Robert Fulford (born 1969) is a leading English croquet player who has dominated the sport since the turn of the 1990s.
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Born in Colchester, England, he started to play croquet at his local school at the age of 15. Fulford has a light attitude towards the game, often travelling from cheap hotel or homes of local croquet players to the next because he only makes about £8000 a year from the sport. One tournament yielded him a lawnmower.
He is an alumnus of the University of Durham, where amongst some of his friends he had the nickname 'fluffy'
He supplements his sporting career by working for a stone merchants in Thurrock in Essex. Robert has become a CPA [chartered public accountant] and it is not clear what effect, if any, this will have upon his sporting pursuits.
Robert 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 world championship 5 times:[1]
Fulford has also won the President’s Cup ten times (1989, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011), the Open Championship nine times (1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008) and the Men's Championship four times (1990, 1998, 2006, 2011).
Fulford 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.
Fulford has played in the following World Championships:[1]