Dial up - English Petanque Association

�o.14 –SUMMER 2009 EDITIO� UARTERLY 

Official Newsletter of the English Pétanque Association 

What’s In This Issue? 

National News : Pages 1 - 2 

Competition Results : Page 3 - 6 

News and results from all the EPA events held to date 

and the Grand Prix final at Whittlesey. 

Round The Regions : Pages 7 - 10 

Our usual round up of snippets from around the Regions. 

World News : Pages 12 - 13 

Pétanque news from around the globe. 

Plus Much More… 

CONGRESS OF 

REGIONS 

The EPA Congress of Regions will be held 

at Blossomfield Club, The Wardens, Widney 

Lane, Solihull, West Midlands B91 3JY on 

Saturday 18 th July 2009 at 11am. 

All EPA Affiliated Clubs and Leagues or 

County Regions wishing to submit motions 

to be considered at congress should submit 

them in writing to: EPA National Secretary, 

7 Richard Walker Close, Bury St Edmunds, 

Suffolk IP32 7GX to arrive no later than 20 th 

June. 

Regions are entitled to send a number of 

delegates, based on their membership on 30 th 

April, so lobby your region to ensure that 

you are fully represented. 

For current news from the EPA make sure you visit the EPA web site regularly 

www.englishpetanque.org.uk 

1 

EPA 

MANAGEMENT 

COMMITTEE 

CHANGES 

Despite the number of very vocal “experts” 

on our sport the EPA Management 

Committee was (and still is) seriously under 

strength. At the AGM just nine of the 17 

posts were filled, leaving eight vacancies (5 

regional reps, 2 league reps and the Youth 

Development Officer), so earlier in the year 

Graham and Debbie Elcome (Southern 

Counties) came forward to fill two of the 

vacancies for regional representatives and 

were duly co-opted onto the National 

Committee. 

Since then however, due to some 

unprecedented and quite frankly 

unwarranted, public criticism of the National 

Management Committee the National 

Playing Officer, Martin Eggleton, has sadly 

resigned from his post. 

As no volunteer has come forward to replace 

Martin this means even more work for the 

already over-worked committee. 

Hopefully some of those who have openly 

criticised the committee in the past will now 

step up and put themselves forward to stand 

on the committee and give up some of their 

own time for the benefit of the sport and 

others, but somehow I doubt it!

WELCOME 

We extend a warm welcome to the latest new clubs 

and their members to join the EPA: 

Arreton Barns PC (Isle of Wight) 

Bentley West End PC (�orthern) 

Brampton Hall PC (�orthern) 

Bricklayers Arms (formerly Whitehill Tavern) (Sussex) 

Debden Sports Brits (Eastern) 

Drifters PC (Chiltern) 

Meadow PC (Kent) 

Queen Victoria PC (East Midlands) 

Rawmarsh Traders PC (�orthern) 

Rayne Cock PC (Eastern) 

Ring O Bells PC (�orthern) 

Rising Sun PC (Kernow) 

Star Meadow PC (Kent) 

Treleigh Arms Pétanque Society (Kernow) 

Waterloo PC (�orthern) 

West Green WMC PC (�orthern) 

White Horse PC (�orthern) 

Plus a welcome back to the: 

Henley Street Cocks PC (Kent) 

And it’s goodbye from them…. Sadly we say au 

revoir to two of our more established pétanque clubs 

and their members as Jersey and Carrefour Pétanque 

Clubs, from the Island of Jersey, now come under the 

Jersey Pétanque Association which affiliated with the 

FIPJP earlier this year. 

INTER-REGIONALS 2009 

For chalet booking you are reminded to 

Book before 31 st July 

By ringing 01278 751627 or 

0844 576 5927 

Quoting “PET0” 

Chalet prices range from £160 for a 4 berth to £210 

for an 8 berth for 3 nights’ accommodation. 

Remember that all participants must be resident 

“on site”. 

Pétanque 

Promotions 

Limited 

Pétanque Promotions has a number of sets of 

boules available at sale prices from as low as £38 

(plus postage, packing & insurance) due to the 

patterns being discontinued. 

2 

FOCUS ON YOUTH 

Sadly the number of juniors taking up the sport has 

been in decline for several years. However in addition 

to the highly acclaimed Junior Weekend of 

Excellence and the successful Youth Academies that 

the EPA has been running several of our regions and 

clubs are also taking action to redress this trend. 

Below is a summary of what is going on in just some 

of our Regions: 

Anglia – Hold Junior Pairs and Triples titles 

competitions plus junior events are also held at 

County and club level. 

Chiltern – Host a Junior Winter League and 

Regional Junior Championships as well as holding 

coaching sessions. At club level a number of clubs run 

very successful Adult & Junior events. 

East Midlands – Hold junior coaching sessions 

every Saturday morning at the Willow. 

Eastern – Held a junior coaching day in May and 

hope to arrange a further session in the near future. 

Isle of Wight – Hold junior squad days and, in 

conjunction with Southern, have an annual 

“Junior/Espoirs Inter-Regional” event. 

Kent - Continue to run their monthly junior academy 

days. 

Southern – Continue to run their annual Junior 

Triples and Adult/Junior Doubles titles events. 

West Midlands – Whitnash Windmill PC have 

taken the initiative and run a weekly after school club 

at a local junior school (see page 10 for more details). 

Is your club/region doing its bit? Write to us at the 

address on the back page and let us know. 

HOME NATIONS 

DATE CHANGE 

Due to a clash of dates with the first round of the 

European Club Cup the Home Nations event, which 

this year is taking place in Swansea Wales, has been 

moved back a week to the weekend of 15 th -16 th 

August. 

The boule range from 72 to 75 mm in diameter 

and from 700 to 760 grams in weight. 

E-email info@boulesales.co.uk or call 024 7646 

4034 (office hours only) for details.

WHITTLESEY 

I�DOOR GRA�D 

PRIX FI�AL 

After five rounds of qualification, 16 teams competed 

in the Whittlesey grand prix series finals on Sunday 

1st March. The day started with a 'snake' competition 

which reduced the main field down to 8, with all but 

one of the top seeded teams entering the knock out 

stage. 

The main shock in the quarter-final was the defeat of 

L'Equipe (Sof Lachani, Simon Bird & Nic Baxter) by 

J.S.S. (Jeremy Huntley, Scott Ashby & Sarah 

Huntley). Lucky Scotland (Matt Eversden, Steve 

Zimmerman & Phil Winston) lived up to their name 

against Goodfellas (Dean Seville, Miles Gooda & 

Phillipe Bonnet), as an unfortunate coche trail costing 

their opponents certain victory. 

