event takes normally place every 4 years. The next DGI Landstaevne Festival will be taking place in 2013 in Esbjerg situated on the westcoast in Jutland.

WCF President, Charles Jones, said, “I was delighted to see that Denmark will be joining the WCF. It is pleasing from both a European and World perspective to have Denmark as part of the global organisation. Given the sheer numbers involved in Denmark I am certain they will make a great impact on WCF.”

WCF Secretary-General praised the level of commitment in Denmark, “The Danish Croquet Federation is now the largest member, by numbers of players, within the WCF and we welcome them.  They will now be eligible to compete in our own Championships and with their enthusiasm, will undoubtedly be very competitive.  Much of the groundwork for this membership was undertaken by David Openshaw (WCF immediate Past-President) and it is to him that many of our thanks are given. Croquet is played all over the world, some in small pockets of interest, in others they are more organised with larger numbers.  It will continue to be the mission of WCF to bring them all together, under the WCF umbrella organisation.

DGI member of the Danish Croquet Board, Kirsten Bjarnholt said: “The Danish Croquet Federation hope that our membership will enable us to be part of international cooperation with participation in arrangements in Denmark and in other countries. We feel that the International Croquet Federation will be able to gain a wider knowledge of the Danish way of playing croquet, which offers a strategic planning and technical ability, which we feel we haven’t experienced especially in Golf Croquet. In Denmark most of the croquet players are more than 60 years old. Our oldest player is a lady of 100 years old!”

Note to Editors:
1.      The DGI becomes the 27th member association of the WCF.
2.      This decision of the WCF Management Committee to admit Denmark as members will require ratification by the WCF Council at their next General Meeting on 23rd August 2010 in London, England.
3.      WCF acts as the coordinating body for its member associations, holding regular World and Regional Croquet Championships.

 -end-

regards
Brian Storey
Secretary-General
World Croquet Federation
www.wcfcroquet.org

The Château du Lac has exercised its right to cancel our booking for this event and the Indoor will not take place this year.  There are now weddings booked on both of the dates when we might have held the indoor.  As we pay only a small fraction of the normal rate for the hall (these weekends are usually “dead”) it is quite understandable that the hotel prefer to rent it out at full price. 

Das Château du Lac hat von dem vereinbarten Recht Gebrauch gemacht, unsere Buchung für das Indoor-Event zu streichen sodass das Turnier in diesem Jahr nicht stattfinden wird. Es wurden zwei Hochzeiten an genau diesen Terminen gebucht, an denen die Indoor hätten stattfinden sollen. Da wir nur einen kleinen Teil der üblichen Miete bezahlen müssen (da an diesen Tagen gewöhnlich nichts los ist) ist es nur verständlich, dass das Hotel die Chance nutzen möchte, die Halle zum vollen Preis vergeben zu können.

Allan Morris
Croquet Federation of Belgium

(freie Übersetzung GB-DE Redaktion JUS)