Matthew Burrow beat Stephen Mulliner in the European Championship
19-22 Sep 2002 (AC - Championships)
Matthew Burrow (Jersey) beat Stephen Mulliner (England) -6 -17TP, +8OTP, +26TP, +26TP to win the European Championships on his home court on 22 September after three and a half days of quality croquet at Jersey Croquet Club.
Tony Mrozinski (Wales) beat Don Gaunt (England) +14TP, -8, +8 for third place.
Twenty nominated or qualifying representatives from twelve European Federation members gathered at Jersey Croquet Club on Thursday 19 September to compete for the Championship of the Federation of European Croquet (FEC). Although the 2001 champion, Mark McInerney from Ireland, was unavailable to defend his title, there were many top players present, including Stephen Mulliner (England), 2001 runner-up, Matthew Burrow (Jersey), Tony Mrozinski (Wales), Andrew Johnston (Ireland), Gianpietro Donati (Italy) and Don Gaunt (England).
The twenty were divided into four seeded round-robin blocks, with the top two qualifying for the quarter-finals, which were also seeded based on finishing positions. In Block One, top seed Matthew Burrow and Gianpietro Donati qualified, with Bruce Rannie (Scotland), Fernando de Ansorena (Spain) and Kevin Garrad (Isle of Man) completing the line-up. In Block Two, second-seeded Stephen Mulliner and Andrew Johnston qualified, with Peter Payne (Switzerland), Philip Archer (Guernsey) and Bruno Hess (Germany) being the other three players. In Block Three the surprise qualifier behind third-seeded Don Gaunt was Italy's Paolo DePetra, with Sarah Burrow (Jersey) missing out, along with Jonathan Lamb (Belgium) and Kevin Wells (Isle of Man). In Block Four the qualifiers were as expected, fourth-seeded Tony Mrozinski and Jersey's Paul Duckworth, with Andrew Cowing (Switzerland), Lucas Azcona (Spain) and David Underhill (Switzerland) going into the consolation event. Final stages
The best-of-three quarter-finals therefore were Burrow v Johnston, Gaunt v Duckworth, Mrozinski v DePetra and Mulliner v Donati. Although Paul took the first game from Don, scoring the first three peels of a quad before playing safe in Game 1, the four seeds came through safely with no other game being lost. The nearest was Andrew, who pegged out Matthew when on rover against penult, but Matt hit the lift and finished. The semi-finals also went to form, Burrow and Mulliner beating Gaunt and Mrozinski respectively, each 2-0.
The best-of-five final took place on Sunday 22 September with Channel TV (Jersey's Independent Television station) present to film the action and interview the players. Stephen Mulliner took an early lead and clinched the second game too, the quality of play from both players being very high, chances being taken with few errors. Matthew came back in Game 3 after Stephen had tripled his ball out, and went on with two clinical +26TP finishes to take the title and cup for Jersey for the first time 3-2.
Meanwhile Tony Mrozinski (Wales) was battling with Don Gaunt (England) for third place in a best-of-three encounter, which swung from player to player, and was 1-1 with all to play for when the prize-giving ceremony took place for the main event. Tony went on to clinch his Jersey milk-jug after many had left for the airport!
