Craitman

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This article is about the real-life micronationalist. For other uses, see Craitman (disambiguation).

Craitman H. Pellegrino, commonly referred to solely as Craitman, is an English micronationalist who has been involved in online micronational communities since mid-2006, although his micronational experience dates back to late 2002, when he founded the Kingdom of Craitland. Since 2006, Craitman has been heavily involved in the simulationist sector, becoming Administrator General of the MCS in 2009, being FMF President from 2007—both roles he relinquished in 2023—and holding citizenships in a number of different nations.

Selected citizenships

Craitman has held citizenships within the following nations at some point during his micronational lifetime. Only nations in which he considers his contributions noteworthy enough are listed, but he has also been involved in lesser positions in other nations. Nations which are emboldened were founded either fully or jointly by Craitman, with italicised nations being ones of which Craitman was head of state during part of their history.

Micronational awards

Below are the micronational awards that Craitman has been honoured with. They are listed in alphabetical order of their respective post-nominal letters, as shown in parentheses.


Craitman is also a four-time FNORD Award winner, as below, and has also been nominated for a further five FNORDs since joining the community.

Personal life

Craitman was born Adám Perryman in Devon, in 1990, and lived in a small village near Totnes until 2010, when he left for university. He attended school at King Edward VI Community College in Totnes, and also remained at the school's sixth form centre for his A-levels. After studying for four years, he eventually successfully applied for university and went-on to study BA (Hons) Media Communications and Screen Studies at Glyndŵr University in Wrexham, Wales, where he graduated with a 2:1 classification after three years' study.

Craitman founded Craitland in December 2002 as an extension to his love for different countries' cultures and languages, and a desire to start his own. Prior to 2006, when Craitland claimed on Micras, the nation's sole claim was Craitman's parental home; a region which remains as the Craitish Earth-based embassy today.

Craitman's passion for sport is well-known throughout both the simulationist and secessionist sectors, and he takes active roles within a number of virtual sports organisations; most notably the FMF. In his personal life, Craitman has played football, handball and cricket for different teams at different levels. Craitman was also a budding athlete in secondary school, specialising in high jump, where he broke the school record in two consecutive years, and also the 200 metres.

Football

Personal information
Full nameAdám David Perryman
Place of birthTorquayEngland
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing positionWinger / Forward
Youth career
2001KEVICC
2001–03Ipplepen Athletic
2002Snape
2004Stoke Gabriel Athletic
2005Snape
Senior career
YearsTeamApps(Gls)*
2008Unifix XI1(0)
2011Glyndŵr Casuals4(5)
2011–12Brickfield Rangers0(0)
2013Glyndŵr GB1(0)
2016–17Zone Team 212(15)
2016Zone Team 1 (loan)1(1)
2017Zone Team 11(1)
* Appearances (Goals)
Player has received at least one call-up for any emboldened national teams

Despite not enjoying playing football until starting secondary school, Craitman has since played the sport casually very regularly. Although now playing primarily as a winger or a forward, Craitman was a goalkeeper in his younger years. After playing once for his school's Year 7 team as a winger in 2001, Craitman focused on goalkeeping for Ipplepen Athletic's youth sides for two seasons before leaving the team. In 2002, Craitman represented his school house in goal as they won the football tournament unbeaten and without conceding a goal. In the summer of 2004, Craitman co-founded and captained his local Stoke Gabriel Athletic for a carnival competition, in which they finished second, with Craitman playing in midfield in all three matches and scoring one goal. The following year, Craitman once again represented Snape house in his school's football tournament, this time as a winger. Despite playing in all four matches and scoring one goal, Craitman and the team finished as runners-up after losing their final and decisive game.