J.S.S. continued in fine form defeating Errea (Jerome 

Rousseau, Phil Claydon, Herve Bavazzano & Martin 

Baker) in the first semi. In the other semi, Lucky 

Scotland got the better of “Oh So Lucky” (Alan 

Newland, Adrian Emson & Myra Huntley). 

In the final J.S.S. could not sustain their form and 

Lucky Scotland ran out creditable winners, collecting 

winning prize money of £300.00. 

Report courtesy of Alan Newland 

IMPORTA�T 

CHA�GE 

PLEASE E�SURE THAT ALL EPA 

COMPETITIO� E�TRY FORMS ARE 

�OW RETUR�ED TO: 

MIKE PEGG, 

41 WARWICK ROAD, 

SOUTHAM, 

WARWICKSHIRE, CV47 0HW 

3 

EPA CLUB 

KNOCKOUT 

FINALS 

The last four clubs from the EPA’s Club Knock Out 

competition met up at Whittlesey on 22 nd March to 

decide who would be crowned English Club 

Champions and go on to represent the EPA in the 

European Club Cup. 

The semi-finals pitted Engine (Chiltern) against 

Lordswood (Kent) and Tovil (Kent) against Mistral 

(�orthern). 

In two very tight contests both matches went the 

distance with Engine and Tovil both overcoming their 

opponents 4 games to 3. 

In the final Tovil got off to a flying start winning both 

the triples games with relative ease. Engine then 

fought back winning all three doubles games to take 

the match to the final round. Honours were even in 

the final round but this was enough to give Engine the 

title. 

The Engine were ‘rewarded’ with a home draw for the 

first round of the European Cup where they will face 

Dutch club champions PUK Haarlem along with the 

club champions of Slovenia. The match will take 

place at NHIA PC’s pistes in Letchworth Garden City 

over the weekend of 8 th -9 th August. If you are not 

doing anything then why not come along. I am sure 

Engine would welcome the ‘home’ support. 

The winning team consisted of Alan Newland, Myra 

Huntley, Malcolm Sims, Phil Winston, Mat Eversden 

and Miles Gooda. 

Engine’s Route to the Title: 

Round 1 Bye 

Round 2 Home v Plume of Feathers won 7 - 0 

Round 3 Away v White Hart won 5 - 2 

Round 4 Away v Victorians won 4 - 3 

Round 5 Home v Welcome Stranger won 5 - 0 

Round 6 Away v Plough & Chequers won 4 - 1 

Semi-Final v Lordswood won 4 - 3 

Final v Tovil won 4 - 3 

PQ Fairly Fascinating (Useless) Fact: 

One pleasing aspect of the EPA Knockout finals was 

that nearly half (12) of the competitors had previously 

come through the junior ranks.

EPA PREMIER 

LEAGUE 

The EPA’s new Premier League got underway at 

Whittlesey on 8 th March. The league consists of the 

top 8 teams from last year’s final two qualifiers. 

Separate events are held each month between March 

and August to establish the top teams who will go on 

to represent the EPA in International events. In 

addition grants of £150 per team will be made 

available to the top 4 teams after the match days in 

April, May, June, July and August. The grants are to 

be used to take part in competitions in Europe with 

the aim to regularly play in top level competitions. 

The format for each event is rolling barrage with 

points awarded according to the final position on each 

day. These points are then collated over the season to 

create a league table. 

Results so far (top 3 teams per event): 

Round 1 @ Whittlesey 

1. Martin Baker, Phil Claydon, Jerome Rousseau & 

Herve Bavazzano 

2. Dave Chalkly, Barry Wing, Matt Horrigan & Lee 

Jamieson 

3. Chris Allen, Vanessa Webb, Greg Davenport & 

Ashley Jamieson 

Round 2 @ Lordswood on 5 th April 

1. Dave Chalkly, Barry Wing, Matt Horrigan & Lee 

Jamieson 

2. Chris Allen, Vanessa Webb, Greg Davenport & 

Ashley Jamieson 

3. Nic Baxter, Simon Bird, Daniel Hill & Sofiane 

Lachani 

Round 3 @ Rayne Swan 

1. Chris Allen, Vanessa Webb, Greg Davenport 

2. Nic Baxter, Simon Bird, Sofiane Lachani 

3. Martin Baker, Phil Claydon, Jerome Rousseau & 

Herve Bavazzano 

Tables after 3 rounds: 

Pos Team Members Pts 

1 C.Allen, V.Webb, G.Davenport & A.Jamieson 42 

2 M.Baker, P.Claydon, J.Rousseau & H.Bavazzano 34 

3 D.Chalkly, B.Wing, M.Horrigan & L.Jamieson 32 

4 N.Baxter, S.Bird, D.Hill & S.Lachani 28 

5 S.Ashby, S.Huntley, J.Huntley, A.Emson 24 

6 M.Hickman, K.Spillett, R.Jones & A.Bruce 22 

J.Edmondson, J.Sheffield, T.Moulding 22 

8 D.Ashby, S.Brown, T.Glenn, D.Seville 12 

The next events in the Premier & Open League series 

are on 7 th June at the following venues. Remember the 

Open League is open to any EPA members: 

Premier League @ N.H.I.A. PC (�ote change of venue) 

Open League @ Tovil PC and @ N.H.I.A. PC 

4 

EPA OPE� 

LEAGUE 

Running in parallel with the Premier League, since the 

second event, is the EPA Open League. This second 

tier of competition is being played simultaneously at 

two different venues each month to cut down on 

players travelling and costs. 

The top 8 teams after the event on 5th July in the 

Open League will be invited to represent the EPA in 

the Home Nations Championship. 

Also after the final event the top 12 ranked teams in 

the Open League will play off with the bottom 4 from 

the Premier League in October. The top 4 teams after 

the play off will be promoted to the Premier League 

the following year. 

Regardless of the number of teams present, and 

thereby the playing format used, the points system 

used at each event is as follows: 

1st (winner) = 8 points 

2nd (runner-up) = 6 points 

3rd & 4th / semi-finalists = 4 points 

5th to 8th / quarter-finalists = 2 points 

Remaining teams = 1 point 

Results so far (Top 2 at each event): 

Lordswood on 5 th April 

1 st Geoff Booth, Chris Watkins, Trevor Gordon & Simon 

Doble. 

2 nd Bruno Bove, Rachid Hannache, Sylvain Borsi & Robert 

Silvy. 

Whitnash on 5 th April 

1 st Tom Longstaff, Kath, Paul & Dave Brooks. 

2 nd Gary Durant, Garth Fletcher, Teresa & Peter Bingham. 

Crondall on 3 rd May 

1 st Rachid Hannache, Sylvain Borsi & Robert Silvy. 

