World Croquet Federation World Croquet Federation The World Croquet Federation (WCF) encourages, promotes and develops the recognised versions of the game of croquet internationally at all levels. National croquet associations around the world are members of the WCF, and the WCF sanctions championship croquet tournaments worldwide. The official rules of Golf Croquet are maintained by the WCF. Croquet playing Nations must satisfy strict criteria prior to membership being accepted by the WCF. Australia, Canada, Egypt, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, and United States of America are Full Members of the WCF (as of 6 June 2016). Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Croquet (depending on whether sticks were used), was regularly played in France and southern Britain between villages or parishes; it was attested in Cornwall as early as 1283. In the book "Queen of Games: The History of Croquet", Nicky Smith presents two theories of the origin of the modern game of croquet, which took England by storm in the 1860s and then spread overseas. The first explanation is that the ancestral game was introduced to Britain from France during the 1630–1685 reign of Charles II of England, and was played under the name of ' (among other spellings, today usually "pall-mall"),