Stephen Mulliner

Stephen Mulliner is an English international croquet player. He won the AC British Open Championship in 1988, 1990, and 2000; the GC British Open Championship in 2000, 2001, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016; the European Golf Croquet championship in 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2019; and the Association Croquet World Championship title in 2016. He is also President of the European Croquet Federation and Secretary-General of the World Croquet Federation.

In the 2016 Association Croquet World Championships held in Florida, he defeated Christian Carter, Stephen Forster, Danny Huneycutt, and Reg Bamford before reaching the final. Bamford, having won the World Championship on four previous occasions, was a favourite to win and took the first two games in the best-of-five match decisively, but Mulliner scraped through in the third game, took the fourth with a sextuple peel that nearly went badly wrong, and then took the fifth game with convincing form.

In the final match against David Maloof (USA) Mulliner again went 2-0 down, but scraped a victory in the third game to remain in the match and then played solidly to take the last two games. The five games were played over 11½ hours in a single day. The victory made Mulliner the oldest world champion at 62 (he had reached the final on two previous occasions, in 1997 and 2008).

Outside the world of croquet, Mulliner had a City career and is now a management consultant and a Conservative local councillor. He is married to Sarah and they have four children. He lives in Haslemere, Surrey.

References

Croquet Association: Top Player Profiles: https://www.croquet.org.uk/?p=press/profiles#40054047

Waverley Borough Council: Councillor Details: https://modgov.waverley.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=110

2016 World Championship Results: https://croquetscores.com/2016/ac/wcf-world-championship/main-ko