2 nd Michael Tull, Ashley O’Dell & Harrison Ash. 

Luton on 3 rd May 

1 st Emma Jones, Toni Gates & Steve Zimmerman 

2 nd Gary Durant, Garth Fletcher, Teresa & Peter Bingham. 

Top of the Table after 4 events: 

Pos Team Members Pts 

1 B.Bove, R.Hannache, S.Borsi, R.Silvy 14 

2 G.Durant, G.Fletcher, T.Bingham, P.Bingham 12 

G.Booth, C.Watkins, T.Gordon, S.Doble 12 

4 T.Longstaff, K.Brooks, P.Brooks, D.Brooks 10 

E. Jones, T.Gates, J.Sewell, S.Zimmerman 10 

6 R.King, N.Phillips, M.Whatley, M.Shrimpton 8 

M.Tull, M.Slater, A.O’Dell, H.Ash 8

EPA Junior Qualifier 

The first round of the EPA Junior Qualifiers was held 

at Adur PC on 19 th April. The entry was low, with just 

5 teams but given the current economic climate this 

was not totally unexpected. However what the event 

lacked in quantity it was more than made up for in 

quality. 

Spectator John Edmondson (East Midlands) 

commented on the TalkingBoule web site: 

“The members that made up those teams were of 

exceptional quality, from their standard of play, their 

attitude towards other players and their desire to 

win.” 

“I don’t normally like watching games as I'd rather 

be playing, but I sat there from 8.45am until 6pm and 

didn’t miss a boule. These Juniors can easily give 

many a senior player a run for their money. If that’s 

the standard that’s coming through then our sport is 

in good hands for the future.” 

The new format being used this year, in line with that 

being used for International events, was that each 

team had to consist of 4 players. The format was a 

snake with each match consisting of a triple and a 

single match taking place followed by 2 doubles 

matches. 

The juniors seemed to enjoy the new format 

commenting that it "mixed it up" and "you get a 

chance to show off your skills in singles and 

doubles". 

Below are the standings after the first event: 

Posn Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 

1 Max Samual Ross James Reece 

O'Rourke Blakey 

Gould 

2 Emma Amy Emma Georgie 

Longstaff Huntley Stockbridge Wright 

3 Sam Callum Mike Priest Martin 

Thatcher Lombard 

Brooks 

4 Ben Josh Littley Alex Bruce Gary 

Littley 

Atkinson 

5 Rachel Joshua Philip Paul 

Massey Tombleson Hamilton Fernley 

The second event will be held at Lordswood on 14 th 

June with the third and final event at British Sugar, 

Bury-St-Edmunds on 14 th July. 

EPA Espoir Qualifier 

The first round of the EPA Espoir (Under 23) 

Qualifiers was due to be held alongside the Junior 

event at Adur PC on 19 th April. Sadly this had to be 

cancelled due to a lack of entries. 

5 

The EPA Ladies International Qualifying Series for 

2009 ‘coched off’ at Thurmaston on 26 th April. 

Twenty teams took part which was a 17.5% increase 

on the corresponding event last year and saw 10 

regions represented. 

The only undefeated team on the day, with 5 wins, 

were the team of Angie Jamieson, Vanessa Webb and 

Deborah Elcome (Kent/Eastern/Southern). While two 

teams – Chris Best, Angie Gaughan & Claire Bicknell 

(Northern) and Viv Middleton-Sams, Clare Courtney 

& Wendy Ridehalgh (Eastern) - finished on 4 wins 

apiece. 

The second qualifier took place at Harrow on 22 nd 

May. This saw a reduced entry of 15 teams and a 

marked change in the weather with constant showers 

throughout the day. 

Once again the team of Jamieson, Webb and Elcome 

remained undefeated to finish as No.1 seeds. With 

their 4 wins on the day Southern’s Liz Farrow, Julie 

Beckett and Roz Silvester finished in clear second 

place. Seven teams finished the series on six wins 

each with the Eastern team of Middleton-Sams, 

Courtney & Ridehalgh just missing out on the Top 8. 

The top 8 teams from this series of qualifiers (listed 

below) will now play a one day event on 21 st June 

(venue to be announced) to decide which team will be 

invited to represent the English Pétanque Association 

at the 2009 Women’s World Championship. The 

format for the EPA’s Women’s Top 8 will be 

“Rolling Barrage” followed by Knock out rounds. 

Ladies Top 8: 

Posn Team Members 

1 A.Jamieson, V.Webb, D.Elcome 

2 L.Farrow, J, Beckett, R.Silvester 

3 C.Best, A.Gaughan, C.Bicknell 

4 E.Jones, S.Fane, L.Ciano, P.Treend 

5 V.Marshall, V.Lloyd, T. Beadsmore, K.James 

6 F.Golder, S.King, L.Shrimpton, B.Sharratt 

7 L.Edmondson, E.Longstaff, K.Brooks, K.Lachani 

8 M.Huntley, S.Huntley, A.Huntley J.Cooter

NATIONAL 

TITLES 

WEEKEND 

Sponsored by 

The EPA’s National Singles, Doubles and Mixed 

Doubles events took place over the traditional May 

Bank Holiday weekend. 

This year the only bid received to host the event was 

by the Isle of Wight Region – so the event duly 

moved south to the Sandown Shanklin RFC. 

Sponsorship was found by the local committee 

courtesy of Isle of Wight Tours who arranged a 

number of package deals for travel and 

accommodation over the weekend. 

Despite fears that the number of participants would 

drop significantly the EPA Singles, held on 

Saturday actually saw an increase in participants on 

last year with 83 people taking part, including a large 

number of ‘locals’. 

After six rounds of the Swiss system (winner plays 

winner) just two players remained undefeated – 

Christopher Bailey from the Isle of Wight and 

defending champion Rachid Hannache from London. 

These two players then contested the final which 

Rachid went on to beat Christopher by 13 points to 5 

to retain the title of English Singles Champion. Seven 

players finished on five wins with third place going to 

another Isle of Wight member, Christopher Gordine. 

The results of the EPA Singles were: 

Winner: Rachid Hannache 

Runner up: Christopher Bailey 

The following day and 54 teams registered for the 

EPA Doubles which was played in glorious 

sunshine. 

Defending champions Keith Flack and Dean Little 

from Eastern Counties suffered their only defeat in the 

third round but this was enough to deprive them of 

retaining the title. 

The championship was dominated by our younger 

members with 5 Espoirs (under 23’s) finishing in the 

top three teams. After the five rounds of the Swiss 

system Scott Ashby & Dean Seville (Kent/Southern) 

and Graham Galton & Wayne Thatcher (Southern) 

6 

were the only two undefeated teams so they duly went 

on to contest the final which Scott and Dean went on 

to win 13 v 6 to take the title of English Doubles 

Champions. Scott’s brother Dean Ashby and playing 

partner Sarah Huntley finished third (Kent/Chiltern). 

