Article
in Daily Telegraph,
Wednesday 20th JulyOK croquetWeeks before Andy Murray claimed his title at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon, Stephen Mulliner raised the cup for England, trouncing the American challenger at the Association Croquet World Championships in Palm Beach, Florida. Mr Mulliner is 62. The tournament’s youngest player was the remarkable Edmund Fordyce of New Zealand, aged 15. So it is a sad bit of data that seven out of 10 British people have never played croquet. They are missing out not only on the outdoor exercise, but far more on the moral challenge of this superlative strategic game. No wonder the grace and favour house of Dorneywood boasts its croquet set, as does Chevening. The sport should be restored to the Olympics, in which it featured, for men and women, in the golden year of 1900. The author obviously doesn't know the rules for sports to be represented in the Olympic Games. In the past it was that a certain number of countries in the world had to play the sport before it could be considered. A new system has recently been introduced, which consisted of 25 core sports with three "floating" sports. This new system was set to start from the Olympics from 2020. The cap of 28 sports was then lifted to a more flexible model. However, it is not all good news as all sports would be for review after each Olympics. New sports will be included or others dropped by a simple majority vote (compared to currently requiring a 2/3's majority). The Tokyo 2020 committee listed the following criteria for new sports: added value; youth appeal; attractiveness for TV; media and general public; gender equality; minimum impact on the number of events and/or quotas, infrastructure and operational costs and complexity... so there is no chance of croquet being included, then! |