World Croquet Federation Germany, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Wales are Associate Members of the WCF (as of 6 June 2016). Finland, Georgia, India, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Portugal, Russia and Uruguay are Observer Nations of the WCF (as of 6 June 2016). 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
Croquet is struck with a mallet through an iron ring". However, there is no evidence that pall-mall involved the croquet stroke which is the distinguishing characteristic of the modern game. The second theory is that the rules of the modern game of croquet arrived from Ireland during the 1850s, perhaps after being brought there from Brittany where a similar game was played on the beaches. Regular contact between Ireland and France had continued since the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. By no later than the early 15th century, the game " (itself ancestral to pall-mall and perhaps to indoor billiards)