Greg Bury inducted into Croquet Queensland Hall of Fame

Congratulations to Croquet Queensland Hall of Fame Inductee Greg Bury from the Windsor Croquet Club.

Special thanks to Addison Matthews for putting together the nomination below.

## Greg Bury (1968-)

Greg started playing croquet at the age of 11, in Bundaberg, after kicking a football into his local croquet club. From that unlikely beginning quickly grew an everlasting passion for the sport. He would travel from home or school to the club on his push bike and spend hours practising on the court to develop his game. On some occasions, he would head to the club during school lunch breaks to practise, returning to school in the afternoon. During his teenage years he would also practise in the evenings, in the dark, until late at night.

In order to participate in major tournaments, Greg travelled over 6 hours on public transport from Bundaberg to Brisbane, sometimes returning to Bundaberg at 4 a.m. before going to school/work later that morning. Showing this amount of passion and dedication is one of the reasons Greg has been so successful in the sport over the past four decades of playing and service.

## QLD Eire Cup Team

Greg made his debut for Queensland in the Interstate Cup in 1984 at age 14. He has since gone on to represent his state of Queensland in this event 28 times, even representing Tasmania in 2020 when the Tasmanian team returned early to avoid their state lockdown. He was part of the team that won the event in 1990, the first Queensland team to win in 27 years, and has been runner-up 7 times throughout the years. Greg has spent a lot of time as a leader for his state, either captaining or vice-captaining 12 times throughout his career. At this time, Greg is the 3rd most capped player in the tournament's history, having played 205 games in the Eire Cup.

## QLD Interstate Shield Team

Greg made his debut for the Queensland Interstate Shield team in 2008. He has since gone on to represent his state 9 times, captaining on 4 of those occasions. During his debut year in 2008, in the best-of-three format, Greg managed to win 10 best-of-three matches in a row, playing 23 games and winning 20 of them. Greg has also had an instrumental influence on Croquet Queensland teams over the years, creating the Player of the Series trophy for both croquet codes. This award has brought motivation and prestige to individuals who have the opportunity to represent Queensland in croquet.

## Playing internationally for Australia

Over Greg's impressive international career in croquet he has played against almost every well-known croquet player of the last 40 years, from John Prince and Bob Jackson to Robert Fulford and Reg Bamford, and later Mohammed Karem and Mohammed Nasr. Greg is part of a special group of Australian players, being one of only six to have represented the country in both the MacRobertson Shield and Openshaw Shield teams and qualified for the individual World Championship knockouts in both codes.

Association Croquet World Championships

- 1992 – Newport, Rhode Island, USA: This was Greg's debut World Championship. He won 4 out of 7 games in the block stage, making it into the Championship knockout in his very first appearance. - 1997 – Bunbury, Western Australia: Greg won 3 out of 4 games in the block stage of the 1997 World Championship. He advanced to the last 16 of the Championship knockouts.

Golf Croquet World Championships appearances

- 2011 – London, England: This was Greg's debut Golf Croquet World Championship. He won 5 out of 7 best-of-three matches, which qualified him for the Championship knockout in his first appearance. - 2013 – Cairo, Egypt: This event was Greg's fourth World Championship in his career. He reached the last 16 of the Plate Knockout in this tournament.

Association international team events

- MacRobertson Shield: Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, New Zealand – 1990; Bowdon, Cheltenham, East Dorset, and Nottingham Croquet Clubs, England – 1996 - Trans-Tasman: Christchurch, New Zealand – 1994; Newcastle, Australia – 1995

Golf Croquet international team events

- Openshaw Shield: Johannesburg, South Africa – 2012

## Career event achievements

Association Croquet

- Bronze medal: (1988, 1990 silver medals) - Queensland Open Singles: 4× (1989, 1992–94) - Queensland Open Doubles: 2023 - Queensland Gibson Medal: 3× (2011, 2012, 2024) - Queensland Men's Singles: 2× (1996, 2023) - Queensland Team: 27×; Captain/Vice-Captain 12× - Eire Cup: Winner 1990; Runner-up 7× (1985, 1987, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003) - Games played for QLD in Eire Cup: 205 (3rd most capped player in the tournament's history) - Australian Open Doubles: 1995 - Australian Open Singles: 1989; Runner-up 1995, 1997 - Trans-Tasman: 1994, 1995 - MacRobertson Shield: 1990, 1996 - World Championship: 1992, 1997

