Perth Voice Interactive

IF you’re getting Olympics withdrawals and need a quirky sport fix, the nation’s best croquet players are currently battling it out down at Forrest Park.

The sport’s been around for 150 years but the old-timey rules ensured it was played at a snail’s pace best suited to an English country garden, so in 2005 they were rejigged with a faster game known as golf croquet emerging.

Croquetwest says that’s led to clubs seeing a big increase in membership.

It’s also a rare sport of equality: There’s no men or women’s divisions, and young and old take the field together even in the highest level of competition, and here in Australia there are more women players at the club level than men.

The gold and silver medals are being contested through to Friday September 2 and there’s games all through until September 11 at Forrest Park (which also has a whole lot less muggings than Rio). There’s a program at http://www.croquet-australia.com.au but if you rock up any day you’re likely to see some action.