The Health Benefits of Croquet for Australian Seniors

Croquet Queensland wants the Queensland Government to treat croquet clubs as part of its plan for keeping older people healthy. Croquet Queensland, the Croquet Association of Queensland, has looked after the game in this state since it was established in 1922. Queensland has a growing number of older people. Falls put many of them in hospital, and loneliness wears down many more. Some falls prevention programs have been shown to pay for themselves, though none of them is croquet.

Queensland already has over 40 croquet clubs. They have lawns, clubhouses, coaches and volunteers, and they run on their own members' money and time. Older people go there to play a slow, careful game that asks them to walk, bend, aim and think.

No study has measured whether croquet itself prevents falls, lowers health costs or eases loneliness. Croquet clubs already fit within programs the Queensland Government runs, and Croquet Queensland asks for support through them. This paper sets out five things Croquet Queensland asks of government.

This paper sets out the case Croquet Queensland makes for state support of croquet clubs. It covers what falls and loneliness cost, how Queensland's population of people aged 65 and over is growing, and what the research shows about exercise and social contact for older people.

The paper also shows where croquet clubs fit existing Queensland programs and grants. It ends with five requests to government.

This version replaces one published in June 2025. Figures that could not be traced to a source have been removed. Claims that went further than their sources have been corrected, including what a study of active women found, what physiotherapists said about golf croquet, and what is known about croquet and loneliness.

A fall is the single most common way an older Australian ends up in hospital with an injury. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) looked closely at this in Falls in older Australians 2019–20.

In 2019–20, falls among Australians aged 65 and over led to 133,000 hospital stays. That is 3,228 for every 100,000 people in that age group. In the same year, falls led to 5,000 deaths among older Australians, or 122 for every 100,000.

Falls made up 77% of all injury hospital stays for people aged 65 and over in 2019–20. They made up 71% of injury deaths in that age group.

Half of the falls that put an older person in hospital in 2019–20 happened at home. One in five happened in a residential aged care home. Those admitted after a fall stayed in hospital for 9.5 days on average.

Across all ages, falls remain the leading cause of injury in hospital. National Seniors Australia, reporting AIHW figures, notes that in 2022–23 falls accounted for 238,055 hospital stays among Australians of every age. That was 43.4% of all injury hospital stays that year.

The money follows the hospital beds. The AIHW's Injury in Australia: Falls report estimates that fall-related injuries cost the health system about $5.4 billion in 2023–24. That is the latest national estimate. The February 2026 policy brief used a figure of $4.7–5 billion a year.

Aged care carries its own share. A University of Queensland study, reported in January 2025 and published in the journal Injury Prevention, followed 303 people aged over 65 in aged care homes in New South Wales and Western Australia. It estimated that injuries from falls in residential aged care could be costing the health system $325 million a year.

The detailed paper from that work, by Okafor and colleagues, put the average cost of a single fall causing injury at $2,494. Averaged across all residents, falls cost $1,798 per resident each year.

Falls are easy to count because they end in an ambulance or an emergency department. Loneliness is quieter. It still shows up in doctors' rooms and in the health budget.

The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre studied loneliness across Australia in its report Stronger Together. Curtin University's media release of 19 November 2021 set out the main finding. Loneliness costs Australian society up to $2.7 billion each year. That works out at $1,565 a year for each person who becomes lonely.

The same work found that lonely men and women aged over 65 see their GP nearly 10 times a year. That is around four visits more than people of the same age who are not lonely.

The Medical Journal of Australia took up these figures in a 2024 article, The loneliness epidemic. It noted that adults aged 55 or older accounted for more than a third of the total cost.

Queensland has its own measure of how many people feel this way. The Queensland Social Survey 2024, run by the Queensland Government Statistician's Office, found that 62.5% of Queensland adults felt lonely at least some of the time.