Golf Croquet

- Bronze medal: 2010, 2011, 2022 - Queensland Eights: 2012 (Men's), 2024 (second) - Queensland Doubles: 6× (2009–13, 2018) - Queensland Open Singles: 2021 - Queensland Men's Singles: 2012 - Queensland Team: 9×; Captain 4× - Australia GC First 8 Runner-up; GC Fourth 8 Winner: 2024 - Openshaw Team: 2012 - World Championship: 2011, 2013

## Service at club level

Due to work commitments Greg has been a member of 6 croquet clubs: Bundaberg/Windsor/Southport/Rockhampton/Headland/Gracemere. He is currently at Windsor Croquet Club, Queensland. Over the years Greg has held numerous club positions and has contributed greatly on management committees. He has also spent many hours dedicated to caring for lawns, surrounds, club maintenance, coaching, mentoring and refereeing. He also won every club championship, multiple times at his clubs.

## Service to the Croquet Association of Queensland (CAQ)

- Queensland State Selector: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2018 - Queensland State Squad Coordinator – Association: over 10 years - Queensland State Squad Coordinator – Golf Croquet: 2019, 2020, 2021 - Authored "Through the Hoops", the definitive guide to Golf Croquet, with all profits going to CAQ - Updated Through the Hoops with 24 additional pages of new content and photos, again with all profits going to CAQ

## Service to Croquet Australia

Greg has dedicated a significant amount of time to various positions, including:

- National High Performance Manager: 2010–2014 - National Selector: 2010–2014 - National Coaching Director - Chair of the National Publicity and Marketing Committee - Delivered "How to Improve Your Game" sessions, coaching over 340 players of all abilities, nationally, in a single year

Greg single-handedly wrote and signed off a National Coaching Program for all croquet disciplines (never done before in croquet), including 14 manuals:

- General Principles - Association Level 1–4 - Golf Croquet Level 1–3 - Ricochet Croquet Level 1–2 - Gateball Level 1–3 - Presenter / Assessor Training Manual

Other achievements include:

- Collaborated with SportAus to finalise the Pathways of Coaching for all croquet disciplines, enabling all three croquet disciplines and gateball to be officially recognised as sports by SportAus for the first time - Redesigned and created new badges for certified Croquet Australia coaches - Developed an Online Learning Management System for coaches - Produced over 100 training videos for coaches - Produced a number of promotional videos and designed 12 Facebook banners for the promotion of croquet - Launched the Australian Croquet Online Magazine, also serving as chief writer/editor - Chief content creator for social media - Re-established the Australian Under 21 National Championship

## General Manager of the Australian Croquet Academy: 2020–2023

- Established the Academy, launched in 2020, to support all associations, clubs, members, and volunteers - Wrote the Development Plan and launched National Projects focused on: - Publicity, marketing, and communications - Pathways and development - Recruitment and retention - Grants and sponsorship - Youth training programs - Co-ordinated a national database and redesigned the Croquet Australia website - National Coaching Coordinator

During his tenure Greg completed a national coaching tour that included training:

- 146 Level 1 Golf Croquet Coaches - 140 Level 2 Golf Croquet Coaches - 25 Level 3 Golf Croquet Coaches - 112 Level 1 Association Coaches - 107 Level 2 Association Coaches - 27 Level 3 Association Coaches - 8 Level 4 Association Coaches - 19 Level 1 Ricochet Coaches - 13 Level 2 Ricochet Coaches - 11 Level 1 Gateball Coaches

He was also the High Performance Manager for association and golf, and signed off 27 Coaching Presenters / Assessors.

## Today

Greg is still competing at the highest level and enjoys volunteering with coaching, mentoring, refereeing and hoop setting.

Thank you, Greg, for everything you have done for croquet.