I think that Trevor is right in suggesting that Golf Croquet is a
better candidate than Association for television. I'm sure that many
of us have had the experience of striking up a conversation with a
passer-by who has stopped at the fence and has assumed that we are
all just practising - all that "picking up the ball and moving it"
business!

As for the Commonwealth Games, Brian Storey's observations (as posted
by Max) on the prospects are compelling, but I'm not sure that they
reveal just how difficult the task is. Even assuming that the WCF
gains control of international play and the laws, adopts the WADA
anti-doping code, and grows to a General Association of International
Sports Federations level (a significant expansion), there are still
the Commonwealth Games Federation regulations to overcome.

The actual criteria for new sports can be found in Regulation 6 (page
31) of the Commonwealth Games Federation constitution at http://
www.thecgf.com/about/constitution.pdf

The marketability requirement will be very difficult. Most
tournaments garner only a handful of spectators, and many are players
who have been knocked out and stayed on to watch the final.
Spectator numbers have never been high, and they seem to have been on
a downward trend for some time. Commonwealth inclusion of croquet
would certainly improve the marketability of the sport, but we would
have to demonstrate marketability in order to be considered.

Another tough requirement is likely to be the extent of participation
in Commonwealth countries. There are 71 Commonwealth Games countries
and only 10 are WCF members or observers. While approximately 70% of
the 2008 Association World Championship entrants are from the
Commonwealth, they come from less than 13% of the Commonwealth Games
countries. (Guernsey have no entrant)

A trawl through the WCF and Commonwealth Games sites reveals the
following:

Only 10 of the WCF's 27 members are Commonwealth countries.

6 CG countries are full members of the WCF (Australia, Canada,
England, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa).
2 CG countries are associate members of the WCF (Isle of Man, Wales).
2 CG countries are observer nations of the WCF (Guernsey, Jersey).
61 CG countries are neither WCF members nor observers.

South Africa is the only WCF nation in the CG Africa region (18
members).
Canada is the only WCF nation in the CG America region (6 members).
Australia and NZ are the only WCF nations in the CG Oceania region
(14 members).
There are no WCF nations in either the CG Asia or Caribbean regions
(total 23 members).
The CG Europe region is the only one where the majority of nations
are members or observers of the WCF (6 out of 10)

While croquet may have reasonable numbers in the British home nations
and the larger Commonwealth countries, it will probably be extremely
difficult to mount a case for Games inclusion unless the WCF
expansion required for GAISF membership includes a significant
numbers of African, Asian, and Caribbean members of the Commonwealth.

Bruce Mitchell