The survey broke the answers down. In 2024, 37.3% of Queensland adults said they never felt lonely and 30.6% said rarely. Another 25.4% said sometimes, and 6.5% said often.

Loneliness matters for more than comfort. National Seniors Australia, in Being social is good for you (2025), notes that loneliness and social isolation have been linked to higher risks of depression, anxiety and cognitive decline. It points to social groups as a source of regular contact, shared experience and a sense of purpose.

The case for spending public money on prevention rests on a body of research about exercise programs for older people. None of these studies looked at croquet. They looked at structured exercise classes, Tai Chi and home exercise programs. What they show is that the right kind of activity, done often and for long enough, prevents falls and returns more than it costs.

The strongest summary is a Cochrane review by Sherrington and colleagues, also published in shorter form in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. It pooled 59 studies with 12,981 older people living in the community.

The review found that exercise reduces the rate of falls by 23%. The evidence for this was rated high certainty. Programs built mainly on balance and everyday movement reduced the rate of falls by 24% compared with no program. Programs that mixed several types of exercise, most often balance and movement work plus strength training, probably reduced the rate of falls by 34%.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at whether such programs are worth what they cost, in a 2016 study by Florence and colleagues in the Journal of Safety Research.

That study starts from a known pattern. One in three people aged 65 and older falls each year, and 20% to 30% of falls cause injury.

It then compared three programs. A Tai Chi program called Moving for Better Balance ran classes three times a week for 26 weeks. The Otago Exercise Program ran for six months. Stepping On, a falls education program, ran for seven weeks.

Every one of the three gave back more than it cost. Tai Chi returned 509% on each dollar invested, the highest of the three. Otago, delivered to people aged 80 and over, returned 127%. Stepping On returned 64%. Otago, delivered to people aged 65 and over, returned 36%.

The authors concluded that the benefits did more than cover the cost of running the programs. They exceeded it.

There is also Australian evidence that staying active is linked to lower health costs over time. Gomes and colleagues followed 6,953 women born between 1946 and 1951, who were part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. The study was published in 2020.

Women who stayed active had 40% lower Medicare costs and 30% lower pharmaceutical costs over three years. This was a study of physical activity in women. It did not look at club membership or at any one sport, and it did not include men.

Programs aimed at loneliness have also been tested for value. A 2025 review in PharmacoEconomics by Engel and colleagues looked at the economic costs of loneliness and social isolation and the value of efforts to reduce them. Five studies measured the social return on investment. All five found positive returns, ranging from US$2.28 to US$13.72 for every dollar spent. These figures are in United States dollars and come from programs other than croquet.

An earlier version of this paper gave a worked example of what croquet might save the health system in Queensland. That example has been withdrawn. Its player count and its cost per fall could not be traced to a first source. It also used a range of falls reductions that does not match the Cochrane review by Sherrington and colleagues, which found 23% for exercise in general, 24% for balance and functional exercise, and 34% for several types combined.

Because of these problems, the savings the example showed for each year and over ten years have also been withdrawn. This paper gives no estimate of what croquet might save.

A fair Queensland estimate would need four things that are not known today. The first is a count of how many Queenslanders play croquet. No such count exists. The second is how often players fall, compared with similar people who do not play. The third is a Queensland cost per fall for people living at home. The fourth is any measured effect of croquet on falls. No study has measured this.

The February 2026 policy brief, covered in the Hoopla story Brief makes health case for funding croquet, made its own estimate. It assumed 500 to 1,000 more seniors playing, a 40% to 64% cut in fall risk and $10,000 for each fall hospitalisation. On those assumptions it put the gain at 200 to 640 falls prevented a year and $2–6.4 million saved. These are the brief's assumptions, not measured results.

Queensland's older population has grown faster than the rest of the state for twenty years. The Queensland Government Statistician's Office reports, in its Population growth highlights and trends, 2026 edition, that the number of people aged 65 and over more than doubled after 2005, reaching 987,239 people in 2025.

