Robert Fulford (croquet player)


Robert Fulford is a leading English croquet player who has dominated the sport since the turn of the 1990s.

Life and career

Born in Colchester, England, he started to play croquet at his local school at the age of 15. Fulford has a light attitude towards the game, often travelling from cheap hotel or homes of local croquet players to the next because he only makes about £8000 a year from the sport. One tournament yielded him a lawnmower.
He is an alumnus of the University of Durham, where amongst some of his friends he had the nickname 'fluffy'
He supplements his sporting career by working for a stone merchants in Thurrock in Essex. Robert has become a CPA and it is not clear what effect, if any, this will have upon his sporting pursuits.
Robert also coaches croquet, particularly in Australia and the Chattooga Club in North Carolina. 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:
Fulford has also won the President’s Cup twelve times, the Open Championship eleven times and the Men's Championship four times.

Career statistics

Major tournament performance timeline

Tournament19871988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000--
World Championship4R*WSFWWFW--
Open Championship2R1R4R*FWWQFSFFWSFWFSF--
Men's ChampionshipAQFSFWAAAAAASFWAA--
Presidents' Cup5=6W24=2=5=AAA3=WWA--
Win-Loss1-12-25-213-18-110-02-18-19-26-012-210-04-13-11-10-0

Tournament2001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019SRW–LWin %
World ChampionshipF*WFSF3R3R3RAA5 / 1445 - 9
Open ChampionshipF*AWW2RWWWSFQFFFQFWWAFQFA11 / 30107 - 19
Men's ChampionshipFAF2RAWAAAAWAAAAAAAA4 / 1032 - 6
Presidents' CupWW3=25=W4=WWWWW6=2A22=WA12 / 27
Win-Loss8-25-08-15-15-29-05-08-14-22-18-14-22-24-04-00-03-11-10-020 / 55184-34

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

Major Championship Finals: 39 (25 titles, 14 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 and employs "casting" about 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: