Over the coming week, Oxford will see the much awaited Croquet Cuppers competition begin in earnest. Perhaps surprisingly, in terms of participation Croquet is the biggest sport in Oxford, with close to 500 teams entering across the University. As such it is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Oxford sporting calendar. I mean, who hasn’t dreamt of sipping champagne in the sun, mallet in hand?
The competition is played in a knockout format in which each round consists of two pairs of matches, with the overall winner progressing. The winning team is the one which either wins both of the matches in that round, or wins the most points, in the event that each side wins a pair game.
The game itself is a tactical one as each pair takes it in turns to strike their two balls, and it is as much to do with stopping your opponent gaining any points as it is to do with scoring yourself. There are six hoops on a croquet pitch with a peg in the centre, and the ball must follow a specific path going through each hoop twice before hitting the peg to end the game.
A point is gained for every time a ball goes through the hoop (so there are 12 points to be gained per ball from the hoops), and a final point is gained for hitting the peg, hence the winning team in a pairs match is the first to reach 26 points.
However, a roquet can change the state of a game in the blink of an eye. If your ball hits another, on your next turn your ball is placed in contact with the one that was hit, and you can then strike it as hard as you like.
So you can be just next to that final hoop, on the cusp of victory, when you are sent to the boundary at the other end of the pitch!
Last year’s victors were New College 2, captained by William Mycroft but with such a massive amount of competition, this is one tournament which could be won from anywhere in the draw. Teams like last year’s surprise package, Exeter 3, who are captained by Exeter’s Croquet Commisioner Thomas Taylor and are now seeded, will be determined to break the New hegemony.
Cherwell Sport will bring you updates as the tournament reaches its latter stages, but there can surely be no better way to spend a sunny afternoon than by taking control of a mallet and winning a fiercely-competitive game of croquet!