In 2005, just over 1 in 9 Queenslanders were aged 65 or older. By 2025 it was more than 1 in 6. Put another way, the share of older people rose from 12.0% to 17.4% over those twenty years.

The pace has picked up. Since 2020 the number of seniors has grown by an average of 3.5% a year. The rest of the population has grown by 1.6% a year.

The coming decades will bring more of the same. The Report of the Chief Health Officer Queensland expects the number of Queenslanders aged 65 or more to rise by 76.7% between 2022 and 2046.

Some regions are further along this path than others. The Queensland Government's Draft Wide Bay Burnett Regional Plan records that 27% of people in that region were over 65 at the 2021 census. It expects that share to reach 35% by 2046.

National guidelines set out how much activity older Australians need. The Australian Government's Physical activity and exercise guidelines for older Australians ask people aged 65 and over for four things.

The first is moderate to vigorous activity for 30 minutes or more on most days. The second is muscle-strengthening activity on two or more days a week. The third is activity that works on mobility, balance and coordination on three or more days a week. The fourth is several hours of light activity every day.

Queensland Health's own Ageing with vitality workbook gives similar advice. It encourages older people to build up to at least 30 minutes of moderate endurance activity on most days, and preferably every day.

Most older Australians fall well short. The Victorian Government's Better Health Channel notes that fewer than one in 10 Australians over 50 do enough exercise to improve or maintain their heart and lung fitness. It also notes that at least half of the age-related changes to muscles, bones and joints come from not using them.

If structured classes work, why fund croquet at all? The answer Croquet Queensland gives is that a good program only helps the people who turn up, and keep turning up, for months.

In the CDC study, the Tai Chi and Otago programs ran for six months. Keeping older people coming back for that long is hard. Many older adults hold back from exercise because of physical limits, fear of getting hurt, or simply because they do not enjoy it.

Croquet clubs offer a different reason to come back. People come to play a game, see friends and take part in club life. The movement comes along with it.

The game also brings three needs together. Croquet asks for walking, balance and coordination, for planning on every shot, and it is played in clubs where people meet. One activity gives exercise, a mental challenge and time with others.

The second reason is that the clubs already exist. Queensland has over 40 established croquet clubs, with lawns, clubhouses, trained volunteers, coaching systems and governance. Croquet Queensland, the Croquet Association of Queensland, links them together. Funding croquet builds on what communities already own rather than starting from nothing.

Clubs pay their own way through memberships and tournaments. Members bring in new members, and volunteers train the next volunteers.

No study has measured whether club croquet keeps older people taking part for longer than a structured class does. Whether croquet players stay active for the six months that the Tai Chi and Otago programs ran is not known.

Croquet does not replace other proven programs. Tai Chi, walking groups and strength training have strong evidence behind them and deserve continued support. Croquet clubs add one more place where older people can stay active and in company.

Croquet does not meet these guidelines on its own, and it is not moderate-intensity exercise. Its place is in the balance and coordination part of the guidelines, and in the daily hours of light activity. A game of croquet means standing, walking the lawn, bending, swinging and aiming.

Physiotherapists have looked at what the game asks of the body. In 2021 the Australian Physiotherapy Association's magazine InMotion reported, in A hit for health, on a collaboration between Croquet Victoria and the APA. Two physiotherapists from the APA Gerontology Group gave input. The work looked into the physical and mental benefits of the game and promoted a shorter version of golf croquet as an outdoor, low-impact activity for people of all ages, including those with limited movement.

The physiotherapists described the game as helping with coordination, upper and lower limb strength, and balance both standing still and moving. Players bend their hips and knees, move their shoulders gently and hold the mallet with a light grip in both hands. There is no significant twisting of the body or spine. For these reasons, they saw it as a suitable option for people with many joint, muscle, nerve or long-term conditions.

They saw golf croquet as a way to keep people moving rather than sitting. They also listed what it offers beyond movement: better self-esteem, reaching goals, contentment in taking part, the satisfaction of achievement, and time with other people.

