Robert Fulford (croquet player)

Robert Ian Fulford (born 1969) is a leading English croquet player who has dominated the sport since the turn of the 1990s.

Life and career
Born in Colchester, England, he was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and Durham University followed by the University of Essex.

Fulford also coaches croquet, particularly in Australia and the Chattooga Club in North Carolina. Robert has made croquet videos with Australian croquet expert Kevin Brereton in which Robert teaches both basic and advanced break tactics. He has won the Association Croquet World Championship 6 times:
 * 1990 at The Hurlingham Club, England
 * 1992 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport, Rhode Island, USA
 * 1994 at Carden Park, Cheshire, England
 * 1997 at the Moorabinda Croquet Club, Bunbury, Western Australia
 * 2002 in Wellington, New Zealand
 * 2023 at The Hurlingham Club, England

Fulford has also won the President's Cup twelve times (1989, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2018), the Open Championship eleven times (1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014 and 2015) and the Men's Championship four times (1990, 1998, 2006, 2011).

Major tournament performance timeline

 * The 1989 and 2001 World and Open Championships were combined events.

The President's Cup is played as a 8/10 player round-robin and the number indicates the final position achieved.

Style
Fulford's playing style includes the ability to play a range of shots. His tactic of peeling an opponent's ball through hoop 1 makes a triple peel as hard as possible for the opponent. His sextuple peels are also more frequent than those of any other player. Robert Fulford uses an Irish grip [rather like a golf grip] and employs "casting" [swinging mallet over the ball] about three times before each shot. He has strong wrists which makes the Irish grip work for him without it causing the R.S.I. that the grip is sometimes blamed for. In fact, Robert admits that he has quite a wrist-dominated technique which contradicts most coaching manuals that advise minimal wrist involvement.

World Championship results
Fulford has played in the following AC World Championships:
 * 1989: Round 4: (lost to John Prince +26tp, -17, -26tp)
 * 1990: won (beat Mark Saurin +26, +24tp)
 * 1991: S/F (lost to John Walters -14otp, -26tp)
 * 1992: won (beat John Walters -5tp, +4tp, +12tp)
 * 1994: won (beat Chris Clarke -12tpo, +12tp, +18tp, +13)
 * 1995: runner-up (lost to Chris Clarke -18tp, +12tpo, -26tp, +26tp, -26)
 * 1997: won (beat Stephen Mulliner +17, -3tpo, +9otp, +11otp)
 * 2001: runner-up (lost to Reg Bamford +16tp, -17sxp, +3, -26sxp, -26qp)
 * 2002: won (beat Toby Garrison +26tp, +26tp, -17tp, +15tp)
 * 2005: runner-up (lost to Reg Bamford -17tp, -26sxp, -17sxp)
 * 2008: S/F (lost to Chris Clarke +26tp, +26tp, -11tpo, -17, -26)
 * 2009: Round 3: (lost to Ben Rothman -14, -15tp, -17)
 * 2012: Round 3: (lost to Marcus Evans +26tp, -20tp, +26sxp, -3tp, -25qnp)
 * 2013: Round 3: (lost to Andrew Johnston +17tp, +12tp, -26, -15, -15)
 * 2023: won (beat Matthew Essick -17tp, -17tp, +4tp, +26tp, +8otp)