The results of the EPA Doubles were: 

Winners: Scott Ashby & Dean Seville 

R/up: Graham Galton & Wayne Thatcher 

The final event of the weekend was held on bank 

holiday Monday with 46 teams booking in for the 

EPA Mixed Doubles. 

Once again the result was a win for youth over 

experience as Dean Seville took his second title of the 

weekend. With partner Debbie Elcome (Southern 

Counties) they triumphed over Lisa Edmondson and 

Pete Best (East Mids/Northern) beating them 13-1 in 

the final. Kent’s Irene & Colin Gibbs were third. 

The results of the EPA Mixed Doubles were: 

Winners: Debbie Elcome & Dean Seville 

Runners up: Lisa Edmondson & Pete Best 

The PQ Titles Weekend Awards 2009: 

The PQ Star Player Award goes to Dean Seville 

(obviously). With his two titles over the weekend he 

joins a very select band of just 3, with Sofiane 

Lachani (twice) and Tom Hutchings, who have won 

two titles over the titles weekend. However just to 

prove Dean is human he did lose 3 games in the 

Singles to finish 33 rd . 

The PQ Supporters Award goes to the Isle of Wight. 

Nearly five times more Isle of Wight members played 

over the weekend than Anglia members last year. Just 

3 EPA Regions (Anglia, Kernow & Thames Valley) 

were not represented over the weekend. 

The PQ Drop-Off Award goes to John Edmondson 

of the East Midlands. Officially John finished the 

Singles with 5 wins. However he recorded the result 

of his third match around the wrong way, giving the 

win to his opponent so he was actually undefeated on 

the day and could have missed out on playing in the 

final. Oops! 

The PQ Junior Award goes to the Longstaffs (East 

Midlands). Top junior in the singles was 14 year old 

Emma Longstaff who finished 13 th . Brother Tom (12) 

was top junior in the Doubles finishing 6 th while 

Emma was again top junior in the Mixed Doubles 

finishing a fantastic fourth. Two stars for the future!

12 teams competed in 

the first round of Regional 

Qualifiers. Finishing on 

top spot were Glenn Fusco, Keith Burgess and Glenn 

Harcourt. They edged out the team of José Garrido, 

Phil Wright and Paul Critten on points. The annual 

Russell Harris Fun Pairs attracted a good entry at the 

St Faiths Centre. This unique competition is designed 

to encourage a level playing field with variable bonus 

starts for different categories of young people and 

novice adults. In addition there is a double score joker 

round. At the conclusion five of the pairings recorded 

five out of six wins with two young people and two 

novice adults included. The winners were the father 

and daughter combination of Bob and 13 year old 

Chloe Urquhart. Finishing in 1 st place at the second 

and final qualifier were David Abery, Peter Walker, 

Tony D’Esposito and George Manchett. They took 

the Regional No.1 spot on points ahead of Garrido, 

Wright & Critten. Well done Josh Wilcox and 

James Urquhart who won the Anglia Junior Pairs title. 

Source: www.angliapetanque.webeden.co.uk 

Chiltern Region The Three Shires Winter 

League finals day was held at NHIA on 8 th March. 

The 10 qualifiers played off in two leagues with the 

respective winners contesting the final which was 

played between Queens Head 2 and Plough 2. Queens 

2 played extremely well all day, not losing any games, 

and they did not falter at the final hurdle winning the 

contest 13-4. The Pennant Winter League finals 

day was held a week later at Ickleford. The main 

competition was contested by 12 teams who qualified 

earlier from the 6 leagues. The in-form Ouse team 

(Mo Sanders, John Luke, Steve Carter and Tom 

Thompson) were the only undefeated team in the 

morning winning all 4 games. They then progressed to 

the final where they met M.B.J. (Jeremy Huntley, 

Miles Gooda, Ben Gallimore and Gareth Sullivan) 

The final proved one game too far for the Ouse who 

could not match the shooting of the younger team who 

won 13-6. 25 teams entered the Regional 

Qualifying series. After the first round of matches on 

10 th May the team of Alan Newland, Adrian Emson 

and Myra Huntley led the standings on points 

difference from Jeremy Huntley, Ben Gallimore, 

Gareth Sullivan and Max O’Rourke. 

Source: www.p.etanque.tripod.com/Chiltern 

7 

Devon Region Ottery St Mary 

PC held their annual Charity Shield 

Open triples event in aid of 

Hospiscare. The winner was 

Hospiscare with the grand sum of £350 being raised. 

The competition winners were John Thatcher, Barry 

and Dianne Scott who beat the home team of Nick 

Grahame, David and Margaret West in the final. To 

date Ottery St Mary PC have raised over £4000 for 

Hospiscare in memory of former members of the club. 

Eastern Counties Region 

Rayne Swan dominated the Braintree 

& District Winter League with their 2 

teams taking the top 2 places. The 

first Regional Qualifier was held at 

Rayne Swan on 29 th March. With the highest number 

of entries for several seasons the 21 teams were a 

mixture of experienced GB players right through to 

novices. Top team of the day were Dean Middleton, 

Graham McDougall, Colin Sams & Clare Courtney 

who completed the day unbeaten with six wins. 

Members of the Towers PC are temporarily homeless 

whilst extensive refurbishment of the Tower Arms 

Public House and grounds takes place. Sadly this 

includes the loss of 4 pistes. Pétanque returned to 

the Sun Inn at Feering after a break of 20 years. Well 

known local player Simon Bird used to be a member 

of the Feering Sun P.C. in the 80’s and remembers 

when fellow players Rob Hartley, Dave Mason & 

Steve Dalgleish represented Great Britain in the world 

championship in 1980. Simon stated “It is good to see 

pétanque back at the Sun, and I am looking forward to 

playing there again this summer”. The present team 

are grateful to the landlord for building a terrain and 

are competing in the Braintree & District Summer 

League. Lorne Gibson of the Rayne Swan won the 

Braintree & District Pétanque League Singles title for 

2009 beating Trevor Blows (Onley) in the final. 

After squeezing through the morning group stages on 

points difference the team of Frank Britt, Adam 

Buxton & Vince Schofield went on to win the 

Regional Triples title beating Simon Bird, Sofiane 

Lachani and Trevor Blows 13-6 in the final. 