This was a physiotherapy assessment of the movements involved. It was not a trial, and it measured no change in falls or health.

One state health agency already lists croquet among the activities older people can try to prevent falls. The NSW Government's Active and Healthy site suggests joining a falls prevention or balance class, finding a local Tai Chi program, or trying lawn bowls, croquet, Pilates or yoga. For the best results, it advises at least two hours of this kind of exercise a week, or 20 minutes a day, for six months or more.

The golf croquet version of the game is also time-efficient. That makes it easier to fit a regular game into a week.

Croquet belongs to a family of slow, skilled outdoor games often played by older people. Some of its cousins have been studied more than croquet has. Their findings are about those sports, not croquet.

The Victorian Government's Better Health Channel describes lawn bowls as low-impact, therapeutic exercise that can improve fitness, coordination and confidence. It says health professionals recommend bowls, particularly for older people. The benefits it lists are better fitness, coordination and skill, confidence and self-esteem, mental wellbeing and community connection.

Golf has a stronger body of research. The Strength and Balance Study, backed by the R&A and carried out over two years by researchers at the University of Southampton and the University of Southern California, studied two groups of older people. Golfers under 80 had better strength and balance than people of similar age who did little exercise. People in the golf training program improved their muscle strength, power, endurance, balance, flexibility and walking.

Bocce Australia lists the benefits of its game as light activity, strategic planning, better coordination and more flexibility from bending and reaching. It makes no claim about falls.

These sports share some movements with croquet: walking on grass, bending, aiming and controlled swinging or rolling. Whether croquet would show the same results as golf has not been tested.

Croquet asks players to think as well as move. Each shot depends on where the other balls lie and what an opponent might do next. Researchers have asked whether games that make older people think help keep the mind sharp. Studies of this have looked at other games, not croquet, and their findings are uncertain.

The Sydney Croquet Club describes croquet as a mix of the problem-solving found in chess or snooker with physical activity that needs precision and planning. It calls the game a social activity offering gentle exercise that is easy on the joints and not strenuous.

Planning a run of shots, remembering where several balls lie and changing plans as the game turns all draw on what researchers call executive functions. The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University describes executive function as a set of skills that relies on working memory, mental flexibility and self-control. No study has measured whether croquet changes them.

A study of older people in China by Zhu and colleagues, published in Frontiers in Public Health in 2024, used data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey from 2008 to 2018. It found that playing Mahjong was linked to slower cognitive decline. Playing more often was linked to better reaction, attention, calculation and coordination.

For bridge, the Australian Bridge Federation reprints a magazine article, A Bridge to Brainpower?, first published by the AARP Bulletin in the United States. It reports researchers saying that mentally demanding games such as bridge suit older people because they offer regular mental and social stimulation. It is a magazine article, not a study.

A review of cognitive and social leisure activities and dementia risk adds a caution. Such activities look promising for slowing decline and lowering dementia risk. But some long studies suggest the cause may run the other way. People in the early stages of dementia may stop taking part in mental and social activities, so those who keep playing look healthier because they were already healthier. The hope behind this research is often called cognitive reserve, which an article in The Conversation describes as a person's capacity to keep normal thinking in the presence of changes in the brain. The brain mechanisms behind it are still unclear, and no study has looked at croquet and cognitive reserve.

Croquet has not been studied in this way. Nothing is known about whether playing it changes memory or thinking. Any thinking croquet asks for is incidental: it comes with a game people play for enjoyment.

The social side of the club may matter as much as the game. Ray Oldenburg, author of The Great Good Place (1989), coined the term third place, as described in a profile by the Project for Public Spaces. He argued for the value of informal public places where people gather that are neither home nor work. He described third places as neutral ground, where conversation is the main activity and regulars feel a sense of belonging. For many older Queenslanders who no longer go to work, a croquet club can be one of those places: somewhere to go, people who notice when someone is missing, and a job to do on the roster.

