CROQUET PEOPLE: 2006 MacRobertson Shield Players
18 November - 3 December 2006
Rich River Croquet Club, Echuca, New South Wales, AU 
Shepparton Croquet Club, Shepparton, Victoria, AU
profiles and pictures by Australian Croquet Association
Great Britain's Players
Robert Fulford, Captain
Robert is currently ranked number 1 in the world. He has won the World Championship 5 times. Robert started playing in 1985 and made his MacRobertson Shield debut in 1990. He has been part of the last five winning teams.
Robert has been in Victoria recently in 2003/4, contesting a fantastic final of the Victorian Open with Trevor Bassett which he won narrowly 3-2.
David Maugham
David Maugham, a 37 year old finance systems officer for the National Health Service was introduced to croquet by his father in 1981 and started playing competitively in 1985. He has won various singles honours including last year's British Open Championship, the British President's Cup on 4 occasions, the Sonoma-Cutrer World Championship 3 times, the Australian Open, the US Open and 17 British Regional Championships.
David has also been on the last 4 MacRobertson Shield winning Great Britain sides, and considers his best match to be the one in which he completed a TP to win the deciding game of the final match of the test.
Chris Clarke
Chris (35) has been a member of the last 4 winning Great Britain MacRobertson Shield teams and is currently ranked number 4 in the world. He has won the World Champs, British Opens, Sonoma, Presidents Cup (5 times) and British Mens, but is most happy with his doubles record. He has won the British Open Doubles 11 times, reaching the final with all 3 of his partners on the first attempt. With Robert Fulford he is also New Zealand Open Doubles Champion and is NZ South Island Doubles Champion with his fiancee Jenny Williams. Chris moved to NZ a year ago and is enjoying the relaxed paced of life, playing golf and bridge. Chris works as a sports trader.
Keith Aiton
At the tender age of 48 Keith is thrilled to be playing in his first MacRobertson Shield. Apart from winning a couple of British Men's Championships in the 1980s Keith's first major win was in the 2005 President's Cup. Keith has been the coach of three victorious Great Britain teams in the 1990s. In "real life" Keith is an NLP Practitioner and is a partner in a firm providing executive coaching and training, specialising in communication skills.
Jonathan Kirby
Jonathan Kirby started playing croquet whilst he was a student in Cambridge in 1999. He was fortunate to learn the basics there from Aaron Westerby, then a New Zealand international player who is in the New Zealand team for this MacRobertson Shield. He greatly enjoys team events, and has captained Scotland in the Home Internationals and against Canada. He has played for Great Britain against the USA and Ireland, and this is his first MacRobertson Shield.
Mark Avery
40 yr old Mark Avery has been playing croquet at the highest level since his teens, winning in the English Northern Championship back in 1982. Mark's greatest achievement at singles was winning the British Open in 1987. He came close to outdoing this in 1989, losing narrowly to Joe Hogan in the 1st WCF World Championship at Hurlingham, England.
He played for the Great Britain MacRobertson Shield winning teams of 1986, 1990 and 2003. In addition he has also regularly played in the annual Solomon Trophy match for Great Britain against the USA.
Australia's Players
Trevor Bassett
Trevor is 26 years of age and works as a Financial Advisor in Kyabram in Northern Victoria. Trevor started playing croquet in 1990 at the age of 10. Trevor is also representing Australia for the third consecutive time in the MacRobertson Shield. Trevor has played in the last three Trans-Tasman Test Series, World Championships, Sonoma Cutrer, The Resort Invitational, and the English and New Zealand Opens. Trevor has won 6 National and 24 State Titles.
Martin Clarke, Captain
Martin started playing croquet through a social club in 1992. Since then he has won every major title in WA a number of national titles in all but the Men's Singles.
Martin has played overseas at Sonoma, The Resort and The Worlds and this is his third MacRobertson Shield.
Martin is also a member of the Western Australian Match Committee and until recently, the Handicap and Coaching Committees.
Bruce Fleming
Bruce lives in Brisbane and is a Power Systems Operations Manager for the Australian National Market Management Company.
In a croquet career spanning over twenty years, Bruce has won every major title in Australian Croquet at least once.
Bruce is representing Australian for the third time in this MacRobertson Shield.
Harley Watts
Harley resides in South Australia and is a member of the Drouin (Victoria), West Lakes & Gawler Croquet Clubs in South Australia.
He is looking forward to once again representing Australia in the MacRobertson Shield.
Stephen Forster
Stephen is 42 and lives in Waurn Ponds in Victoria, with wife Julie and children Zach and Eden. Stephen grew up on the croquet lawns having played for 32 years.
Stephen has played in the Worlds in New Zealand and England and recently won the Australian Silver Medal in the Australian Gold Medal event. Stephen is very much looking forward to representing Australia for the second time in the MacRobertson Shield.
Ian Dumergue
40 yr old Mark Avery has been playing croquet at the highest level since his teens, winning in the English Northern Championship back in 1982. Mark's greatest achievement at singles was winning the British Open in 1987. He came close to outdoing this in 1989, losing narrowly to Joe Hogan in the 1st WCF World Championship at Hurlingham, England.
He played for the Great Britain MacRobertson Shield winning teams of 1986, 1990 and 2003. In addition he has also regularly played in the annual Solomon Trophy match for Great Britain against the USA.