Source: www.ecrpetanque.co.uk 

East Midlands P.A. The LPA 

Summer League got underway with 50 

teams split into 5 divisions. Early 

leaders at the top of division 1 are Axe 

& Square 1. The Easter Monday triples at the Air 

Hostess was the first competition of the 2009 season 

for many players in the Region. Eighteen teams took 

part with the home team of Osman Jibril, Peter 

Johnson-Marshall and David (?) taking the honours. 

The annual Leicester v Yorkshire match took place 

at the Willow on Monday 4 th May. The result was a 

resounding win for East Mid’s 38 games to 10, 

although regardless of the score a great day of boule 

was had by all. 

Sources: 

www.boules.org.uk & www.leicestershire-petanque.co.uk/lpa

Great Western Region The Region may 

struggle to put out a squad at the Inter Regional 

Championships this year as just 4 teams turned up for 

the first Regional Qualifier. The City of Bath PC 

have been on a great recruiting drive this year. 

Already, up to the end of April, their EPA 

membership had nearly trebled – up from 11 to 31 

members, including 21 new EPA members. 

Isle of Wight Region 

Bargeman’s “Sails” team 

finished top of their division in 

the Brickfields Winter League 

with a perfect 6 wins out of 6. 

Nick Henry and Kevin Gifford won the Spring Pairs 

competition on points difference from Alan Wright 

and Sean Newton. The event raised £225 with a 

further £50 donated by the region which went towards 

a bench being placed on Cowes seafront in memory of 

Tony Morey. The Isle of Wight Triples were held 

at the Hurricanes, Sandown, on Monday, 10th May. 

Thirteen teams of triples competed. Overall winners 

of the main competition were Sean Newton, Glen 

Jones and Alan Wright. The winner’s of the Plate 

competition were Shirley Hiscock, Mandy Thorne and 

Pauline Stockbridge. 

Source: http://islandpetanque.co.uk 

Kent P.A. The final of the Kent 

Winter League Cup was contested by 

Tovil and The George with The George 

taking the honours. The Plate final was 

won by Hartley Countrymen who beat Villager in the 

final. In the League Tovil went on to retain their 

divisional title in style finishing 17 games clear of 

second placed Hartley Centurians while Hartley 

Countrymen took the other divisional title ahead of 

The George. The KPA Doubles Championships 

were held at the recently refurbished and extended 

Tovil P.C. on 10 th May. Playing in their first regional 

event in their new adopted region Angie and Lee 

Jamieson took the title in a high standard final against 

the equally experienced Matt Horrigan and Dave 

Chalkly. Two possible stars of the future emerged 

at the Lordswood Doubles on 17 th May. Ryan Rudden 

and Daniel Mulford, both of whom are aged 14 years, 

and in Daniel’s case have only been playing for a 

couple of months, won through to the plate final 

against very stiff opposition. In the final they faced 

the experienced team of Chris Watkins and Geoff 

Booth, who along with their team mates are currently 

lying in second place in the EPA Open League. With 

a small but select group of vocal spectators the juniors 

played exceptionally well and deservedly won the 

game. The latest pétanque venue in the County has 

been created at the Railway Inn, Sole Street, near 

Meopham. Andrew, the landlord, has laid a splendid 

new terrain at the rear of the pub and hopes to raise a 

team for the forthcoming KPA Winter League this 

coming October. 

Sources: www.kentpetanque.org & KPA Gazette 

8 

Kernow P.A. The 2009 

season got off to a good start with two 

new clubs joining the region. The 

Rising Sun, near Altarnun in east 

Cornwall, is a new club at a very pleasant country 

pub. There are already a number of members who are 

now working on getting a terrain constructed. 

Meanwhile the Treleigh Arms Pétanque Society 

(TAPS) has re-formed and club nights / practice 

sessions take place every Tuesday. There are lights on 

the two pistes. Winners of the Kernow Pétanque 

winter doubles league were Paul Lancaster and Simon 

Penna of the Treleigh Arms Pétanque Society, 

Redruth who had not lost a single game during the 

entire league! Runners-up were Wendy Booker and 

Peter Gliddon. The winners were presented with a 

distinctive Skinners Brewery trophy. The first 

Kernow Pétanque event of the 2009 season was the 

traditional Easter Egg Shoot that took place at the Star 

Inn, Vogue, on 19 April. Winners were Graeme 

Kirkham, Susan Williamson and Paul Rundle from 

Tregony Sports Club Pétanque Club. Runners-up 

were the Rams: Wendy Booker and Peter Gliddon of 

Carharrack and Martin Dyke of St Austell. Both 

teams won all their games in the competition rounds, 

with Kirkham, Williamson & Rundle taking the final 

13-10. 

Source: www.cornwallpetanque.co.uk 

London P.A. The first 

London Triples event was held at 

Uxbridge on 29 th March. Winners 

were from the Parliament Hill PC – 

Boussba Yousef, Eddie Colin and 

Colin Taylor. Runners Up were 

Merle Sullivan, Mary McDonald and Mehdi Bira 

(Alexandra PC/ Parliament Hill). 

Source: www.londonpetanque.co.uk 

�orthern Pétanque The final 

winter league event took place at 

Wetherby on 15 th March in 

completely different weather to the 

week before with 19 Pairs enjoying a 

lovely spring day. The winners on the day were Ted 

Beetham (Mistral PC) and Matt Blyton (Independent) 

which confirmed Ted as the overall league winner 

from Mike Walkley (Leeds) in 2 nd and Alan Swift 

Wetherby) in 3 rd . Amazingly this was Ted’s third 

victory in four years in this competition and the fourth 

year in a row that the winner has come from the 

Mistral PC. Northern continue to be our star region 

for attracting new clubs and spreading the game of 

pétanque far and wide. Already this year 7 new clubs 

have affiliated in the Region. 19 teams entered the 

Regional Qualifiers this year along with the selected 

juniors (although their results don’t count). Leaders 

after the first event on 10 th May were Luke Howard, 

James Hart & Matt Blyton. 

Source: www.northernpetanque.co.uk

Southern Counties P.A. 

The annual SCPA Quiz was held on 

Friday 27th February at The Limes. 

There was a reasonable turn-out of 8 

teams but disappointingly only 5 clubs were 

represented. After a tight contest the “RADS” team 

(Dave and Alison Stubbs, Richard and Sue Greeves) 

took the title back to Cobbetts for at least the 8th 

time! There were 27 players at the Hampshire Rose 

on Sunday, March 1st for the last of this winter’s 

mêlées. For the second mêlée running the top prize 

went to Roz Silvester but it was a close run thing this 

time with four players winning all their games. 

Congratulations to Adur 

PC’s Debbie Elcome who 

was the winner of Splash 

FM’s Sporting Star 2009 

award (pictured right). 