Another state government has already backed croquet as a way to keep seniors connected. In February 2025, the NSW Ageing and Disability Commission announced $840,000 in funding through the 2025 Connecting Seniors Grant Program. The funded projects, aimed at reducing social isolation, ranged from singing and storytelling to cooking classes and croquet lessons.

In Queensland, croquet reaches older people in places beyond club lawns. At Renaissance Victoria Point, a retirement village in Redland City, the croquet coordinator had never played the game before moving in, according to the village's own blog.

Clubs also serve as places for wider community health work. In February 2021, West End Croquet Club in South Brisbane hosted a Standard Mental Health First Aid course.

No study has shown that playing croquet reduces loneliness. An earlier version of this paper cited one, but that study was of a home video-game version of golf croquet, not the game played on a lawn at a club. Whether club croquet lowers loneliness, and by how much, is not known.

Croquet Queensland's clubs have lawns and clubhouses. Volunteers run the clubs, coach new players and manage club affairs. Clubs raise their own money through memberships and tournaments.

Croquet is a low-impact, non-contact game. The game asks for precision and planning.

Getting started is already easy. Croquet Australia helps people find a club. The Come and Try Croquet site points beginners to a free three-week course at their local club. All equipment is provided, and no experience is needed.

Some clubs open their doors to the wider public through local councils. Logan City Council lists croquet in its Active & Healthy program, with lessons from qualified coaches. The program offers over 200 free and low-cost activities.

Older people do more than play at these clubs. They also run them. Eildon Croquet Club at Woody Point made Submission 399 to the Queensland Parliament's 2025 inquiry into volunteering. It described adults aged 55 and over as giving a large share of all volunteer hours in community sporting clubs, both as volunteers and as players.

There is no published count of croquet players or members in Queensland. How many people play at the state's clubs is not known. Nor is it known how often they play, how old they are, or which groups are missing from the clubs.

Croquet in other states shows who the game reaches. Croquet Victoria looked at its own members in its Growing Croquet Facilities Infrastructure Planning Project 2020–2030, a final report published in 2019. It found that 69% of its members were female, with most aged over 45.

The report pointed out that women and adults over 45 are key groups for government efforts to lift physical activity. In Victoria, then, the people croquet already reaches are many of the people that health programs are trying to reach.

These are Victorian figures from 2019. They may not match Queensland. No Queensland survey of croquet players has been published.

An earlier version of this paper described a participation gap between older women and men in Queensland, citing a Queensland ActiveKIT report. That report does not say this, so the claim is left out.

Croquet clubs do not need a new policy to be supported. They fit within strategies and funds the Queensland Government already runs.

On 8 August 2024, the Queensland Government released An Age-friendly Queensland: The Queensland Seniors Strategy 2024–29. It describes itself as the blueprint for a state where older people live active, healthy and productive lives.

The age-friendly idea comes from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO Age-friendly Cities Framework looks at eight areas of community life. A croquet club touches most of them.

Outdoor spaces and buildings:

clubs have lawns and clubhouses.

Transportation:

getting to the lawn is a real barrier for some older players, especially in regional areas, and is part of any plan to widen access.

Housing:

retirement villages bring the game to where older people live.

Social participation:

the game and the club calendar give people a regular reason to meet.

Respect and social inclusion:

croquet suits people of all ages, including those with limited movement.

Civic participation and employment:

older members run clubs as committee members, coaches and volunteers.

Communication and information:

clubs can share information on health programs with members.

Community support and health services:

clubs can host health sessions and link players to falls prevention advice.

Queensland already has a falls prevention program for seniors. Queensland Stay on Your Feet gives older people information on preventing falls and staying healthy and independent. It covers exercises for strength, balance, flexibility and endurance, and advice on reducing falls in the home. Croquet clubs are places where that advice can reach older people who are already out and moving.

