Ongoing Coordination of Oak Bay and Victoria Clubs Benefits Area Croquet Players.
November 8th saw the successful completion of a croquet tournament that began in March. Despite several delays, mostly related to rain, players played games over two full days — October 25 and November 8 — to find six winning teams worthy of recognition in the form of cash, applause, and respect.
On the first day, the fifteen teams entering the competition were randomly assigned to two venues: the Victoria club’s court hosted seven teams and the Oak Bay club hosted eight, each team playing six games. The four most successful teams at each venue were scheduled to play for the Championship on November 1 at Oak Bay, while the remaining seven teams met at Victoria to battle it out for the Plate.
And then the rain struck, creating lakes where there had been dry land. Rescheduling reduced the number of teams available, even on the most possible of the days that could be used. In the end, seven teams did meet at Victoria, while only six competed at Oak Bay but the week’s delay allowed the weather to settle, and another fine, if cold, day welcomed the players back to the lawn.
At the Victoria club, Gopal Gowda served as Tournament Manager as well as a player. The competition went smoothly, with Gopal and his partner James White going into the semifinals as the first seed, only to lose in the final to Jim and Cathy Crawford. Third place was snagged by the team of Mitch Fumalle, John Dolman, and Nigel Brooks, defeating Hilary Sandford, Donna Del Torre, and Barbara and John Harris. Other teams competing were Angela Adamek and Randy Small, Norma McClelland and Jimmy Newman-Tyler, and Mavis Pillar, Rosemary Waldie, and Terry Fetherston.
At Oak Bay, two teams were reconstituted from the debris left in the wake of the destruction of the original schedule — Brent Jansen, Neil Scott-Moncrieff, and John Binsted all had conflicts and couldn’t participate. Pierre Dunn and Peter Rassenti, left without partners, joined forces, and Jack Showers recruited a new player for his team — Mike Gower. After the morning’s play on Day 2, Lorne Oakes and Ralph Street survived a loss to Pierre and Peter and went into the semifinals maintaining the 1st Seed position. Lorne and Ralph met Pierre and Peter again in the finals, and cut them down to size convincingly. The other final pitted Justin Aldhouse and Sandy Hodel against Brian Sandercock and Gordie March in a battle down to the final hoop, where Sandy made the final shot to earn her team Third Place. The other teams filling out the field consisted of Susan Lum, Susan Shimmin, and Garry Anderson (who had to drop out of the last day’s play because of illness), and Jack Showers and Mike Gower. Pierre Dunn directed the Oak Bay end of the competition.
As usual, the day was full of surprises, shouts of admiration, cries of commiseration, and expressions of good-hearted snark. The lawns performed excellently, The kitchens at both clubs (run by Kathy Moi at VBCC and Garry Anderson’s crew at Oak Bay, in superlative fashion) provoked many grateful and delighted comments. The players at both clubs helped with setup and teardown of the courts, making the processes quick and easy.
With minimal fees charged for entry, the competition was still able to give out cash awards and a donation of $85 to each club in recognition of its support. The competition was organized by the Oak Bay club with generous support from the Victoria Club. Competitors came from not only the two hosting clubs, but from the Quimper Group, the Windsor Nomads, the VicWest Lawn Bowling Club, and even the Saturna Island Croquet Club.
Of further note, Champion Lorne Oakes remarked after the event that the Oak Bay Interclub Snake Doubles Tournament, with 36 players, was the largest croquet tournament this year in Western Canada and in the Pacific Northwest of North America, for that matter. We can add to this that the Victoria Classic, played in May and drawing in 22 entrants, was the largest gathering for an Association Croquet competition in the same region.
Croquet Canada, the national organization overseeing croquet, recently welcomed two new board members, Mike Pennock and Gopal Gowda, both of the Victoria BCC. Among the interests expressed by the board were the possibilities of holding national championships in British Columbia for all the forms of croquet popular in Western Canada: Association Croquet, Golf Croquet, and Snake-in-the-Grass.
The significance of all of this, as borne out by our recent Snake Doubles Event, is that Victoria appears to have become the primary hub for competitive and social croquet in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. While this does put a burden on local croquet organizations, it also provides great opportunities for local players to participate in and guide the growth and development of a very enjoyable sport.

Submitted by Pierre Dunn

Photos by Gloria Brown

Justin Aldhouse and Sandy Hodel got a grip on Third Place in the Championship end of the tourney, held at Oak Bay LBC.

Pierre Dunn and Peter Rassenti made only two points in the Championship Finals, but still came away with Second Place.

Lorne Oakes and Ralph Street set a high standard winning the Championship in the 2025 Oak Bay Interclub Snake Doubles.