United States' Players
Jerry Stark, Co-Captain
Jerry is 51 years old and lives in Middletown California with his wife Donna. He has a 28 year old daughter, Jessie and a 20 year old son Zachary. Jerry has been the Director of Croquet at Meadowood Napa Valley for 17 years. His hobbies are cooking real BBQ, croquet, golf and darts.
He is the only American to have played in all five MacRobertson Shield events the USA has been in.
Danny Huneycutt
Danny is from Lexington, North Carolina and the 2006 MacRobertson Shield competition will cap off his 5th year of playing croquet. He is the two-time defending North Carolina Singles Champion, 2005 Southeast Region Singles Champion and 2005 USCA National Singles Champion. He was named to the 2005 US Solomon Team. Danny is active in the USCA as Chairman of the Tournament Committee and President of the North Carolina District.
When he's not playing croquet, Danny enjoys reading and relaxing with his wife. He has a home croquet court and enjoys table tennis.
Damon Bidencope, Co-Captain
Damon began playing croquet at St. Paul's College, Sydney University in 1978. After watching the 1982 MacRobertson Shield, played in Australia, Damon developed a keen interest in playing this game at a high level. He set his sights on achieving this and won the NSW Men's in 1983,1984, the NSW Open Singles 1984, Champion of Champions in 1983 and 1985, and the ACC Gold Medal in 1986, and the Australian National Doubles in 1984. He reached this goal and played in the 1986 MacRobertson Shield Team for Australia.
Jeff Soo
Jeff is forty-two years old. He began playing croquet in 1994. He is the current US national doubles champion in Association Croquet, a title he has won three times with his doubles partner Paul Scott. He has also won the US national championship in American rules, three times each in singles and doubles.
This is Jeff's seventh appearance on the US national team, and his second time playing in the MacRobertson Shield. Jeff was Tournament Manager of the 2003 MacRobertson Shield.
Rich Lamm
Denver tax attorney Rich Lamm made his US team debut during the 2004 Solomon Cup in Manchester UK. This is his first MacRobertson Shield appearance. He enjoys both American and Association rules croquet, winning the AC rules 2002 and 2003 US Open and the inaugural 2004 USCA Selector 8's (Group 2). He is the current runner up, or "bridesmaid" in the AC rules US Open, US National Championship and North American Open along with American rules National Championship doubles.
Bob Cherry
Bob Cherry has played Association Laws Croquet since 2000. He began playing USCA rules in 1991. In 2004 he was the United States National Champion in Association Laws Croquetand in 2005 won the prestigious North Carolina Open.
Bob has been a member of the United States Croquet Team a number of times since 2001. He played against the Great Britain Team for the Solomon Trophy four times and against the Irish Team in the Carter Challenge once. He has represented the USA in the WCF World Championships twice.
New Zealand's Players
Aaron Westerby
Aaron is 32 and has been playing croquet for 20 years. He has been a member of New Zealand's winning Trans Tasman teams in 1994, 1995 and 2003 but this is his first appearance in the MacRobertson Shield. He is a past winner of the British Men's, Sonoma and Irish Championships. He has also won the NZ Open, Men's, Doubles and with his grandmother the NZ Mixed Doubles on two occasions.
Aaron is also a keen paragliding pilot and has been fortunate to fly many of the best sites in the World.
Paddy Chapman
Paddy is 18 years old and started playing croquet about 7 years ago at the Cashmere club in Christchurch. He is fortunate enough to be mentored by the legendary John Prince. Titles have included the New Zealand School Age Tournament in 2001, Canterbury Open, Silver Badge, and the World Championship Plate event in 2005. His greatest achievement was winning the 'Best 10' Invitation event in 2005. He recently competed in the Trans-Tasman, winning all his games, and being named player of the series. His proudest moment was being selected to play for New Zealand in the Mac-Robertson Shield in 2006.
Greg Bryant
Greg has previously represented New Zealand as a member of the MacRobertson Shield Test team in 1993 and 2003 and the Trans-Tasman Team in 2004 and 2006. Greg has played in 4 World Croquet Championships and also represented New Zealand at Sonoma-Cutrer on three occasions. Greg holds two NZ Open Doubles titles, 1 NZ President's top 10 Invitation title, three English Silver Medals and two NZCC Silver Mallets.
Brian Wislang
This is my fourth MacRobertson Series and completes the loop of the four playing countries that take part in the series so hope it is a winning one. Since the Florida test matches I haven't played any international croquet and have concentrated mainly on our National Opens where I have achieved reasonable results although nothing too startling, just being steady or there abouts. Being selected in the Mac Team again will give me the opportunity to strive for the ultimate result which I know is quite within our capabilities.
Robert Lowe
Robert Lowe, an Auckland journalist, represented New Zealand in the 2004 Trans-Tasman and played in the world championships in Cheltenham last year.
He has won the NZ Doubles, the NZ Mixed Doubles and the North Island Open singles, and rates his two Arthur Ross national handicap titles as being particular highlights .
Shane Davis
Selected for the Trans-Tasman team in 1996 and 1998. He has represented NZ at both the WCF and Sonoma World Championships and has been a medallist at each. He won the Resort at the Mountain tournament in 2000. He was also selected for the MacRobertson Shield team in the same year but was unavailable.