It has been a tough few years for the sport of Croquet but, things appear to be improving. Playing members were in decline for the early part of the century and attempting to get get new blood into the sport was proving difficult. Nowadays, clubs are seeing numbers rising and the average age reducing. This is fantastic and should help with the image of Croquet, often associated as an old persons pastime. The amount of clubs in the UK has risen from 145 up to 170, thats a rise of 17%. The amount of players at each club has risen by 10%. The Uk, now have just over, 5000 active players, working out at 30 per club, on average. Consider the clubs were struggling earlier in the decade with numbers closer to 25 that is a massive improvement. The Uk numbers are very similar to New Zealand and Australia. The weather is better there and the sport is promoted more but, memberships still hover around 30 per club. In NZ there are 134 clubs with around 4000 active players and in Australia there are 243 clubs and 7000 active players. We are enjoying a huge interest in replacement Croquet Balls, that shows Croquet is at last, becoming a more popular, available pastime.
