Slightly more than ten years ago when the laws of Golf Croquet were an add-on to the laws of Association Croquet, there was no such person as a Golf Croquet Referee. Only one ‘breed’ of referee was recognised and it was those who had been trained and qualified for Association Croquet. With the growth of competitive Golf Croquet and the issue of separate laws of the game, the lack of any specific referees for the game could no longer be tolerated. A working party set up by the CA in early 2000 agreed that a grade of referee, called a Golf Croquet Referee, should be recognised and suitable training courses organised with appropriate tests on knowledge of the laws and practical ability to recognise faults. The first courses were run and players qualified later that year.
In the early growth of Golf Croquet, considerable emphasis was placed on need for referees in charge. This entailed having a referee being on the lawn for the whole of the game. Effectively the referee became the manager of the game in a similar manner to say a football referee which was the practice followed by the Egyptians in all their competitive games. Although this practice was adopted by a few clubs in the early 2000s, it has almost died out completely in games in England for all games other than world championships.
The two main duties that we now expect our referees to undertake are:
Referee on Appeal who will be called on to a lawn by players who believe that errors in play have been committed and they require a referee to decide how play should be restarted in full accordance with the laws.
Referee on Call who will also have been called on to the lawn by the players but this time to witness a shot that is about to take place. Due to the layout of the balls and hoops on the lawn, one or both players believe that there is a good possibility that a fault may occur. It will be the referee’s duty to adjudicate on the legality of the shot.
The powers of the above referees to intervene in a game are fully described in the laws of the game.
The skills required to act competently as a referee on appeal and as a referee on call are very different. In the case of a ‘referee on appeal’, the referee has to question both players and possibly spectators to determine exactly what was the sequence of events that occurred and using his expert knowledge of the laws determine how all matters should be rectified so that the game can be restarted in accordance with the laws. It is not sufficient to have a good knowledge of the laws themselves, the referee has to know how to apply the various laws to different situations. This application of the laws forms a major part of a referees course and finishes with a one hour written test on the laws. Players who wish to become referees should ensure their knowledge of the laws is extensive before they come on an actual course. It is simply not feasible to learn the laws in detail during a mornings course. The written test is taken without reference to laws books and has a very tight time schedule and those without a detailed knowledge are unlikely to pass.
The skills required to be a ‘referee on call’ are totally different. They are a very practical skill. In the main the fault laws are relatively simple and fairly easily remembered. The problems are that things happen so fast that in some cases it is extremely difficult to apply the laws directly. The referee has to infer from things he can see and hear whether or not the fault laws have been breached. It is also extremely important the referee takes up the correct position to witness any particular shot. To test the potential referee’s skill in this area, a practical test of fault recognition is carried out on the lawns. Players who are already qualified as referees or assistant referees for Association Croquet do not have to take this test as their previous training in this area is fully applicable.
The CA will be the first to admit that any formal training in these practical skills has been virtually non existent and there has not been any definitive document on which to base any self training. Unfortunately this has been caused by a lack of suitable manpower to carry out this training. As a result the standards set for the practical test have not been as high as we would have wished. To overcome this problem a DVD has now been produced covering all the various aspects of practical refereeing. It is believed that detailed study of this DVD will allow our potential referees to give themselves a good grounding in fault recognition before they attend a referees course and assessment. Specifically this DVD concentrates on double taps and crushes in hoops which are the main faults in Golf Croquet. Regrettably we cannot supply this DVD free issue to all potential referees and a charge of £7.50 inc p&p has to be made. Full details of the contents of the DVD are described later in these pages.
At present the CA only recognise two grades of Golf Croquet Referee, Examining and Standard referee. This differs from our Association colleagues who have both Assistant and Championship referees as well as Examining and Standard referees. Unfortunately we are extremely thin on the ground with Examining Referees with only two registered at present. This very much hinders our development and we would very much like to hear from any experienced referee who would consider taking on this role, especially those based in the north or south west.
Because of our lack of resources, the CA do not normally organise courses directly but wait for the demand to be made known to us. Any major club or Federation who consider there is a demand in their area, should contact the Chairman of the Golf Croquet Laws Committee to arrange an agreed date for such a course. The club or Federation then take all responsibility for organising the course and agree how any expenses for the Examining Referee should be met. Normally a minimum of five players are required to make a course worthwhile with a maximum limit of eight or possibly ten. The assistance of a qualified referee, either GC or AC, to help with the practical tests is very beneficial.
Bill Arliss
Chairman Golf Croquet Laws Committee