Funding for clubs also already exists. The Department of Justice's Gambling Community Benefit Fund has more than $60 million available each year. That figure is for this fund alone. It helps community groups improve facilities, buy equipment and vehicles, run programs and events, and provide services and activities. Croquet clubs are community groups of exactly this kind.

Councils are the other partner. Through the Age-friendly Community Development Grants, seven Queensland councils received a total of $300,000 for programs and projects that keep older Queenslanders connected with their communities. These grants go to councils, not to clubs, so clubs take part by working with their local council. The February 2026 policy brief also named the Minor Infrastructure Program as a source of funding for accessibility, surfaces and lighting.

Many older adults hold back from exercise because of physical limits, fear of injury or lack of enjoyment.

Eildon Croquet Club's submission to the Queensland Parliament's volunteering inquiry also named the problems older volunteers face. Some have health and mobility limits. Some perceive age discrimination in certain sporting settings. Access and transport are also problems, especially, though not only, in regional areas. Its first recommendation was that sports clubs develop volunteer frameworks that include people of all ages.

Croquet Victoria's planning work, in a Background Research Report (2019), was frank about the game's weak points and strengths. Many people see croquet as an old person sport, and players aged over 50 dominate it. On the other side, it is low impact, non-contact, physically easy to play and intellectually challenging. In 2019, affiliation with Croquet Victoria cost $65 a person.

It is not known how many Queenslanders try croquet and then stop, or why they stop. No Queensland study has measured this.

Croquet Queensland asks the Queensland Government for five things. Each one works through programs and funds that already exist, and each one can be checked over time.

Club infrastructure and equipment:

targeted funding, through existing channels such as the Gambling Community Benefit Fund, for lawns, shade, access and equipment that let older people play safely.

Come and Try programs:

support to develop and run beginner programs that bring older people who have never played into their local club.

Public health campaigns:

inclusion of croquet in Queensland campaigns about active ageing and falls prevention, alongside other suitable activities.

Queensland research:

support for research that measures what croquet does for older Queenslanders, including balance, falls, health service use and loneliness, so that the gaps set out above can be filled.

Partnerships with health networks and councils:

Croquet Queensland asks councils and local health networks to work with the croquet clubs in their area. Clubs can offer these partners a place where older people already gather.

Croquet Queensland stands ready to work with all levels of government.

Falls and loneliness cost older Queenslanders and the health system a great deal. Exercise programs for older people prevent falls and return more than they cost, but those studies looked at other programs, not croquet.

Croquet Queensland asks that its clubs be counted within existing state programs and funds, that councils work with local clubs, and that Queensland research be supported to find out.

Sources read again for this version are linked where they are used above. The list below is the reference list of the June 2025 version of this paper, kept in full with all its addresses. It gave each source two numbers, and the numbers are kept. Some entries were not read again for this version, and some do not support the claims the June 2025 version made from them.

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[19–20] Peachtree Hills Place. 7 incredible health benefits of croquet for senior adults. https://www.peachtreehillsplace.com/7-incredible-health-benefits-of-croquet-for-senior-adults/

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[23–24] Bluebird Care Isle of Wight. The croquet cure: How a classic game is helping Alzheimer's patients. https://www.bluebirdcare.co.uk/isle-of-wight/local-insights/the-croquet-cure

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[31–32] Queensland Health. Ageing with vitality: Your everyday guide to healthy active living. https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/844181/ageing-vitality-guide.pdf

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[65–66] ClubsNSW. Submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Caring for Older Australians. Productivity Commission. https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/aged-care/submissions/sub197.pdf

[67–68] Department of Communities and Justice NSW. Connecting Seniors Grant Program 2025. https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/community-inclusion/seniors/ageing-well-in-nsw-seniors-strategy-2021-2031/events-and-projects/connecting-seniors-grant-program-2025.html

