The Championship shall be played in accordance with the Laws of Association Croquet, 6th Edition, under Law 36 Advanced play conditions, as amended from time to time, and the WCF Sports Regulations as amended from time to time.
Dawson 2000 balls will be used.
Pre-tournament practice times
Players may practice at any of the tournament venues from Wednesday 30 January 10am-1pm at Cashmere and 10am-4pm at all other venues except that Elmwood Croquet Club will not be available on Thursday 31 January.
Dawson balls will be available.
Hoops may be 3¾" or tournament hoops. There may be restrictions on hoop running.
Schedule for Blocks
Each Block will be at a different club or clubs on each of the days of Block play.
| Block | Sat | Sun | Mon |
| A | St Martins/St James | United | Fendalton/Cashmere |
| B | Elmwood/St James | Fendalton | United |
| C | St Martins | Elmwood/St James | Fendalton |
| D | United | Fendalton/Cashmere | St Martins |
| E | Fendalton | United | Elmwood/Cashmere |
| F | Fendalton/Cashmere | St Martins | Elmwood/St James |
| G | Elmwood/Cashmere | St Martins/St James | United |
| H | United | Elmwood/Cashmere | St Martins/St James |
Tournament playing schedule
| Block Play | Sat 2nd February - Mon 4th February 2008 | 3 matches of a single game, per day, per player |
| Block Play Play Offs | Tue 5th February 2008 | |
| 1st - 2nd Round | Wed 6th - Thu 7th February 2008 | Best of 3 games |
| Quarter Final Round | Fri 8th February 2008 | Best of 3 or 5 games At Managers Discretion |
| Semi-Final Round | Sat 9th February 2008 | Best of 3 or 5 games At Managers Discretion |
| Final | Sun 10th February 2008 | Best of 5 games |
Tournament
The Championships starts with Block play, in 8 Blocks each of 10 players. The Blocks are Section Play, that is, positions in the Block are determined by wins, and points are not used in determining the Block placings.
Four players from each Block will qualify for the Knockout. If there are not 4 clear qualifiers from a Block, there will be further play-off games to determine the 4 qualifiers. Tuesday 5 February is reserved for these play-offs.
The Plate event is open to the players who do not qualify for the Knockout (6 from each Block), and also to players who are knocked out of the Knockout up to the quarter-final stage. Participation in the Plate is optional.
There will also be a Developing Nations' Plate, open to players from countries where croquet is still developing. This is also optional, and players who play in the Developing Nations' Plate may also play in the main Plate.
Play will generally start at 9:00 am each day. In the Block play, later games are advertised to start nominally at 1:00pm and 4:00pm, but may start as soon as both players and the scheduled court are available. If the progress of the tournament requires it, some matches may have an earlier starting time.
Play may continue until dusk if necessary (approximately 9:00pm), subject to the needs of the tournament and any time limits in force. However, if there are no delays due to weather or other causes, play will generally be finished by approximately 7:30pm.
Draw
Players have been drawn into the Blocks following the WCF’s prescribed procedures, which aim to produce Blocks of equal strength, and also to spread the players from each country as evenly as possible across the Blocks.
For the Knockout, the players who qualify will be seeded according to their World Ranking Grade, updated with the results of the Block matches. The seeded draw for positions in the Knockout will be held at the evening function on Tuesday 5 February, following the World Croquet Federation’s defined procedures.
Blocks
The Championships starts with Block play, in 8 Blocks each of 10 players. The Blocks are Section Play, that is, positions in the Block are determined by wins, and points are not used in determining the Block placings. Block play will occupy the first 3 days (2-4 February), and each player will have 3 games each day, with 3 hour time limits. All the Block games will be double-banked.
Each Block will be at a different venue or venues on the 3 days of Block play. When a Block is at United, the entire Block will be there. When a Block is at Fendalton or St Martins, the entire Block may be at one club. Otherwise, the Block will be split between 2 clubs, 6 players at Fendalton, St Martins or Elmwood and 4 players at Cashmere or St James. Individual players will not need to move between clubs during a day.
Two of the Blocks will not get the opportunity to play at United during the Block games. On Tuesday 5 February, players who have qualified from those Blocks will be given preference to practise at United.
Four players from each Block will qualify for the Knockout. If there are not 4 clear qualifiers from a Block, there will be further play-off games to determine the 4 qualifiers. Tuesday 5 February is reserved for these play-offs.
Knockout
Four players from each Block will qualify for the Knockout. If there are not 4 clear qualifiers from a Block, there will be further play-off games to determine the 4 qualifiers. Tuesday 5 February is reserved for these play-offs.
The Knockout will be single-life, starting with best-of-3 matches, and progressing to best-of-5 in later rounds. The stage when best-of-5 starts, and whether any time limits are used, will be decided depending on the playing conditions. If time limits are used, they will be 4-7-9 hours for best of 3, and 4-6-8-9-10 hours for best of 5.
These matches will generally proceed without significant pause. A break of up to 5 minutes may be taken between games for “relief and composure”. A lunch break may be taken at a time determined by defined conditions (which will be advertised at the venues), but starting between 11:30am and 2:00pm. An afternoon break of up to 20 minutes may be taken, no earlier than 3:00pm.
All of the Knockout will be at United. The first round of the Knockout will be double-banked. In the first round, play in the bottom quarter of the draw (4 matches) will not start at the beginning of the day, but will start as courts become available from the other matches. In the second round, play in the top quarter of the draw (2 matches) will not start at the beginning of the day, but will start as courts become available from the other matches.
The draw for positions in the Knockout will be held at the evening function on Tuesday 5 February, following the WCF’s defined procedures. Play in the Knockout will start on Wednesday 6 February, and will generally proceed at one round per day.
Plate
The Plate event is open to the players who do not qualify for the Knockout (6 from each Block), and also to players who are knocked out of the Knockout up to the quarter-final stage. Participation in the Plate is optional. The Plate event will consist of 3 days of Flexible Progressive Swiss, followed by a single-life knockout among the 4 players with the highest win percentage from the Swiss and the 4 losing quarter-finalists from the main Knockout.
Play in the Swiss part of the Plate will start on Wednesday 6 February, and all games may be double-banked and will have a 3 hour time limit. The knockout part of the Swiss will be on Saturday and Sunday 9 and 10 February.
A player’s record in the Swiss will consist of their winning percentage from the number of games played and the number of wins from the Block play, the Swiss games, and the Knockout games (where applicable).
Players in the Plate may make themselves temporarily or permanently unavailable for games. Only those who have played a minimum number of games will be eligible for the knockout stage of the Plate. The minimums for players who join the Plate by different routes will be advertised before the Plate begins.
There will also be a Developing Nations' Plate, open to players from countries where croquet is still developing. This is also optional, and players who play in the Developing Nations' Plate may also play in the main Plate.