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
Croquet two times that the event has been held. In individual competition, the UK is often divided by subnational country (England, Scotland and Wales), while Northern Ireland joins with the republic in an All Ireland association (as it does in other sports). The world's top 10 association croquet players as of February 2018 were Robert Fletcher (Australia), Reg Bamford (South Africa), Robert Fulford (England), Paddy Chapman (New Zealand), Ben Rothman (USA), Malcolm Fletcher (Australia), Jamie Burch (England), Jose Riva (Spain), Stephen Mulliner (England), Greg Bryant (New Zealand), . Unlike most sports, men and women compete and are ranked together. Three women