MULTI-SPORTS


Creating fine turf has been my life. I used to


”


construct golf courses, and worked as a


greenkeeper for thirty years, latterly at the


Royal Eastbourne until I retired


David Wiese at the crease for Sussex. It was a great day’s


cricket and Saffrons new pitch performed well, but the home side fell well short of the Gloucestershire total


one-day clash. It was then still being cut to 10mm, but this would be reduced to 6mm immediately ahead of match day. Andy McKay would be there for the match because of his expertise and experience in dealing with ECB pitch advisers and the like. Otherwise, it was going to be very much a Saffrons’ team day.


Croquet greenkeeper John Crisford


Croquet is a game of strategy, angles and tactics - a bit like snooker on grass - all you need are six hoops, two mallets and four balls


” Serene and ready for international battle, Compton Croquet Club 94 PC June/July 2019


There are to be other Saffrons’ days this summer, not with such crowd appeal, but with a standing of a global rather than county level. The game is croquet, or more specifically golf croquet: the event, the World Croquet Federation Championships. There are 220 croquet clubs in the UK and the Compton Club in Eastbourne’s Saffrons is one of three staging matches in a tournament that will attract some of the best players in the world. It is a feather in the club’s cap and richly deserved. The five lawns at Compton make it one of the biggest croquet venues in the south-east and there are regular regional and inter- county championships held here. The Compton Club’s greenkeeper, John Crisford, is the man who will ensure that this year’s number one event is played on a


perfect surface. I talked to him in a break in lawn cutting.


How did he get to be a croquet greenkeeper?


“Creating fine turf has been my life. I used to construct golf courses, and worked as a greenkeeper for thirty years, latterly at the Royal Eastbourne until I retired,” said John. “I came to the Compton eight years ago because they wanted someone with know- how to improve the playing surface. Until then, it had got by with the efforts of well- meaning volunteers.”


Presentation, aeration and scarification are very much the same as they are for a golf green, according to John. Coming out of winter he cuts to 8mm, and it was down to 7mm this particular day, but for top competition he brings it down to 4mm. An inter-counties tournament was due there over the spring bank holiday weekend at the end of May and it would be at its minimum height in time for this. For club play he lets it grow back to 6mm ‘to give it a bit of a rest’ as he put it.


John uses a John Deere 220SL greens mower which grooms as it cuts to produce


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