[69–70] Ageing and Disability Commission NSW. Exciting activities to keep seniors connected with $840,000 grant. https://ageingdisabilitycommission.nsw.gov.au/content/dcj/dcj-website/dcj/news-and-media/media-releases/2025/exciting-activities-to-keep-seniors-connected-with--840-000-gran.html

[71–72] Croquet Australia. Home. https://www.croquet-australia.com.au/

[73–74] Croquet Victoria. Croquet in Victoria: Strategic Directions 2019-2022 Final Report. (https://croquetvic.asn.au/infrastructure/Final%20Report.pdf)

[75–76] Croquet Victoria. Background Research Report: Croquet Facility Needs Analysis. (https://croquetvic.asn.au/infrastructure/Background%20Research%20Report.pdf)

[77–78] Submission to the Inquiry into Volunteering in Queensland by Eildon Croquet Club (and others). Queensland Parliament. (https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/com/LGSBCSC-AACA/IVQ-1A2A/submissions/00000399.pdf)

[79–80] Croquet Queensland. Home. https://www.croquetqld.org/

[81–82] PlaySport. Croquet Association Queensland Inc. https://playsport.com/CroquetAssociationQueenslandInc_Auchenflower

[83–84] Logan City Council. Active & Healthy program. https://www.logan.qld.gov.au/healthy

[85–86] Logan City Council. Croquet event. https://www.logan.qld.gov.au/events/event/2167/croquet

[87–88] Humanitix. Standard Mental Health First Aid - Brisbane (West End Croquet Club). https://events.humanitix.com/standard-mental-health-first-aid-brisbane-west-end-croquet-club

[89–90] Clearinghouse for Sport. AusPlay results. Australian Sports Commission. https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/research/ausplay/results

[91–92] Department of Tourism and Sport (Queensland). Queensland Sport, Exercise and Recreation Survey. https://www.sport.qld.gov.au/sport/sport-initiatives/queensland-sport,-exercise-and-recreation-survey

[93–94] ActiveKIT: Understanding the target cohorts - Research insights. https://www.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/275616/activekit-research.pdf

[95–96] Croquet Victoria. Goal Strategies & Initiatives. (https://croquetvic.asn.au/infrastructure/Goal%20Strategies.pdf)

[97–98] Queensland Health. Queensland Stay on Your Feet. https://www.qld.gov.au/health/staying-healthy/community/programs/stay-on-your-feet

[99–100] Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services (Queensland). Age-friendly Community Development Grants. https://www.families.qld.gov.au/about-us/our-department/funding-grants-investment/funding-investment-opportunities/age-friendly-community-development-grants

[101–102] Toowoomba Regional Council. Sport & Recreation Community Grants Program. https://www.tr.qld.gov.au/community-business/grants-funding/apply-by-category/14677-sport-recreation-community-grants-program-2

[103–104] Department of Health and Aged Care. Play Our Way program. https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/play-our-way-program

[105–106] NSW Health. Preventing falls for older adults. Active and Healthy NSW. https://www.activeandhealthy.nsw.gov.au/preventing-falls/preventing-falls-for-older-adults/

[107–108] Department of Tourism, Innovation and Sport (Queensland). Sport and Recreation Recovery Grant program. https://www.grants.services.qld.gov.au/service-details/63003

[109–110] Outdoors Queensland. Grants & Funding. https://outdoorsqueensland.com.au/industry/grants-funding/

[111] The June 2025 version's second list, Works cited, gave these further addresses: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/12/23/2394 (the MDPI paper behind entry 3–4), https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10674598/ (entry 9–10), https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10973127/ (entry 51–52), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384428246_The_Cognitive_Benefits_of_Playing_Contract_Bridge_in_Elderly_Patients_with_Dementia (entry 55–56), https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/com/LGSBCSC-AACA/IVQ-1A2A/submissions/00000557.pdf (a second Queensland Parliament submission) and https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/research/ausplay (entry 89–90).