Robert Ian Fulford (born 1969) is a leading

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

croquet Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Its international governing body is the Worl ...

player who has dominated the sport since the turn of the 1990s.

Life and career

Born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

, England, he was educated at

Colchester Royal Grammar School Colchester Royal Grammar School (CRGS) is a state-funded grammar school in Colchester, Essex. It was founded in 1128 and was later granted two royal charters - by Henry VIII in 1539 and by Elizabeth I in 1584.Trevor J. Hearn, ''Vitae Corona Fide ...

and

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

followed by the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

. Fulford also coaches croquet, particularly in Australia and the Chattooga Club in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and S ...

. Robert has made croquet videos with Australian croquet expert Kevin Brereton in which Robert teaches both basic and advanced break tactics. He has won the world championship 5 times:WCF World Championship
/ref> *1990 at Hurlingham Club, England *1992 in Newport, USA *1994 at Carden Park, Cheshire, England *1997 at Moorabinda Croquet Club, Bunbury, Western Australia *2002 in Wellington, New Zealand Fulford has also won the

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

twelve times (1989, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2018), the

Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later ...

eleven times (1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014 and 2015) and the Men's Championship four times (1990, 1998, 2006, 2011).

Career statistics

Major tournament performance timeline

The 1989 and 2001 World and Open Championships were combined events.

Major championship finals: 40 (25 titles, 15 runners-up)

Style

Fulford's playing style includes the ability to play a range of shots. His tactic of peeling an opponent's ball through hoop 1 makes a triple peel as hard as possible for the opponent. His sextuple peels are also more frequent than those of any other player. Robert Fulford uses an Irish grip ather like a golf gripand employs "casting" winging mallet over the ballabout three times before each shot. He has strong wrists which makes the Irish grip work for him without it causing the R.S.I. that the grip is sometimes blamed for. In fact, Robert admits that he has quite a wrist-dominated technique which contradicts most coaching manuals that advise minimal wrist involvement.

World Championship results

Fulford has played in the following World Championships: *1989: Round 4: (lost to John Prince +26tp, -17, -26tp) *1990: won (beat Mark Saurin +26, +24tp) *1991: S/F (lost to John Walters -14otp, -26tp) *1992: won (beat John Walters -5tp, +4tp, +12tp) *1994: won (beat Chris Clarke -12tpo, +12tp, +18tp, +13) *1995: runner-up (lost to Chris Clarke -18tp, +12tpo, -26tp, +26tp, -26) *1997: won (beat Stephen Mulliner +17, -3tpo, +9otp, +11otp) *2001: runner-up (lost to Reg Bamford +16tp, -17sxp, +3, -26sxp, -26qp) *2002: won (beat Toby Garrison +26tp, +26tp, -17tp, +15tp) *2005: runner-up (lost to Reg Bamford -17tp, -26sxp, -17sxp) *2008: S/F (lost to Chris Clarke +26tp, +26tp, -11tpo, -17, -26) *2009: Round 3: (lost to Ben Rothman -14, -15tp, -17) *2012: Round 3: (lost to Marcus Evans +26tp, -20tp, +26sxp, -3tp, -25qnp) *2013: Round 3: (lost to Andrew Johnston +17tp, +12tp, -26, -15, -15)

References

External links

The Croquet Records site {{DEFAULTSORT:Fulford, Robert 1969 births Living people English croquet players Alumni of the University of Essex People educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School Alumni of St Aidan's College, Durham Sportspeople from Colchester