Club Guide to Croquet England

Other club resources include Downloads and Forms, Advice for Clubs, Club CA Membership. Please contact the CA Office for anything else.

What is the CA? The Croquet Association is Croquet's national governing body, which promotes and regulates the sport, mostly through voluntary effort. Players and clubs support the organisation through their membership. The management and control of the CA is vested in the Council of elected members, which includes members from each Federation region. Council members and others serve on the various committees.

The CA Office and Shop The CA maintains an office in Cheltenham. The CA Shop has a wide range of croquet equipment and accessories for sale and shares the office's building and opening hours.

Promotional Materials and Leaflets The CA Office supplies clubs with glossy promotion materials, which include short guides to Association and Golf Croquet, a promotional leaflet called 'Have you Tried Croquet?', and A4 posters. The marketing team run National Croquet Day (NCD)/Week (NCW).

Joining the CA Players can join the CA as individual members and information about joining the CA is given on the website, along with the benefits of doing so.

Insurance CA Member Clubs are automatically entitled to insurance as part of the membership package. The insurance is provided by SportsCover, through the CA's brokers, Endsleigh. These links provide summaries of the cover provided to clubs and coaches respectively. The full cover is as stated in the Public Liability, Employer's Liability, & Professional Indemnity and Directors & Officers policy documents, however, a Communicable Disease Endorsement has been issued and these (e.g. COVID-19) are excluded from any cover. It is an expectation of insurers that risk assessments are in place. Clubs are responsible for their own equipment and buildings insurance. The CA has negotiated competitive rates with Endsleigh: details for these should be obtained from Endsleigh on 01242 866800.

Grants and Loans A large part of the CA's budget goes towards giving clubs support to enhance their facilities, either as a grant or a loan. Clubs must be full members of the CA and raise the major part of the cost themselves. Clubs interested in applying for a grant should contact their Federation Development Officer who will advise them. The CA Bursary Scheme supports aspiring international players to go to the right tournaments, etc.

Sponsorship Clubs are responsible for obtaining sponsorship of club events and tournaments, however, if the CA obtains sponsorship for CA tournaments, then the club holding the CA Tournament receives increased Lawn hire fees. If the club holding the CA Tournament obtains sponsorship for it, then the club retains two-thirds of the sponsorship and the CA one-third.

Club Awards The CA makes awards biennially (in three categories: Townsend, Apps Heley, and Millennium) to clubs that have made exceptional progress in providing a good playing environment.

CA Diplomas Clubs can nominate members who have given outstanding service for CA Diplomas, which have nothing to do with croquet prowess and everything to do with the help given to other members.

Most Improved Players Awards Clubs and federations can propose their rapid-improvers for a Most Improved Player Award.

Merit Awards Club members may gain Merit Awards for tournament achievements.

Handicapping - the AHS The CA also provides an Automatic Handicapping System (AHS), which requires players entering tournaments, Federation and club events to maintain handicap cards. This applies separately for Association Croquet Handicapping and Golf Croquet Handicapping. Even if players only take part in club events, they will find it useful to have a handicap so that they can play competitively with other club members. Clubs are sent a supply of handicap cards for their members each year.