For the love of croquet

When Gordon Smith came to Palmerston North from Christchurch in 1982, Takaro was the only croquet club in town and he was quickly made the president.

The following season he left and formed the Rose Gardens Croquet Club and it has blossomed into one of the most successful in the North Island.

Smith had ventured north to work at Massey University to establish the graduate diploma in quality assurance and will return to the Garden City to be closer to his family in two weeks time.

In 1983, when Rose Gardens was founded, the mayor at the time, Brian Elwood, promised there would be another croquet club created in Palmerston North to meet the demands of budding players.

The croquet players did not have it all their own way, though, as they had to share their greens, Smith said.

"It was a nightmare for the first three or four years until the all-weather hockey courts were established," he recalled.

"I'm very pleased with what we've achieved."

There is one thing, though, other than producing a national champion, that Smith never got to see in his 27 years with the club.

"We are sharing pavilions with other people.

"We are probably the only croquet club in New Zealand that doesn't have a pavilion of its own."

Aside from getting the Rose Gardens club off the ground, Smith has been a tireless servant to the sport.

He and his wife Marlene have worked on countless committees around Palmerston North and they will be sorely missed when they depart for the South Island.

The Rose Gardens club has grown to 50 members and Smith said there were some promising youngsters involved, including Josh Smith and Andre Murray.

"To really hit the top as a national champion you need to start young," he said.

Smith is a life member of the club and did not have an official role with the organisation when he departed.

He plans to stay with the game when he heads south.

"With a little bit of luck, I'll be able to spend time playing. But I'm still on all these damn committees," he laughed.

"I guess I'll be involved with administration in Canterbury again; but that's for them to ask, not for me to seek."

- © Fairfax NZ News