1 PORTABLE SPORTING EQUIPMENT FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to recreational sporting equipment which may be used to play cricket and football as well as some other sports. 5 BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION Sports are a popular adjunct to outdoor activities such as excursions to the beach or barbeques. In such situations it is common for the participants to bring portable sporting equipment such as footballs and flying discs. This equipment can be used on a standalone basis, or in the case of most football codes, by 10 using clothing, bags or trees to mark out makeshift "goal" areas. It is also known to provide portable versions of more complicated equipment used for other sports, such as cricket. Beach cricket kits including sets of wooden or plastic stumps, bails, ball and bat have been sold for a number of years. 15 Portable goals for use in association football (soccer) are known. However, these are generally unsuitable for casual use at outdoor social functions such as barbeques because they tend to be unwieldy and relatively expensive. It is an object of the present invention to provide portable sporting equipment which can be used for multiple sports. 20 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In one aspect, the present invention provides portable sporting equipment, including a plurality of poles and a plurality of sleeves, the poles having an upper end and a ground-engaging end, wherein each sleeve includes at least one axial shaft to receive the upper end or ground-engaging end of one of the poles. 25 By providing an axial shaft in the sleeves, the sporting equipment lends itself to a wide variety of configurations for different sports. For example, poles in the form of cricket stumps can be provided so that the equipment can be used to play cricket when the stumps are used alone, and can also be used to create goal posts for soccer or Australian Rules football when the stumps are inserted into 30 the sleeves. The invention thus provides for a multi-sport capability in a single kit which is easily adjustable between different configurations. Preferably, an inner surface of the shaft is frictionally engageable with at least a portion of the upper end or the ground-engaging end of one of the poles.
2 Advantageously, such engagement provides for a fixed height of the sleeve above the ground without the need for additional fastening means to hold the relative positions of sleeve and pole fixed. It also allows pairs of sleeves to be attached to create extended structures (e.g. goal posts) of greater height, should 5 this be desired. In one embodiment, at least two of the sleeves include an attachment point for a net or crossbar. This further increases the range of sports which may be played using the equipment. For example, the attachment point may be a transverse recess located perpendicularly to the axis of two of the sleeves and 10 having a shape which accommodates the poles. A third sleeve can then be used as a crossbar for rugby goals by inserting a pole at each of its ends. The other ends of the respective poles may then be inserted into the transverse recesses of the other two sleeves, which thereby act as goal posts. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the shaft extends along the length 15 of the sleeve. An open shaft of this kind can provide for simpler manufacture than a shaft which is closed at one end. In another embodiment, the shaft of at least one sleeve includes a stop to form closed recesses at each end. The recesses may have different depths. In embodiments where the inner surface of the recesses does not frictionally 20 engage with the poles, or does so only loosely, the formation of recesses at each end allows said sleeve to be used to create extended goal posts or crossbars as discussed above, because the upper end or ground-engaging end may abut against the stop to prevent relative movement between the pole and the sleeve. If the recesses have different depths, the height of the sleeve above the 25 ground can be adjusted merely by removing it from the pole, inverting it and replacing it on the pole in the inverted orientation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Certain preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying figures, in 30 which: Figure 1 shows an unassembled kit of sporting equipment according to one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 shows the kit of Figure 1 as used to play cricket; 3 Figure 3 shows the kit of Figure 1 assembled to form a set of goals for Australian Rules football; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a sleeve fitted to a cricket stump to form a goal post; 5 Figure 5 shows the kit of Figure 1 assembled to form two sets of goals for soccer or rugby; and Figure 6 depicts a method of creating goal posts of extended height using multiple sleeves. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 10 Referring initially to Figure 1, there are shown components of an unassembled kit 10 of sporting equipment. The kit 10 includes four sleeves 12 each having an aperture 13 for a shaft 14 extending along the length of each respective sleeve 12. The kit also includes poles in the form of cricket stumps 16, 16', each of which has an upper end 17 and a ground-engaging end 18 having a 15 tapered section 19. A single bail 20 is provided to sit atop the upper end of three of the stumps 16 when the tapered sections 19 of ground-engaging ends 18 are placed in the ground 30, as shown in Figure 2. The stumps 16 and bail 20 are placed at one end (the batsman's end) with stump 16' being placed at the other end (the 20 bowler's end). It will of course be appreciated that the bail 20 could instead be provided as two smaller separate bails as is commonly done in the game of cricket. Referring now to Figure 3, the kit 10 is shown assembled into a set of Australian Rules football goals. Two of the sleeves 12 are set at a height H above 25 the ground 30 to act as goal posts 40, while the other two sleeves are set at a lower height h to act as behind posts 41. The heights h, H are controlled by inserting the upper end 17 of poles 16 into the shaft 14 of sleeves 12 to a different extent. A greater (lesser) degree of insertion results in a shorter (taller) goal post 40,41. 30 In embodiments where the upper 17 or ground-receiving end 18 of stumps 16 is or are adapted to frictionally engage with the inner surface of the shaft 14, the heights h, H may be adjusted with relative freedom. In other embodiments where the shaft 14 includes a stop or stops (not shown) so that the sleeve 12 has 4 a closed recess at both ends, and there is no or little frictional engagement with the stumps 16, the heights h, H would be fixed by the position of the stop or stops within the shaft 14. Figure 4 shows, in more detail, the placement of stump 16 inside shaft 14 5 to form goal post 40. Shaft 14 is open at each end, and so either of the apertures 13 can accommodate either the upper end 17 or the ground-engaging end 18 of stump 16. The outer surface 15' at the upper end 17 of stump 16 has a diameter which is substantially the same as the inner diameter of the shaft 14. The sleeve 12 is preferably made from a resilient material which will "give" 10 slightly when a force is applied to insert the wooden or plastic stump, so that the sleeve 12 can slide over the stump 16, but which will then return to its original state. The inner surface 15 of shaft 14 thus engages frictionally with the outer surface 15' to hold the relative positions of stump 16 and sleeve 12 fixed when the force ceases to be applied. Expanded polyethylene (EPE) foam is a 15 particularly preferred material. In an alternative embodiment, the shaft may be slightly tapered with the upper end of the stump having a diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the shaft at its end. Referring now to Figure 5, there is shown an alternative configuration of 20 the sleeves 12 and poles 16 in which each of the goal posts 40 is set at the same height, and two pairs of goal posts 40 are placed at opposite ends of a field 50 to act as soccer or rugby goals. It may be desirable to create taller goal posts, for example for rugby, and the preferred embodiment described above can conveniently be used to do so. 25 This is shown schematically in Figure 6, in which a first stump 16 is placed inside a first sleeve 12 as in Figure 4. A second stump 26, which is in its relevant aspects identical to the stump 16, is then inserted into the opposite end of the first sleeve 12. As shown in Figure 6, the ground-engaging end 28 (with tapered section 30 29) of stump 26 has been inserted into the shaft of sleeve 12, with its upper end 27 left protruding from the shaft. It will be appreciated that the positions of upper end 27 and ground-engaging end 28 can be reversed without affecting the relevant functional aspects of the configuration shown in Figure 6.
5 After insertion of the second stump 26, a second sleeve 22 is slid over the protruding upper end 27 of stump 26 in order to form the extended goal post 60. The second stump 26 thereby acts as a connector between the two sleeves 12, 22 due to the frictional engagement between it and each of the sleeves. 5 It will be appreciated that many modifications may be made to the embodiments shown in Figures 1 to 6 without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims appended hereto. For example, sleeves 12 of varying length could be included in the kit 10 of Figure 1 to enable greater variation of goal post height. Additional connecting members of appropriate 10 dimensions could be supplied in order to assist in construction of the extended goal posts 60, to allow stumps 26 to continue to be used as cricket stumps, or to be used to construct behind posts. 15