Robert Fulford (croquet player)

Last updated

Robert Ian Fulford [1] (born 1969) is a leading English croquet player who has dominated the sport since the turn of the 1990s.

Contents

Life and career

Born in Colchester, England, he was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and Durham University followed by the University of Essex. [1]

Fulford also coaches croquet, particularly in Australia and the Chattooga Club in North Carolina. Robert has made croquet videos with Australian croquet expert Kevin Brereton in which Robert teaches both basic and advanced break tactics. He has won the Association Croquet World Championship 6 times: [2]

Fulford has also won the President's Cup twelve times (1989, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2018), the Open Championship eleven times (1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014 and 2015) and the Men's Championship four times (1990, 1998, 2006, 2011). [3]

Career statistics

Major tournament performance timeline

Key
W F SFQF#RRRQ#DNQANH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Tournament19871988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000
World Championship4R*WSFWWFW
Open Championship2R1R4R*FWWQFSFFWSFWFSF
Men's ChampionshipAQFSFWAAAAAASFWAA
Presidents' Cup5=6W24=2=5=AAA3=WWA
Win-loss1-12-25-213-18-110-02-18-19-26-012-210-04-13-1
Tournament2001200220032004200520062007200820092010
World ChampionshipF*WFSF3R
Open ChampionshipF*AWW2RWWWSFQF
Men's ChampionshipFAF2RAWAAAA
Presidents' CupWW3=25=W4=WWW
Win-Loss8-25-08-15-15-29-05-08-14-22-1
Tournament20112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024SRW–LWin %
World Championship3R3RAAW6 / 1550–984.7
Open ChampionshipFFQFWWAFQFAAFAASF11 / 32113–2184.3
Men's ChampionshipWAAAAAAAAAAAA4 / 1032–684.2
Presidents' CupWW6=2A22=WA2=AAAA12 / 28
Win-Loss8-14-22-24-04-00-03-11-10-00-04-10-05-02-121 / 58195–3684.4

* The 1989 and 2001 World and Open Championships were combined events.

The President's Cup is played as a 8/10 player round-robin and the number indicates the final position achieved.

Major championship finals: 41 (26 titles, 15 runners-up)

OutcomeYearChampionshipOpponentScore
Runner-up1990NZ ChampionshipJoe Hogan-26tp -17tp
Winner1990Men's Championship Stephen Mulliner +26tp +7tp -6tp +14
Runner-up1990Open Championship Stephen Mulliner -23 -24tp
Winner1990World ChampionshipMark Saurin+26 +24tp
Winner1991Open Championship Chris Clarke +14otp +26tp -8 +26tp
Winner1992World ChampionshipJohn Walters-5tp +4tp +12tp
Winner1992Open Championship Stephen Mulliner +26tp -14otp +14 -12tpo +26tp
Winner1993NZ ChampionshipBob Jackson+21tp +12
Winner1994Australian ChampionshipRohan Carter+24tp +3
Winner1994World Championship Chris Clarke -12tpo +12tp +18tp +13
Runner-up1995NZ ChampionshipBob Jackson-26 -26
Runner-up1995World Championship Chris Clarke -18tp +12tpo -26tp +26tp -26
Runner-up1995Open Championship Reg Bamford -24tp -26tp +26tp +26tp -26tp
Winner1996Open ChampionshipAaron Westerby+24tp -26tp +26tp -13tpo +26tp
Winner1997World Championship Stephen Mulliner +17 -3tpo +9otp +11otp
Winner1990Men's ChampionshipPhil Cordingley+4 +14tp +24
Winner1998Open ChampionshipJacques Fournier+26tp +22tp +25tp +26tp
Runner-up1999Open Championship Reg Bamford -26tp +26tp +26tp -26tp -26tp
Winner2000NZ Championship Chris Clarke +26tp +26tp
Runner-up2001Men's Championship Reg Bamford -3 +8tp -8 +20tp -17qnp
Runner-up2001World Championship Reg Bamford +16tp -17sxp +2 -26sxp -26qp
Winner2002World ChampionshipToby Garrison+26tp +26tp -17tp +15tp
Runner-up2003Men's ChampionshipPete Trimmer-16tp -18tp -26tp
Winner2003Open Championship Reg Bamford +26tp +12 +18tp
Winner2004Open ChampionshipPete Trimmer+26tp -26tp -18tp +16 +26tp
Winner2005NZ ChampionshipRonan McInerney+26tp +26
Runner-up2005World Championship Reg Bamford -17tp -26sxp -17sxp
Winner2006NZ ChampionshipPaul Skinley+26sxp +25sxp +26tp
Winner2006Men's ChampionshipJack Wicks+26tp +26tp +26tp
Winner2006Open Championship Reg Bamford -2qp +25sxp +26qnp -8sxp +1
Winner2007Open Championship Reg Bamford +26tp +25sxp -16tp +26sxp
Runner-up2008NZ ChampionshipRutger Beijderwellen-26qp -17tp +26 -26tp
Winner2008Open ChampionshipSamir Patel+16qp +17 +26tp
Winner2011Men's ChampionshipPaddy Chapman-25tp +20tp +26tp +4
Runner-up2011Open Championship Reg Bamford +18tp -26sxp -17 -26sxp
Runner-up2012Open Championship Reg Bamford -25sxp +14tp -24sxp -24sxp
Winner2014Open Championship Reg Bamford +16 +5qp +18qp
Winner2015Open ChampionshipPaddy Chapman+20 +7
Runner-up2017Open Championship Reg Bamford +25sxp, +3, -20sxp, -26sxp, -19sxp
Runner-up2021Open Championship Reg Bamford +3sxp, -25sxp, -24sxp, -19sxp
Winner2023World ChampionshipMatthew Essick-17tp, -17tp, +4tp, +26tp, +8otp

[3]

Style

Fulford's playing style includes the ability to play a range of shots. His tactic of peeling an opponent's ball through hoop 1 makes a triple peel as hard as possible for the opponent. His sextuple peels are also more frequent than those of any other player. Robert Fulford uses an Irish grip [rather like a golf grip] and employs "casting" [swinging mallet over the ball] about three times before each shot. He has strong wrists which makes the Irish grip work for him without it causing the R.S.I. that the grip is sometimes blamed for. In fact, Robert admits that he has quite a wrist-dominated technique which contradicts most coaching manuals that advise minimal wrist involvement.

