A Very French game in Australia: Bill and Alma are into Pétanque

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  (Last updated Jan. 24, 2010)

 

                                              

                                                   

 

 

      Yes, I know, as sports go it can’t be called very strenuous. But it’s fun nonetheless. We’ve been playing Pétanque, a game originated by the French in which people stand around with a glass of good wine close at hand on a Sunday afternoon and, after much fanfare,  lob a heavy steel ball (about the size of an orange and weighing 700 grams or so) toward a little rubber ball about 10 meters away on a hard-packed fine gravel pitch. As opposed to just being bowled, the ball (or “boule” as we call it) is lobbed fairly high so that after a short roll it will come as close as possible to the “cochonnet” (or small rubber “jack”). Two or three balls are tossed by each player, and opposing team players try to “shoot” your boule away with a high, hard toss that occasionally sends players scattering for cover.  The idea is to end each round with as many boules as possible closest to the jack and thereby win anywhere from 1 to 6 points towards the 13 points needed to win a game.

   Pétanque is a very social game, vaguely similar to bocce in the sense that conviviality is a big part of it. One major attraction is that many vineyards in the region hold Pétanque tournaments characterized by much wine tasting and socializing while the game is played. Typical of the tournaments we occasionally rock up for is a vineyard in northeast Victoria’s King Valley, where we’ve lost to some pretty good experts during the three weekend tournaments in which we’ve competed there,  but we always have fun anyway. Usually about half the players are French-born Aussies, who tend to be best at it. But the nice thing about Petanque is that you can take it as seriously as you want (on our very first two outings at the St. Kilda Sports Club’s annual winter competitions we were pitted against a couple of national champions—and lost, naturally) or not overly seriously. But in a recent competition at our club, Bill ended up the top-scoring player, and in another contest he went undefeated against some very high-ranking players from the Dove Petanque Club, so maybe there’s a bit of improvement there. But the idea is to bring a picnic basket and a bottle of wine and have fun, while meeting some other fun-loving people, and that’s what we mostly do.

   We’re members of what we think is a great Petanque group—the Camberwell Petanque Club, which plays on 18 pistes adjacent to the greens at the Hawthorn Bowls Club, which has been a local mainstay since the 1800s. Bill is Immediate Past-president of the Club and is the creator and editor of the club’s website, “The Camberwell Petanque Club Piste-up.” That’s a somewhat rude play on words, but you can check out the website at  www.pisteup.com and see that it’s good, wholesome fun (mostly).

     Here are some photos of our club in action, as well as a few shots taken at other Petanque outings we’ve had:

 

Playing outside the Pizzini Vineyards wine sheds

Bill tries a new strategy of having a glass between games

Lunch is served amidst the wine casks, appropiately enough

Graham, Jean-Jacques and Bill raise a glass or two

Alma ready to shoot boule at Pizzini Vineyard

Our club members celebrate a win at Pizzini tournament

      Bill and mixed doubles partner Helen with wine prizes

   Relaxing between games with friends  Helen and Colin

Pulling weeds on our local pistes is part of Pétanque

Aimee throws, Alma watches at Camberwell Club

Petanque Club management committee-2009 (me front, left)

 

Alma, Bill, Alec hold Triples prizes (David looking on)

Bill throws a boule at Camberwell Sunday meeting

 

As the then-President of club, I accept “Battered Boule” trophy

Camberwell Petanque Club and 2007 Battered Boule Trophy

The action’s also furious during the lunch break

Heine and Trish take a break from the game’s rigors

Making the elimination ladder for a club match

David cracks open a bottle of red to sustain the players

Alma gets tucked into some cheeses during lunch break

A tournament we played in at Cope-Williams Vineyard

Alma “points” her boule in Cope-Williams tournament

Alma doing the measuring and scoring at end of a round

Jacob in form at a social game in Melbourne

Lisa sizes up the piste at Melbourne game

 

   Playing alongside the Yarra River last year

 

 

 

 

 

  And here’s a copy of a flyer I created to promote Petanque, particularly at our club:

 

 

 

 

“Funny name,

 great game”

 

 

 
Pétanque    

 

 

   Pétanque competition at Hawthorn Bowls Club

Play is usually followed by wine,  lunch, laughs

       An Invitation to try it yourself

Join some entertaining and enthusiastic Pétanque players  Sunday afternoons  and also Friday evenings during summer  at the Hawthorn Bowling Club, located adjacent to St. James Park at Wood and Denham streets, Hawthorn. BYO picnic lunch & drinks.

      Pétanque is a close relative of Italian Bocce and even closer to  jeu provençal, which originated in southern France in the early 1900s. Petanque first came to Australia in the 1960s with French immigrants,  and in recent years has rapidly spread to the point where Victoria alone has 16 clubs. Pétanque Australia lists 47 clubs nationally, with 1,200 registered players and more than 7,000 participants.

  The Camberwell Pétanque Club  holds  social games one Sunday a month, and Twilight games Fridays from 5-9 p.m. during Daylight Savings time. It hosts tournaments, and often plays in competitions throughout Victoria.

         $5.00 per person includes tuition, boules provided

Contacts:    Richard              Trish              Terry              Bill

                   9853-68611         9815-0443       9803-3330     9348-0639

 

                                                  Melway Ref. 44 K9

                              

 

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