Patron's Trophy

It is suggested the event be named The Patron’s Trophy to provide some real and tangible involvement of our patron the Governor General in our sport.

This event will introduce a new concept to Australian croquet which is that of a National ‘week-end’ open event played to a world class format.  It is expected this event will be a ‘cut down’ version of the existing highly successful and highly regarded Women’s and Men’s singles. 

The committee is very enthusiastic about the introduction of this event which is designed to provide many competitive advantages for Australian croquet.  The argument is often put that Australia cannot get players together often enough due to large travel distances.  Cheap airfares have cast doubt on that argument and this event, with a short time frame and subsequent lower accommodation costs and reduced leave requirements, will prove that we can do it.

The Patron’s Trophy will be an open event and the format should be a ‘best of three’ knockout played over four days if possible, utilizing a weekend to reduce holiday time requirement for the players.

Experience has shown that it is feasible to play five rounds of ‘best of three’ in three days if available daylight is fully utilized and suitable time limits are applied.

The maximum entry would be thirty two players and if oversubscribed the World Ranking of the players should be used to determine which entries are accepted.

To allow this event to provide alternative playing conditions to existing events The WCF draw should not be used.
One method could use a fully seeded draw but using the process style draw given by N vs (N+16) where (N = 1,2,...16). 
Other alternatives could be to use the Bagnall - Wild method and to place sixteen seeds in the draw and randomly draw the rest or to place eight seeds in the draw and randomly draw the rest.

A suitable consolation event should be provided which could take the form of a Flexible Swiss.

If the event is fully subscribed consideration could be given to playing it as an XYZ ‘best of three’ knockout instead of having the Flexible Swiss consolation.  These decisions are best left to the tournament manager at the time.
See attachment 1 (not provided) for an XYZ ‘best of three’ knockout draw for thirty two players with additional matches to provide placing from one to thirty two.

To determine where the event should be held from year to year expressions of interest should be sought from the States and preference given to a State which is not hosting a national event that year.

Should this event prove to be successful, consideration should be given to the holding of a further similar event at a suitable time.

Gail Farr
ACA Executive Director