In summer 2008, Craitman appeared in a charity match for Unifix XI, playing in a number of positions as they beat Chard Rangers 2–1. In early 2011, after starting university, Craitman co-founded the Glyndŵr Casuals to take part in a six-a-side friendly tournament, where he played in all four matches and scored five goals as the team finished second on goal difference. Later in the year, Craitman began training, and signed a contract, with Brickfield Rangers, but failed to break into the reserve team before leaving to concentrate on his handball career. In the summer of 2012, Craitman was planned to appear in the micronational PoliNation Games, representing the MicroWiki team, but the series was cancelled due to a lack of interest.

In March 2013, Craitman appeared in a friendly match organised to show support of the presidential campaigns for the year's Students' Guild elections. The teams involved represented the university's British and European student populations, with Craitman playing for the former. Appearing as a winger and a forward for different parts of the match, Craitman assisted the British team's seventh and eighth goals in an 8–6 victory.

In early 2016, Craitman began playing non-competitive seven-a-side football among work colleagues and friends. With the players organised into two semi-permanent teams, Craitman spent almost all of his time playing for the designated "Team 2", scoring 13 goals in eleven appearances, and also appeared for "Team 1" as a loan during the teams' first meeting, where he added another goal. The teams' matches were scheduled on Mondays, and other commitments meant Craitman was unable to play regularly from mid-2016 onward. However, he returned to play one additional match for each team in early 2017, adding three further goals to his personal tally.

Although he now no longer plays for any organised teams, Craitman still enjoys playing football casually.

Table football

Craitman was one of the founding members of the League of Table Football in Craitland in 2011, with his team Park Avenue FC. Despite being well-beaten in the league's first eight seasons, Craitman and Park Avenue FC won the ninth and final season. Park Avenue FC's sole title came during a season which was reduced from the usual first-to-twenty to a first-to-fifteen following a volar plate avulsion fracture suffered by Craitman, who was unable to compete for a number of weeks as a result.

Handball

Personal information
Full nameAdám David Perryman
Place of birthTorquayEngland
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing positionGoalkeeper
Senior career
YearsTeamApps(Gls)*
2011–13Glyndŵr University6(0)
2012–13Deva Wrexham9(0)
2012–13Deva Development1(0)
* Appearances (Goals)
Player has received at least one call-up for any emboldened national teams

Craitman's experience with handball dates back to only 2008, where he gained interest in the sport after seeing it being played at the Olympics that year. In 2011, after beginning his second year at university, he joined Glyndŵr University's handball team and became first-choice goalkeeper. The team played its first friendly match in early 2012, beating Wirral HC Reserves, with Craitman playing the whole game.

Later in 2012, Craitman signed a contract with Super 8 team Deva HC. He played his first full game for the club's developmental Wrexham side in early November with a friendly against Liverpool HC Reserves. The following day, Craitman competed for and captained Glyndŵr University in a developmental university tournament, in which they finished seventh out of nine teams after winning their classification final against Edge Hill, despite losing all three group games. The team also played an impromptu friendly against Bangor on the same day, which they won. Later in the month, Craitman made his début for the Deva Development team, playing almost twenty minutes in a loss to NEM Hawks.

After being officially named captain of the Glyndŵr University team, Craitman helped organise their entry in the ABUHC University Championships in early 2013. However, due to unforeseen circumstances affecting the team's travel plans last-minute, they were unable to participate and had to withdraw from the tournament. Craitman played his first match of 2013 for Deva Wrexham in a friendly loss to MMU Cheshire. Craitman was voted as Glyndŵr University's handball player of the year for the 2012–13 season in April 2013, and was awarded the trophy the following month. In early May 2013, Deva Wrexham hosted a six-team friendly tournament among other similarly-aged teams. The team finished bottom of the group after losing all five of their matches, in which Craitman was an ever-present. After graduating from university, Craitman left the Glyndŵr team due to ineligibility and also severed his connection with Deva HC after moving back to Devon following the completion of his degree course.

Cricket

Craitman has also played for his local cricket team, Stoke Gabriel Cricket Club, at a number of different levels. Primarily a bowler, he has taken three wickets and made many catches, and has hit a total of 16 runs as a tail-ender batsman.