All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club are invited to become members. The patron of the club is Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and the President is The Duke of Kent. The Club was founded by six gentlemen at the offices of "The Field" on 23 July 1868 at the height of a croquet craze as the "All England Croquet Club," and held its first croquet competition in 1870. Its original ground was situated off Worple Road, Wimbledon. Croquet was very popular there until the then-infant sport of lawn tennis (a game introduced by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so prior, and originally called "Sphairistikè") was
MacRobertson International Croquet Shield In 1930, New Zealand was invited to participate in a series between themselves and Australia, with Australia winning comfortably and the first triangular series was held in 1935 in Melbourne as part of the Melbourne centenary celebrations. In 1993, a United States team was admitted into the tournament. Between 1974 and 2010 the team representing the English Croquet Association was named "Great Britain" and in two series "Great Britain and Ireland", because the teams included players from Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Following the introduction of the WCF World Association Croquet Team Championship in 2010 the team was named "England" from