Results
Block 1
| B | D | dA | R | G | Wins | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M Burrow | -- | +21 | +14 | +21 | +26TP | 4 | 1 |
| Donati | -21 | -- | +20 | +19 | +23 | 3 | 2 |
| de Ansorena | -14 | -20 | -- | +3 | +15 | 2 | 3 |
| Rannie | -21 | -19 | -3 | -- | +24 | 1 | 4 |
| Garrad | -26TP | -23 | -15 | -24 | -- | 0 | 5 |
Block 2
| M | J | P | H | A | Wins | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulliner | -- | +4 | +15 | +26TP | +22 | 4 | 1 |
| Johnston | -4 | -- | +17TP | +26 | +24 | 3 | 2 |
| Payne | -15 | -17TP | -- | +9 | +18 | 2 | 3 |
| Hess | -26TP | -26 | -9 | -- | +9T | 1 | 4 |
| Archer | -22 | -24 | -18 | -9T | -- | 0 | 5 |
Block 3
| G | dP | B | L | W | Wins | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaunt | -- | +26 | +10 | +10 | +14 | 4 | 1 |
| de Petra | -26 | -- | +9 | +6 | +18 | 3 | 2 |
| S Burrow | -10 | -9 | -- | +25 | +24TP | 2 | 3 |
| Lamb | -10 | -6 | -25 | -- | +24TP | 1 | 4 |
| Wells | -14 | -18 | -24TP | -24TP | -- | 0 | 5 |
Block 4
| M | D | C | U | A | Wins | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrozinski | -- | +14 | +25TP | +22 | +6 | 4 | 1 |
| Duckworth | -14 | -- | +9T | +10 | +12 | 3 | 2 |
| Cowing | -25TP | -9T | -- | +3 | +8 | 2 | 3 |
| Underhill | -22 | -10 | -3 | -- | +6 | 1 | 4 |
| Azcona | -6 | -12 | -8 | -6 | -- | 0 | 5 |
Quarter-Finals
Matthew Burrow (1) (Jersey) beat Andrew Johnston (Ireland) +9, +3
Don Gaunt (3) (England) beat Paul Duckworth (Jersey) -24, +10, +16
Tony Mrozinski (4) (Wales) beat Paolo de Petra (Italy) +26TP, +5
Stephen Mulliner (2) (England) beat Gianpietro Donati (Italy) +10TP, +10
Semi-Finals
Burrow beat Gaunt +26TP, +17TP
Mulliner beat Mrozinski +21TP, +26
Final
Burrow beat Mulliner -6, -17TP, +8OTP, +26TP, +26TP
Third-Place Play-Off
Mrozinski beat Gaunt +14TP, -8, +8
Italy beat Scotland in the Plate
The Plate event started with all twelve block non-qualifiers, and the losing quarter-finalists came in with a game credit later. After a solid day's play on the Saturday, eight had qualified for the quarter-finals, and Bruce Rannie (Scotland), by beating Fernando de Ansorena and Peter Payne, and Paolo de Petra, by beating Gianpietro Donati (+1T) and Sarah Burrow went into the final. Scotland lost to Italy having been well ahead (peg/six against two-back/two) but Rannie was hampered out of one-back (from distance), took the wrong choice going to three-back with all balls in/near corner two (from which de Petra got a break and pegged Rannie out), and was hampered out of three-back (again from distance) when Paolo missed his roquet after four-back running nearly to A-baulk. There was no further chance given, and Paolo took the smart plate back to Italy.
Results
Quarter-Finals
Paolo de Petra (Italy) beat Gianpietro Donati (Italy) +1T
Sarah Burrow (Jersey) beat Andrew Johnston (Ireland) +4T
Peter Payne (Switzerland) beat Kevin Garrad (Isle of Man) +10T
Bruce Rannie (Scotland) beat Fernando de Ansorena +19
Semi-Finals
de Petra beat Burrow +19
Rannie beat Payne +12
Final
de Petra beat Rannie +4
Superb Organisation
The event was superbly organised by Jersey Croquet Club, and equally efficiently managed by Stephen Mulliner, despite his involvement in playing important matches while ensuring the Plate events kept to a tight schedule to enable players to catch their flights home. Sponsorship came from an anonymous donor, and Jersey States Sports Leisure and Recreation Department (SLR), whose head attended a welcoming reception, at which each player was presented with a small gift, and BBC Radio Jersey interviewed some players (including Rannie and Johnston) as well as the States officials. In addition there were dinners on each of the Friday and Saturday evenings, and hotel and transport accommodation were provided.
The format for twenty players requires some play on the arrival afternoon, four lawns, tight time limits and good play, but it works, and the best players will come though, with one or two playing above themselves because of the amount of play in a short time always likely to cause a surprise. Those from the "smaller" countries will have learned a lot, by watching the tactics and the skills, and noticing that attack is often the only form of defence, especially against the top three or four.
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