The SCPA Winter 

Doubles Finals was held 

at Burridge on Saturday, 28th March. Winners were 

Harrison Ash & Ashley Odell (Crondall) who beat 

Karen & Steve Lombard (Hampshire Rose/Cobbetts) 

in the final. On a warm Monday Bank Holiday 

Monday (4th May) 10 juniors joined their adult 

partners at Cobbetts, Burridge to contest the SCPA 

Adult/Junior Doubles. The winners were Samantha 

Thatcher and Graham Galton who defeated Callum 

and Karen Lombard in a close fought final. This 

qualifier for the Inter-Regional competition was held 

at Crondall on Sunday, 10th May. 20 teams 

registered for the first Regional Qualifier on 10 th May 

trying to gain a place to be one of the 12 going to 

represent the region at Brean Sands in September. 

Top performers on the day were Sean Prendergast, 

Ben and Trevor Treend. 

Source: www.southerncountiespetanque.org.uk 

Picture courtesy: www.splashfm.com 

Sussex Pétanque Region 

Brighton & Hove PC’s (B&H) annual 

“battle of the sexes” match ended in a 

win for the men again. However it was 

a much closer affair this year. Going 

into the final round the score stood at 5 games all but 

the men won 4 out of 5 games to triumph by 9 games 

to 6. A pre season “Sussex Tour” organised by 

Norman Hazeldean saw members from Brighton & 

Hove PC visit the Halfway House in Isfield, the 

Uckfield Club in Uckfield, the Wheatsheaf in 

Crowborough and finally the Coopers Arms, also in 

Crowborough, over different weekends. Club member 

Pat commented “This has been a good exercise both 

playing on different terrains with new people and a 

'pub crawl' thrown in for good measure.” The first 

Regional Qualifier was held at Brighton on 10 th May. 

The results will follow (Tony Mann willing) in the 

next edition. 

Source: BHPC Newsletter c/o Tony Mann 

9 

Thames Valley P.A. 

In the TV District Winter Pairs 

Les Stuart and Pete Webb of 

Burnham PC, went one better than 

last year, when they were runners 

up, to take the 2009 title. They beat Alun Jones and 

Bob Young of the Jolly Farmer in the final. Boyne 

Hill ‘Saints’ team currently lead the TV District 

Weekend League while London side Harrow Karrow 

top the Midweek League. 

Source:www.embroiderydepot.streamlinenettrial.co.uk/TVP 

The West 

Midlands Winter 

Pairs competition 

took in 8 events over the winter with each team’s top 

5 results counting to their final total. Clear winners 

were Brian Stote (Coventry PC) and Philippe Bonnet 

(Half Crown). Their best five results included 3 first 

places and two second places. There was an 

excellent turn out for the West Midlands coaching 

session, run by Brian Stote, on the morning of 7 th 

March. 34 players stayed on for an afternoon melee, 

with Pete Allen (Marches PC) picking up the £30 first 

prize. The last game of the Half Crown Winter 

League was played on Saturday 28th March. Bill 

Bentley picked up the trophy as Winter League 

Champion. The Half Crown faced all the other 

clubs in the West Midlands Region in the Inter-Club 

Challenge on 22nd March, and by winning 13 of their 

18 games they held off the challenge from Warwick 

& Whitnash to win the competition for the second 

year in succession. Pictured below the WM Club champions 

Winners of the West Midlands Closed Triples, held 

on 29 th March, were Brian Stote, Philippe Bonnet and 

Jerome Rousseau. Whitnash Windmill PC secured 

a £400 grant from Warwick District Sports Council 

which went towards providing junior boules in 

support of their new “After School” activity (see next 

page for more details) along with scoreboards and 

signage at the terrain to improve health and safety. 

Sources: www.westmidlandspetanque.org.uk 

www.whitnashpetanque.co.uk & 

www.halfcrownpetanque.org.uk 

�on Regional EPA members Geoffrey De La 

Rue and Sebastian Renaud won the Guernsey Winter 

Doubles League premier division title. 

Source: http://guernseypetanque.co.uk

AFTER SCHOOL CLUB 

Full marks to the Whitnash Windmill Pétanque Club 

(WWPC) in the West Midlands region who have 

taken the initiative and started an ‘After School Club’ 

with pupils from a nearby junior school. 

Sessions started on Thursday, 30th April with twelve 

children from Year 5 (10 year olds), and will be 

operating weekly until the end of the summer term. 

Brian Stote, the WM Regional Coach, has kindly 

agreed to attend some of the sessions in order to 

coach the children in various techniques and they are 

trying to inspire them to continue in the sport after the 

ten-week course has finished. To this end they have 

all joined the WWPC and the club have also taken out 

EPA membership for them. Their teacher is also 

attending the sessions. 

It is anticipated that WWPC will hold some 

competitions during the term and finish with a main 

tournament, where certificates, medals, trophies and 

prizes will be awarded to the students, maybe with a 

bit of a social. If the initiative is successful the club 

will consider continuing this recruitment project on an 

annual basis. 

Source: www.whitnashpetanque.co.uk 

MEMBERS ABROAD 

A large party of Brits took part in the 16 th Festival of 

Pétanque at Blanes in Spain between 13 th -17 th April. 

The event was based on 64 triples teams playing 

alongside 32 ladies doubles teams for substantial 

prize money. 

The English ladies did particularly well with the 

following all being recipients of cash prizes: Babbs 

Carr, Barbara Potter, Mags Yates (all Kent), Margaret 

Allen (Guernsey), Pauline Baxter (Southern) and ex 

BPA members Rhona Ewen and Norma Parkway. 

Source: The Kent Pétanque Gazette 

MORE MEMBERS ABROAD 

A party of 22 pétanque players, mainly from the 

Towers PC (Eastern) together with a small group of 

guests from the Victorians and Suffolk, made their 

25th anniversary exchange visit to their adopted 

pétanque club in Merckeghem, France over the 

weekend of 25/26 th April. 

The main event, well apart from all the drinking and 

socialising, took place on the Sunday when the 

competition was based upon 11 UK versus 11 French 

doubles teams. By mid afternoon with all seven 

rounds played the competition drew to a close with 

the final score of `Anglais 50 wins against 27 wins for 

the host`s. 

10 

As it was the 25th year of exchanges, it was marked 

with a presentation by new Towers President Peter 

Way to Merckeghem president Catherine Pouchele. 

For a full report visit: www.ecrpetanque.co.uk 

You will recall that last year Bingo Lotto hit the TV 

screens in the UK and as a result the EPA received 

over £1,000 from the CCPR. The first series ran for 

just 6 weeks and generated nearly £160 per week for 

the EPA. 

