REFEREEING PHILOSOPHY		How to Referee	1
WIRING ENTITLEMENTS		Wiring	2
MARKING CROQUET BALLS		Marking Balls	3
MULTIPLE TAP STROKES		Multiple Mallet Taps	4
CRUSH STROKES		Crushes	5
HAMPERED STROKES		Hampered strokes	6
HAMMER STROKES		Hammer Strike Strokes	7
BEVEL EDGE STROKES		(Bevel edge) Ball not struck by mallet face	8
BRUSH STROKES		Brush or Sweep Strokes	9
HOOP RUNNING STROKES		Pirie Pokes or Hop Hoop Approach Strokes	10

HOOP APPROACH-HOP & PIRIE POKE
JUMP STROKES			12
HOOP AND ROQUET DECISIONS AND GUIDE		Hoop and Roquet Chapter	13
AC LAWS 6TH EDITION A4 SIZE		Oxford Laws 6th Edition (WCF(0) 2008	014 14

While there are many refereeing texts, web sites with excellent referee assistance material and excellent know and play the game texts, there is none to date that collects the web video submissions to assist Croquet Referees in accurate assessment of the game. Indeed, many of the past You-tube collections have exposed accumulated and perpetuated dogma over the years, much of which has obviously been incorrect.

Croquet referees have a difficult task set before them in every game in which they are called upon to officiate. An understanding of the game is obviously required, knowledge and experience are invaluable, yet we are still fallible and hopefully infrequently will make incorrect calls.

Traditionally the laws of the game were written to guide players and referees alike. Indeed, one of the magnificent traditions in Association Croquet has been the mandate of every player to immediately declare a fault when it is realised. This makes the task of the referee less onerous, because he/she is usually invited onto the lawn when uncertainty prevails to adjudicate when a player or adversary deems it necessary. Most of the time strokes are routinely and expertly executed, completely clean, and do not require any sort of opinion or comment. When a rare error or fault is detected the striker, immediately declares it as such to the opponent and may end their turn. In a fault, the adversary may choose to play the balls as they are found or replace them where it occurred.

Emerging technology is here to stay and will advance in its application, yielding cheaper high speed cameras, video cameras, and computer links in the 21st century. These revealing images have taught us all where common faults may occur, and made both players and referees of the game much more aware of when there may be at risk of committing a fault. One day it will be inevitable that high speed, “non-invasive” video capture, may also allow meaningful and consistent analysis without interrupting the flow of the game. However no system will be perfect.

Part of this effort we realised, was to take common examples of what we are continually called upon to adjudicate. Utilising technology, both real time cameras, slow motion cameras, and high speed video, the ACA’s National Technical Panel and specifically James Temlett was asked, along with Bob Kroeger, to re-shoot some segments and to re-render existing You-tube material in HD for full screen 1080i HD computer reproduction, that we believe would benefit croquet referees of this game. 

There are clearly a number of other potential uses of video cameras and computer technology that may be applied to Croquet today. The technical advances on mobile phone with Application (GoPro, Fast Camera, Coach Eye and ‘Ubersense’) and very high speed video cameras combined with long lenses, enabling live streaming. (See Appendix 4). Presently much work and evaluation is required. This application may be accessed by iPhone, Android phones or tablets, iPad or Galaxy readers and also from any PC or Mac computer. The smaller screens naturally reduce the pixel size and overall image footprint. This however  will change when accessed on your TV or a large computer screen, which will give the best HD similar to the accompanying definition found on the refereeing DVD. Indeed, as in many other sports, utilising video assisted referee decisions, may or may not be desirable, controversial and itself may be misapplied and to yield the incorrect answer. Whether we will require super-slow video to make referee decisions assuming this technology is cost effective and more freely utilised, time will determine. 

This publication addresses neither of these future possibilities. This DVD and Croquet Referees manual’s purpose is primarily written and illustrated as a referee’s aid. Here the aim is EDUCATIONAL and instructive to gain greater understanding, by analysing in detail the potential croquet strokes that might be played.