A Game in which balls were knocked round a course of hoops was played in medieval France.
A variation of the game known as “Paille Maille” was played in a field near St James Palace in the sixteenth century, which later became known as Pall Mall.
The modern game appears to have started in England in the 1850s and quickly became popular.
The Wimbledon All England Croquet Club was founded in 1868 and the National Championships were held there for a number of years until the croquet lawns were transformed into tennis courts of today. This is probably why tennis courts are exactly half the size of a croquet lawn.
Croquet was, and still is, one of the few outdoor sports where men and women compete on an equal footing.
Croquet is played and enjoyed all over the World with international tournaments being held annually in several countries.
Variants of the game are also played in Egypt and Japan. The USA have three forms of the game, International Association Croquet, American Six Wicket Croquet and American Nine Wicket Croquet. All of these use the same lawns and equipment except the Nine Wicket Croquet requires 9 hoops, known as wickets and two pegs or stakes.
Golf Croquet, which is a greatly simplified version of Association Croquet, is played in many countries and has a large following.
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