Series 2 is likely to start in September and again the 

EPA has registered to benefit from funding. This time 

there will be vastly different amount of funding 

available. Tesco’s will be selling tickets from its 

27,000 stores nationwide and consequently the money 

going to the CCPR will be increased many times over. 

This time sales are anticipated to be in the millions of 

£’s per week, 20% of the funds generated will be 

distributed to CCPR members who have applied, the 

potential additional funding is substantial. There are a 

number of stipulations and restrictions on how the 

EPA may spend any money that it receives; however, 

it is possible that many new opportunities will be 

available as a result. 

To comply with current Gambling Laws the CCPR 

has had to create 27 different societies, all of whom 

will receive funds from the income generated from 

Bingo Lotto, up to a maximum of £2,000,000 per 

society. The EPA has applied to receive funds from 

approximately 20 of these societies and if successful 

we will be able to distribute funds for many and 

varied good causes within our Pétanque family. 

These societies all have different aims and ideals for 

which they will receive funds to distribute. These 

range from “Best In Sport Ltd” which has “to support 

the development and operation by sports 

organisations and recreation organisations of elite 

performance programmes to enhance the ability of 

and opportunities afforded to those participating in 

sport and recreation at a national representative level” 

to “Sport Officials CIC” which supports “to promote 

the development, training and support of officials 

regulating the playing of sport and recreation in the 

United Kingdom”. 

So when you buy your Bingo Lotto tickets at your 

local Tesco store you may well be supporting 

Pétanque in England.

PÉTANQUE 

PEOPLE 

News on some of our individual members 

WEDDING 

BELLS 

Congratulations to EPA President Mike Pegg and his 

partner Marie Morgan (both from Warwick PC in the 

West Midlands) who will be tying the knot on August 

22nd. 

CO�GRATULATIO�S 

Congratulations to Trevor Shand and Nicky (Isle of 

Wight Region) on the birth of a son in March (who 

arrived 14 days late!) at St Mary's Hospital. Baby 

weighed in at 7lb 3oz. 

Source: http://islandpetanque.co.uk 

ANY NEWS? 

If you have any newsworthy items on the sport or our 

members then why not share it with the rest of us. 

Send any articles to the Editor at the address on the 

back page. 

SACRÉS BOULES 

“He really should have gone to Specsavers.” 

Brought to you courtesy of www.petanque.org 

EDITORS NOTE 

The views expressed in PÉTA�QUE QUARTERLY 

are those of the editor and contributors only. They do 

not, necessarily, reflect the views of the English 

Pétanque Association. 

11 

OBITUARIES 

ROBERT (ROB) COOTER 

(1991-2009) 

It is with great sorrow 

that we report the tragic 

death of Robert Cooter, 

on Sunday 22nd March 

2009. Robert, dearly 

loved son of Mark and 

Corinne, and brother to 

Jennifer, was only 17 

when he died in a road 

traffic accident. 

Once a member of 

Gravesend Rugby Club 

Pétanque Section, and 

recently a member of The Plough and Chequers PC 

(now Meadow PC). 

As well as representing the South East/Kent since he 

was 11 Robert was also a 3 time National Junior 

Champion and an experienced International player. 

He represented his country at 2 Home Nations 

Tournaments (finishing top junior team on both 

occasions), 1 North Sea Tournament (best English 

team and runners up in the junior section) and 2 

European Championships (winners of the bronze 

medal in the Coupe de Nations 2008), as well as other 

representative events in Germany and France. 

This year he had also achieved top 8 status in the 

National Premier League, qualifying as the No.1 

seeds, and his fellow team members have been 

devastated by the loss of such a skilled, respected and 

loved friend. 

Robert’s cheeky smile, infectious laugh and friendly 

welcome, endeared him to all those that he met. Such 

was his character that many felt privileged to be 

regarded by him as a friend – not surprising therefore, 

that so many people are distraught by his sudden 

departure. 

Our thoughts go out to Mark, Corinne and Jennifer, 

and family and friends at this very sad time. Robert 

touched so many people’s hearts, he will be sorely 

missed. 

Trevor Glenn 

Kent Director of Play 

(additional info Mark Cooter) 

FOOT�OTE – Thanks to the amazing 

generosity or Robert’s family, friends and the 

pétanque community in particular over £1,400 was 

donated in Robert’s name towards the Special Baby 

Care Unit at Darent Hospital. Thank you!

AROUND THE WORLD 

EUROPEAN ESPOIRS 

CHAMPIONSHIPS 

The qualification for this year’s European Espoirs 

Championships took place over the weekend of 21-22 

March. Sadly there was no English involvement as the 

Management Committee had taken the controversial 

decision to pull out of the event. 

Qualifying for the finals that will be held later in the 

year were: 

Men - Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, 

Spain, Sweden & Switzerland 

Ladies - Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, 

Spain, Sweden & Turkey. 

In the mens group matches the French team, which 

contained former junior World Champion Dylon 

Rocher, won their group at ease without dropping a 

game while Spain also progressed easily through their 

group. 

Germany and Sweden will be the teams to watch in 

Ladies final event. Sweden overcame Spain, 

Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark to win their 

group. In arguably the harder group Germany beat 

France, Italy (both by 3 games to nil) and Turkey. 

WORLD & EUROPEAN 

UPDATE 

The FIPJP have announced that for the 2010 ‘Triples’ 

World Championship nations will now be required to 

qualify through the continents, in our case the CEP. 

For this to work the CEP will use the Men’s European 

Championship to decide which of the 24 nations (not 

including the current World Champions) will qualify. 

Editors Comment - This does create a conundrum as 

whilst the World Triples Championships are still open 

to both sexes the European Federation have chosen 

to qualify via a “men only” event. Are we going 

backwards creating more age and sex category 

events? What do you think? 

12 

The French version of the EPA’s Club knockout 

competition came to a conclusion over the same 

weekend as the EPA event. Their competition started 

with an 2,731 clubs playing in “zones” each 

consisting of two or three of their regions. The final 8 

then played off on 21 st and 22 nd March at Oloron 

Sainte-Marie. 

The competition is now very high profile in France 

with all their top players competing for their clubs. 

Retaining their title and recording their fifth win in six 

years were the indomitable DUC Nice club. 

As Nice have already qualified for the European Club 

Cup as holders it is down to the runners up, 

Montluçon, to represent France in this year’s 

competition. 

WORLDWIDE DROP 

I� MEMBERSHIP 

(WELL I� FRA�CE A�YWAY) 

Official figures released by the games World 

governing body, the FIPJP, for year ending 31 st 

December 2008 reported a total of 566,630 members 

Worldwide. This is a drop of 5,000 members on the 

previous year’s final total and the second year in a 

row that membership has fallen around the World. 

