Association Croquet can be played as a singles event to show-case individual competitive brilliance, or as a doubles match. The Eire Cup differs from most tournaments in being team  focused, featuring both singles and double matches, with a three hour time limit on each game. The six states nominate a team of eight, four men and four women, but with an extra woman player to share the work load.

History of the Eire Cup

The name Eire Cup commemorates Irish-Australian croquet duals early in the twentieth century when Dublin was regarded as the home of modern croquet. In a one-off tournament in 1937, the Australian team prevailed over the Irish, qualifying them to retain one of the four Eire Cups for domestic competition in Australia.

Address and Presentation of Prizes by Her Excellency Ms Penelope Wensley AC, Governor of Queensland
Patron, Croquet Queensland
23rd March 2014

  I was immediately curious to know why a trophy with an Irish name has come to hold pride of place in an Australian national competition.  My curiosity only deepened when I learned that the inscription on this beautiful bowl actually reads ‘Irish International Eire Cup’.  As a former career diplomat, dedicated to promoting greater international understanding and harmonious relations between different countries and cultures, and also knowing of the penchant of Australians, including Australian sportsmen and women, to ‘souvenir’ items when traveling abroad (remember Dawn Fraser and the famous incident of the Olympic flag she stole from outside the Emperor’s Palace in Tokyo?) I was a bit worried that the Cup’s presence in Australia might involve some similar shenanigans or ‘high jinks’ that could strain our relations with Ireland, but no – obviously there are no larrikins among croquet players (!) – and the Cup, I was happy to find, travelled to Australia not like that famous flag, tucked inside a track suit, or under a croquet club jacket, but in a totally legitimate and proper way.

It was won in Dublin, Ireland, in 1937 by an Australian team and was carried proudly back to Australia and stored at the headquarters of Croquet Victoria.  (I thought that might have been because Victoria was the home of the first State Croquet Association, but actually the very first Australian State Association to be formed was in Tasmania in 1908, also, interestingly, the first place where the game was reported as being played in Australia, mentioned in the Tasmaniaalch’s Literal Intelligencer” in 1861; the Victorian Croquet Association was the second to be formed, in 1914, so I can only assume that one or some of the members of that winning Australian team were Victorians).

As far as I can establish, the Cup was first awarded in interstate competition, in Sydney in 1942 – still presumably being looked after by the Victorians.  Then, when the Australian Croquet Council was formed in 1949, the Cup became its property and has been presented, on behalf of the ACA ever since, as one of the sport’s most prestigious prizes.

The prestige it enjoys today attaches to the skill of the teams involved.  This is Association Croquet at its best (strategic and technically challenging), but the Cup does have added significance, I suggest, because of its history – not so much its history here in Australia, since 1937, but with Ireland and its connection to the historic Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin, considered by many to be the worldwide ‘home of croquet’.

Whilst purists might dispute the claim, tracing mallet and ball games back to the Middle Ages, Ireland firmly asserts its place as the location where modern croquet was invented in the 1830’s and the Carrickmines Club, founded in 1903, as the leading venue for international matches and larger tournaments.

The Eire Cup was introduced at Carrickmines in 1928 to celebrate a Mrs Wilson, who had spearheaded the group that had established the club twenty-five years earlier.  They must have been well-financed at the time – or in an especially expansive mood – because they ordered four identical, handsome cups, three of which are still competed for in Ireland – and the fourth is right here, thanks to that 1937 match between Australia and Ireland being declared a ‘one-off’, with the winning team able to retain the trophy.  I suspect the Irish might regret that decision, but their loss was our gain, and continues as such to this day.

2015 Aire Cup Croquet Scores

http://www.croquetscores.com/2015/ac/aust-eire-cup/summary