News

BLOG 10. It was exactly a month ago that 4 GCCC members – Graham Goosen, James Remington-Hobbs, Matthew Martin and Jeremy O’Regan travelled 900km up the road to the Annual Port Alfred Classic. Although for some of us who have been there before there were no surprises.

This event is no doubt one of the best events on the Croquet Calendar. From players around the country converging to compete and play with each other. Such fun. Our hosts Roger and Sue were true to form…, incredible hospitality with a great deal of time & organisation, making this event truly memorable. A fantastic combined effort along with their dedicated team.

Huge accolades go to our Captain O Captain for bringing back another trophy – SINGLES HANDICAP!! Congrats Graham for your performance, your professionalism and for flying GCCC’s colours with tremendous pride. Special mention must go to James and Matthew for their efforts and court manners. Matthew – this new kid on the block was blocking, stopping, jumping and believe it or not, drinking us all under the table. (he did in all fairness have a drinking pal). But, between James and Matthew with their charm, and possibly to a certain extent Graham and Jeremy the Greyton Malleteers managed to make the audience smile and laugh leaving some Greyton spirit behind.

The Port Alfred Classic is definitely a must and we hope that 2025 GCCC can encourage more to attend. A very worthwhile and fun week away. Thanks Boys your company was the bomb!!

BLOG 9. It is that time of year for the Robinson Cup –

a competition where the finest and most talented croquet players get together, strut their stuff, wield their mallets, and shoot hoops with a competitive spirit. With much seasonal excitement in the air and already completed a match against the Somerset West, GCCC, are proud to say that they managed to take 2 games out of 16 from their opposition.

On that note we head back to Somerset West to take on their B Team – the Somerset West “Eagles”. Hugely buoyant about this particular match, as we welcome Penny McRobert & Lenard Allen to the team. This dynamic duo are pumped, and so are we, such highly talented croquet players are rearing to go and showcase their croquet skills…, as for Three Malleteers, they too are part of our formidable representation.

BLOG POST 8. It was just over a week when Graham Goosen, Anton Prak and Jeremy O’Regan packed their clobber & mallets, heading 900 kilometers up the N2 to Port Alfred to play in a tournament – The Port Alfred Classic. A tournament made up of some seriously polished malleteers (54 players to be exact) from around the country. With a total of 19 hard fought games each every day, the boys from Greyton represented their club in true fashion. Each of the games were played with tremendous spirit, friends made and almost no mallets broken. A couple of long shots, jump shots, stop shots and even rather large divots, and maybe just a couple of donuts. There were a number of penalties and plenty of on and off the field banter. Unbelievable catering and copious amounts of beer, wine and gin & tonics, teas, coffees and loads of morning and afternoon snacks. GCCC would like to thank Trevor & Glynn & all the other Port Alfred Croquet Club Members for making the week so special. Now for some really great news – Anton and Jeremy got into the Quarter Finals on Saturday finishing on a 7-4 loss, but what made the week even more special is that our very own Graham Goosen (Captain of the GCCC) came away with an emphatic win. By winning the Level Singles Graham was up against Richard Prosser who plays for Kelvin Grove, with a handicap of a minus 3 and Grahams 1. Today we lift our mallets in honour.

We salute a jolly good player and a well done to Graham not forgetting Anton and Jeremy. This win is extremely good news for the GCCC.

The GCCC trophy cabinet has only just begun.

BLOG POST 7.  It was extremely fitting to celebrate the life of Hedley Daniels with a bunch of Croquet Players. Taken from a short bio on the GCCC website, Hedley’s passion for the game was very apparent, and what made the game even more special, was the joy of playing alongside him. There was no two ways about his loud penetrating vocals when a scoring a hoop and his ability to do a moon walk (alias Michael Jackson) style across the lawn.

It was here that I was first introduced to Croquet and have been hooked on it for the past 6 years. It’s more than just a matter of getting balls through hoops. I love the strategising, the forth-thinking of every shot, the banter on the field, and maybe most of all, the applause and ‘welldones’ from team mates after a ‘jump shot’ well played. My wife, Karen, and I have recently been presented with some rather huge life challenges in recent weeks and the support from our team on as well as off the field has been quite humbling. I love Croquet. Playing has become a real highlight of my week. Here’s to many more happy years of playing.

But more importantly his absolute love in his walk was with his Heavenly Father. It was humbling to sit by him and chat on a subject that he lived by. So, the weekend was a reflection of everything that this man stood. Teams from False Bay and Kelvin Grove joined us. We saw highly competitive games, banter, and plenty of wine and beer consumed. An evening of “croquet spirit”, with +- 30 of us sitting down to a wonder springbok potjie, care of Nicholas Downing and his fine shooting, and a delicious lunch, salads and teas, care of Heidi von Caues.

Hedley’s wife Karen joined us both days with his Mom. With prize giving on the Sunday, Karen presented & handed out the prizes reminding us all, in some very moving words, about her dear husband.

Many thanks to all those who were involved – the weekend could not have happened without you?

Hedley you remain in many of our hearts and thank you for smiling down on us…

BLOG POST 5. A week ago Graham Goosen and David Hughes ventured off to Rondebosch for their 2nd BOSS leg. Not surprising that Dave won 4 of his 6 matches and Graham 4 out of his 5 matches. So the good news is that Graham leads his Group, final matches scheduled for the end of September. On behalf of all members and non-members we salute our bosses and wish them all the best on bringing back a few coveted trophies.

Nothing like a wee bit of silverware… not so!!

BLOG POST 4. As a Club we are extremely excited that we have finally got the go ahead to develop new fields. Part of GCCC’s vision is to bring the game to our children, to have lawns that cater for competitions and to beautify the allocated area. A special OPS Team has been appointed to drive this initiative and we will continue to keep all members and shareholders of TGCC up to speed with the progress.

A big thank you to TWK for approving our proposal and getting the ball rolling…

BLOG POST 3. It is really hard to comprehend, but one of GCCC avid members took on a challenge. Head on. All was at stake. 7 hoops and everything to play for. Playing for beers and cow dung. No mercy! Opposition was tough, REALLY stiff.  The mighty “Jiminy” Cricket versus “Juggernaut Jeremy”. Crowds gathered from far and wide poised to see an outcome. Unfortunately 4 hours and 22 minutes later the darn “Cricket” got the better of “Juggernaut Jeremy” – spread it’s wings and took flight… What a day!!

BLOG POST 2.

At GCCC we encourage as many younger folk to join one of the most fastest growing all-lawn based sports. Plenty of fun and loads of banter – feel free and weather permitting we play every Wednesday afternoons from 1:30pm onwards and Saturdays from 9:30 onwards. Our base is the Country Village, Greyton. Plenty of mallets to go around and a great deal of experienced players to teach you the ropes.

We look forward to as many aspiring croquet wannabe’s  playing  – maybe we have a World Champ in the making…

BLOG POST 1.

Last Sunday Graham Goosen and David Hughes headed to Rondebosch to compete in the Annual BOSS Croquet Competition at RCC. Great news and not that surprising Graham won all 6 matches and is in first place. David, too, put on an amazing display of sheer determination and accurate shooting, winning 3/3. The 2nd round takes place in August. The games were played to the new proposed handicap rules and the results will be submitted to the UK. This proposed experimental change favours weaker handicaps but overall will lift standards of all players.

On behalf of all of us at GCCC – well done guys!!