Port Alfred Bowling and Croquet Club (PABCC) has yet again flown the flag for the town’s tourism potential after hosting a very successful week-long annual PA Croquet Classic.
Played at the PA Bowling and Croquet Club, which put bowls on hold for the duration of the tournament, saw a record field of 60 players from prominent clubs across South Africa take to the croquet greens in fine weather from May 4. Participants played an average of five to seven games per day from 8am to 5pm – from Monday to Friday, culminating in the finals which took place on Saturday May 10.
Tournament coordinator, Trevor Welbourne, who won the Level 1 singles title, says so happy are players with the organising and the town itself, they have already booked for the national tournament to be played in November at the PABCC.
Players played from five to seven games per day for a total of more than 350 games throughout the week by the time the tournament ended on Sunday.
“The reason why it’s a success year after year is that we offer a whole package for the just over R1,000 registration fee,” said Welbourne. “For the entire week you have use of five greens … we entertain people at night, there is a bar area, and we have lunches, coffee, tea thrown in. So our facilities are very good and it’s reasonably priced.”
Welbourne said it’s actually a privilege to have so many greens available for croquet matches as some venues in the country only have one or two greens. “If I am correct, we are probably the third-biggest croquet venue in SA.”
“Some players come to have a holiday too once tournament is over and we have a playing contingent here from Johannesburg CC, Kelvin Grove and Rondebosch in Cape Town, Grayton, East London, MacGregor and Hermanus in the Western Cape.”
Welbourne says the only other tournament bigger than the Classic is the SA nationals.
“And we are actually bigger than them, of late. Two years ago at the national champs there were only 46 people, and in Somerset West there were 54 last year compared to our 60 participants,” said Welbourne. “We were over-subscribed and had to cut the number of entrants.”
There were more than 350 games played over four main groups – Level Singles, Handicap Singles, Level Doubles and Handicap Doubles. Welbourne pulled out all the stops in the Level Singles to emerge champion in the best of three final (7-1, 7-2) against Jeremy O’Regan of Grayton.
“Actually I struggled in my semi-final against Andries Nkoso (PABCC) and we were level pegging at 6-6. We went through to a “golden hoop” shootout and I sneaked in to win through to the final.”
Jeremy Regan won his semi-final against Graham Goosen (both from Grayton).
A highlight was the oldest participant of 96 years of age, Cyril Burrows from Cape Town. “He didn’t make the playoffs but proved a very capable player,” said Welbourne.
Winners summary
* Level Singles: Trevor Welbourne (PA)
* Handicap Singles: Noeline Kirsten (PA)
* Level Doubles: Margot and Richard Prosser (Kelvin Grove)
* Handicap Doubles: Poppy and Kanaki Androliakos (Johannesburg Country Club)
* Restricted Singles: Rob Taylor (PA)
* Restricted Doubles: Pat Cronin and Les Weiss (Johannesburg Country Club)
* Restricted Handicap Singles: Barry Brown (East London)
* Restricted Handicap Doubles: Tim and Gail Stroebel (PA)
For any information regarding croquet, kindly contact Trevor on 082-202-2541.
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, May 15, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
See more of Cameron Kretschmann’s photos from the tournament here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16Bjuq4rDY/
