Croquet Store's History of Croquet

A BIT OF HISTORY

The game of hitting balls through hoops can be traced back to 13th century France. There, peasants fashioned hoops from willow branches and used shepherds crooks to hit the balls. It showed up again in 17th century Ireland where a British sports equipment maker, John Jaques first saw it. Taking the idea home with him, equipment was produced and it quickly became the sport of the elite class. A governing body was established around 1870 in England. By mid the 1880's, its popularity waned as its luster was tarnished by gambling and other questionable social concerns in the Victorian era. Even the first known club at Wimbledon, The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, ejected the sport and dropped its context from the club's name. Croquet's survival was in the immense popularity as a backyard game and, with the influence of the British Empire, croquet was found in most of the Commonwealth countries.

The English players, not to be banished to their gardens forever, formed the beginnings of the Croquet Association (CA) in 1897. On the other side of the Atlantic, popularity grew in the 1930's and 40's. It was taken to especially by the rich and famous of the United States. Many of Hollywood stars found croquet the sport to be playing. This short resurgence in the United States was short lived until the mid-sixties when a group of players on Long Island and another in Florida started playing again. From these beginnings, the USCA was formed, and along with it, formal rules and regulations governing play, American-style.

The 80’s saw explosive growth in the sport, which continues today with over 350 clubs in Canada, and the USA. With the formation of the World Croquet Federation recently has joined the national associations of more than a dozen countries around the world. It is responsible for unifying the sport and promoting international competition. Many of the world's top players now target the world championships as their sport’s pinnacle.