Wakatipu Croquet Club
History of Croquet
Croquet owes its popularity to the fact that it was the first outdoor sport women could participate in – and which they could play as equals with men. American Harper’s Weekly magazine wrote in 1871 that croquet offered “the most delightful opportunities for flirtations” – perhaps one of the reasons the church tried to ban it in Boston in the 1890s. (For proof that the game can be as flirty as it is feisty, check out the shoulder-padded shenanigans in 1980s dark comedy Heathers.)
No one’s entirely sure where croquet came from, but one theory has it as the posh version of a French peasant game called paille-maille, or ‘ball mallet’, which had been around since the 1300s. London’s Pall Mall even owes its name to the fact that King Charles II enjoyed a game or two of paille-maille there in its grassy, pre- street days.
What’s certain is that croquet became one of England’s most popular exports. Croquet was brought to NZ from England by early settlers in the 1850s and garden croquet was a popular game at that time. The first formal croquet club was formed as part of the Ponsonby Lawn Tennis Club in 1879. Test matches started between England, Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. Nowadays, there are more than 70 active croquet clubs in New Zealand, and we have four players in the World Croquet Federation top ten.
Women playing croquet, Taranaki, 1909
HISTORY OF THE WAKATIPU CROQUET CLUB
The first record of croquet being played in Queenstown is from the 1940s. At that time both Bowls and Croquet were played in Queenstown Gardens (the current location of the Queenstown Bowls Club).
You can see in this picture the croquet green and the shared clubhouse behind.
The present club was incorporated in 1992 and the first President was David Alderton. This picture shows David (third from the left) and other club members doing a working bee in 1992 to prepare the lawns. As the club grew and more space was needed, four lawns were created on the present Kelvin Peninsular site in 1994. These were initially slightly smaller 6 yard lawns, but were later expanded to the full size 7 yard size.
This picture shows the members of the Wakatipu Croquet Club probably in the late 1940s.
Interestingly, at that time, croquet was a game for ladies only, and gentlemen were confined to playing bowls
Notice also the rounded profile of the mallets which is quite different from the modern equivalent.
In 1998 work began on the new Clubhouse which was finished in 2000 and this has proven to be a valuable asset. It has allowed us to host several croquet tournaments each year and provides an excellent facility for our members.
The club now has 4 perfectly manicured croquet greens, each with a shelter, together with a fully-equipped clubhouse
