CROQUET NEWS:  Captain Still Young After 16 Years

4 May 2005
Marewa Croquet Club, Whitmore Park, Napier, New Zealand
story by Anendra Singh in Hawks Bay Today, Hastings, New Zealand

IN TOUCH: John Versey, of Marewa Croquet Club, practises his shots.

When John and wife Chris Versey first went to the Marewa Croquet Club in Napier 16 years ago, they raised a few eyebrows.

The predominantly female elderly mallet-swingers were left scratching their heads, wondering why the 30-something couple wanted to play the sport.

What John did next amused the club members.

"I used to go to the club on my trail bike from Taradale, balancing my Slazenger mallet over the handlebars," he says with a smile outside the clubrooms (a former school dental clinic from Clive Square) as the blue-and-white flag, bearing the acronym MCC, flutters in the autumn breeze.

"The old ladies we met at the club wondered why such young people would be interested in the game but they must have done a good job because we have been members ever since," says Versey with a nod of approval from Chris.

The 46-year-old Porritt School teacher jets off to Melbourne tomorrow to play their Australian counterparts in a three-day tournament.

A proud Versey will, for the first time, captain a national eight-member team that includes Paddy Chapman of Christchurch, Michael Wright of Marton, Anthony Ritchie of Dunedin, Nina Mayard-Husson of Wellington, Liz McLay of Wellington, Pam Fisher of Auckland, and Jenny Begg, also of Auckland.

For a man who enjoys travelling and loves fly-fishing, Versey didn't race through the grades with a flick of his wrists.

After all, it's not easy to simply hit a yellow ball on to a red one or a black on to a blue one. When players acquire the skills to do that, they drop the "C" from croquet to achieve a "roquet". As for what a triple peel is ... let's not go there.

It is definitely about snooker-type angles and getting first to what resembles a colourful totem pole in the middle of a series of half a dozen white metal hoops.

However, the game, which can take up to three hours to play at club level, is not completed until 26 points have been scored but "pegging out" is vital or else the opponent will creep up on you. Oh, and should it come down to the tape measure then it will have to be imperial, thanks.

But among his national honours and series of club and regional achievements is his family pride and joy.

In 1995, the Verseys, with son Gavin, who was 11 years old then, made a clean sweep at the MCC Open. Gavin won the C grade, Chris the B and John nailed the intermediate one.

The following year, John was the king of A grade, Chris the queen of intermediates and Gavin etched his name on the B grade silverware.

John took a fancy to croquet as a youngster while watching his late grandmother, Ellen Scott, of Feilding, play the game socially.

Upon inheriting her two mallets and a set of balls, a young John flirted with his own version of the game around grapefruit trees in the backyard of their Levin home.

But since the halcyon days of his bike trips to the undulating greens of the Marewa club, Versey has left a trail of seasoned admirers.