World Championship results

Fulford has played in the following AC World Championships: [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croquet</span> Sport

Croquet is a sport that involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops embedded in a grass playing court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliff Thorburn</span> Canadian snooker player (born 1948)

Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Higgins 18–16 in the final. He is generally recognised as the sport's first world champion from outside the United Kingdom—since Australian Horace Lindrum's 1952 title is usually disregarded—and he remains the only world champion from the Americas. He was runner-up in two other world championships, losing 21–25 to John Spencer in the 1977 final and 6–18 to Steve Davis in the 1983 final. At the 1983 tournament, Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break in a World Championship match, achieving the feat in his second-round encounter with Terry Griffiths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club</span> English cricket club

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called the Notts Outlaws.

Allan John Clarke, nicknamed "Sniffer", is a former professional footballer who played in the Football League for Walsall, Fulham, Leicester City, Leeds United and Barnsley, and won 19 international caps for England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hurlingham Club</span> Organization

The Hurlingham Club is an exclusive private social and athletic club located in the Fulham area of London, England. Founded in 1869, it has a Georgian-style clubhouse set in 42 acres (17 ha) of grounds. It is a member of the Association of London Clubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lowe (darts player)</span> English darts player

John Lowe is an English former professional darts player. Along with Eric Bristow and Jocky Wilson, he was known for dominating darts during the 1980s. Lowe was world champion on three occasions, in 1979, 1987 and 1993. He was also a two-time winner of the Winmau World Masters and a two-time World Cup singles champion. In total, Lowe won 15 BDO and WDF majors. He held the World No. 1 ranking on four occasions. In October 1984, he became the first player to hit a televised nine-dart finish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Essex County Cricket Club</span> English cricket club

Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex.

Reg Bamford is a croquet world champion from London, England. Although resident in England, he plays croquet for his native South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Dittmar</span> Australian sports commentator

Chris Dittmar is an Australian sports commentator who was formerly the World No. 1-ranked men's squash player.

Chris Clarke is an English croquet player who has been ranked among the world's top players since the late 1980s. He now represents New Zealand. Chris has won two World Championships in Association Croquet, in 1995 and again in 2008, six AC World Team Champs and one GC World Team Champs. 2008 was perhaps Chris's finest year, overtaking previous world champions Robert Fulford and Reg Bamford to regain the position of world number one player, which he held for in excess of 16 months. He also reached the semi-finals of the WCF Golf Croquet World Championships in March 2008 in Cape Town, South Africa and led the English team to the finals of the 2009 European team championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MacRobertson International Croquet Shield</span>

The MacRobertson International Croquet Shield is the premier croquet team event in the world. It is currently competed for by Australia, England, New Zealand and the United States. It is known affectionately as the MacRob or just the Mac.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1877 Wimbledon Championship</span> First staging of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships

The 1877 Wimbledon Championship was a men's tennis tournament held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, London. It was the world's first official lawn tennis tournament, and was later recognised as the first Grand Slam tournament or "Major". The AEC & LTC had been founded in July 1868, as the All England Croquet Club. Lawn tennis was introduced in February 1875 to compensate for the waning interest in croquet. In June 1877 the club decided to organise a tennis tournament to pay for the repair of its pony roller, needed to maintain the lawns. A set of rules was drawn up for the tournament, derived from the first standardised rules of tennis issued by the Marylebone Cricket Club in May 1875.

Ermyntrude Hilda Harvey was a British female tennis player of the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1919 and 1938 she won 45 career singles titles on grass, clay and indoor wood courts.

The All England Plate, also referred to as the Wimbledon Plate, was a tennis competition held at the Wimbledon Championships which consisted of players who were defeated in the first or second rounds of the singles competition. The first edition, for male players only, was held in 1896 and the winner was awarded £5 prize money and the runner-up £3. In 1933 the first women's edition was held. In 1975 the competition also became open to players who had lost in the third round of the singles competition as well as players who only participated in the doubles competition. The last edition of the men's tournament was held in 1981 and for the women in 1989.

Stephen Mulliner is an English international croquet player, who has won championships in both major disciplines, Association Croquet (AC) and Golf Croquet (GC). He won the British AC Open Championship in 1988, 1990, and 2000; the British GC Open Championship in 2000, 2001, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2020; the European GC Championship in 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2019; and the World AC Championship in 2016.

Joanne Ward is a British former tennis player.

The 2019 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main tournament began on Monday 1 July 2019 and finished on Sunday 14 July 2019.

John Graham Prince was a New Zealand croquet player. He represented New Zealand over a period of 40 years, from 1963 to 2003, and was the first player to appear in 100 MacRobertson Shield matches. He won 37 New Zealand national croquet titles, and in 1970 became the first player to execute a sextuple peel in competition. He was inducted into the World Croquet Federation Hall of Fame in 2007.

References

  1. 1 2 Debrett's People of Today 2010. London: Debrett's. 2009. p. 600.
  2. 1 2 WCF World Championship
  3. 1 2 "Croquet Records" . Retrieved 13 October 2023.