Members of the Broadwas Golf Croquet team who won the runners-up spot in the Telč heat of the European GC Club League competition in 2024 will this year be competing in Germany in the heat hosted by 1st Croquet Club Südwest.
The German club is located in Kohlhof in the southwest of the country, in the Rhine Valley, recognised as being the warmest region in Germany and home to the wine-growing region of Palatia. It is about 110km south of Frankfurt.
Captained by Stuart Smith, the Broadwas team of Ian Dampney, Billy Nicholson and Jon Carrington will also face the Czech Country Croquet Club which is based in Horice in the Czech Republic, and the Spanish side from Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. The Spanish club hosted the competition final in 2024.
Having experienced the competition’s format last year, Stuart feels that his team will know what to expect. ‘I think the lawns will be in good condition, but I suspect all games will be double banked, though it shouldn’t be a problem,’ said Stuart.
He added ‘We do know that the German team have got better players – who were not in the team last year. I think they have their “big guns” out. The German team may well therefore be our biggest opposition.’
Stuart said ‘I’ve read about the Horice team. The seem to be from a fairly small place and the club has only begun relatively recently.’
Stuart is optimistic for the Broadwas team’s prospects.
‘Clearly, Jon Carrington has moved forward with his game and he will be our top ranked player,’ Stuart said. Stuart himself, will be the team’s number two ranked player.
Of Billy Nicholson, Stuart said ‘Billy had an absolute stormer in last year’s tournament. He pretty well won every game. Ian (Dampney) also played solidly in the competition.’
‘We’ve got a strong all-round team,’ said Stuart. ‘I’ve got confidence that we’ll be able to hold our end up well. We just hope it will be as fun and sociable as last year.’
In preparation for the tournament, however, Stuart has been carrying out quite a bit of research on the opposition by looking at official Golf Croquet rankings of the European players involved in the competition.
Stuart told me that Ian has managed, through a friend, to source some 3D plaques of the Broadwas Croquet Club logo, which the team will gift to other competitors in the heat, during the competition.
The team hope to have doubles practice sessions together, before the competition. Stuart will be teamed with Jon in the doubles in the tournament, while Billy will be paired with Ian.
We hope to have more news on the European team’s preparations in the next few weeks.
Best of luck to the squad.
Paul Felton