However with membership of the French Federation 

dropping by nearly 13,000 membership around the 

rest of the World actually increased. It is also more 

widespread as with the addition of Haiti earlier this 

year membership of the FIPJP now stands at 83 

nations. 

However the figures can be taken with some degree of 

scepticism. Of the 81 affiliated nations in 2008 around 

half did not report new figures, with 7 not reporting 

any figures at all. 

QUI�TAIS BOU�CES BACK 

Having retired from the international scene multiple 

World Champion, Philippe Quintais, is set to make a 

comeback. He has been selected to represent France 

in the Mens European Championships, with Michel 

Loy, Stephane Robineau and Christophe Sarrio, and 

also in the Mediterranean Games in the mens doubles 

with Pascal Milei. 

CEP VP 

Congratulations (or should that be commiserations?) 

to Mike Pegg as he was elected Vice President of the 

Confédération Européenne de Pétanque (CEP).

CELTIC CHALLENGE 

The 21 st annual Celtic Challenge, between squads of 

four triples each from Ireland, Scotland and Wales 

(together with a “B” squad from the home nation), 

was held over the weekend of 2 nd -3 rd May in Cork. 

The result was a third win in a row for Wales but the 

final results were the closet ever with just two games 

separating first to third places. 

Best triple over the weekend was Scotland 2 - Robbie 

Stronach, Jonny Wilson and Lynn Jenkins. 

Final results: 

1 st Wales 29 wins 

2 nd Ireland A 28 wins 

3 rd Scotland 27 wins 

4 th Ireland B 12 wins 

Wales are way ahead in the series with 11 wins while 

Ireland and Scotland have 5 apiece. 

Result courtesy of www.scottishpetanque.org 

INTERNATIONAL VICTORY 

FOR EX MEMBER 

Ex BPA member David Lippard was once again in the 

New Zealand pétanque squad that won the Trans 

Tasman Challenge. The 24 strong Kiwi contingent 

travelled to Sydney, Australia in May to take on the 

Australian Pétanque Federation where they won both 

the Open and Senior categories in comparative ease 

with the final round of matches not being necessary. 

David has been a virtual ever-present in the NZ 

national squad since emigrating from Kent several 

years ago. 

PETANQUE PROMOTIONS Ltd 

Specialist suppliers of Boules, Manuals and Accessories 

UK Distributors for JB Boules 

& La Boule Noire 

To obtain current prices and details of boules 

equipment, manuals and clothing contact: 

Mick Bourton on 024 7646 4034 

Or go on line to: 

www.boulesales.co.uk 

Remember any surplus at 

the end of the year is put 

back into the sport. 

Pétanque Promotions Ltd, 

Coventry Enterprise Centre, Bilton Industrial Estate, Coventry CV3 1JL 

13 

CCPR 

One Voice for Sport and Recreation 

For many years the BPA and subsequently the EPA 

has been a member of the CCPR or to give it its full 

title The Central Council for Physical Recreation. 

This is an alliance of National Governing Bodies and 

represents nearly 300 different sports with nearly 

150,000 clubs and some 8 million regular 

participants. 

The sports represented are big and small, from the 

Football Association and the England and Wales 

Cricket Board to the National Stoolball Association 

and the EPA. 

The CCPR has many different functions and has close 

links with Government Departments in order to ensure 

that sport in the UK irrespective of its size and 

popularity has a say in how sport is legislated both in 

the UK and in Europe. 

The EPA gains in a number of ways from our 

membership with the CCPR. We have access to many 

workshops and seminars that assist the EPA 

Management Committee (MC) to remain up to date 

with future changes in legislation. 

Recently a member of the MC attended a workshop 

on the National Anti-Doping Agency as it is possible 

that any EPA competition could be subject to a visit 

from a drugs testing team. This already happens at the 

World Championships and may happen at the 

European Championships or indeed the Inter- 

Regional Championships at Brean Sands. Anyone 

found to be under the influence of drugs or with a 

high level of alcohol in their blood is subject to the 

same penalties as those applied at Athletics, Football 

or any major sports. You have been warned! 

We have also attended a briefing on the new and 

somewhat complicated system of Vetting and Barring 

which is being introduced in the Independent 

Safeguarding Authorities system that is due to be 

introduced from mid 2010. 

This legislation is to update the Safeguarding 

Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and will bring into force 

registration for anyone wishing to act in any way with 

children and vulnerable adults. Registration for 

everyone will be a legal requirement even if you 

currently have an up to date CRB check. 

This does not mean that CRB checks will now be 

redundant as any organisation can continue to request 

CRB checks as part of its duty of care. They are not 

portable from one group i.e. Teachers to Brownies, 

they are only relevant to the body that requested it, so 

a CRB check for a teacher will not automatically be 

valid for the EPA. 

For more information visit: www.ccpr.org.uk

COACHING UPDATE 

By David David Lavelle 

Lavelle 

CIEP International Trainers Diploma: 

Some of you may be aware that in July 2008 I 

attended the International Trainers Diploma Level 1 

(CIEP ITDL1) coaching course with Richard Pratt 

(East Midlands Regional Coach) in Paris. During the 

course we spent 50% of our time in a classroom and 

50% of our time on the terrain. The course consisted 

of two long days starting at 9:00 and finishing at 7pm. 

In the classroom environment we covered many topics 

including basic coaching techniques of pointing and 

shooting in detail, basic rules of the game, history of 

the sport, attributes of pétanque, the role of the coach, 

how to sell pétanque to sponsors, schools, etc and 

how to market the benefits of the sport, management 

of training, materials, times and participants, 

motivation, developing competitive spirits, game 

analysis before, during and after a game. 

During the practical sessions we worked through 

different coaching methods in relation to setting up 

training exercises, developing ways to assess skills of 

players whilst providing an element of competition 

throughout coaching sessions regardless of their 

experience or current level of skills, analysing 

individuals skills, abilities, and techniques with 

feedback being given on player positioning, etiquette 

on the terrain, marking boule, and assessing the 

dynamics of the team, working on individuals own 

techniques, fault finding and correcting errors in a 

structured manner, developing tactics, awareness of 

tactical situations, and how to apply pressure to 

training situations. 

After completing the two days of training an 

examination was then taken that tested theoretical 

knowledge and practical application of what had been 

learnt during the course. I am pleased to confirm that 

both Richard and I passed the course. 

EPA Coaching Qualifications: 

Whilst in France I had the opportunity to discuss in 

detail the EPA Coaching Qualifications with the 

Claude Raluy (Head of the CIEP) to ensure we move 

our own coaching qualifications forward in England 

in the correct way. 

After talking to Claude the EPA Grade 3 course 

content has been modified which clearly defines how 

to run a standard coaching course. This module will 

then help to start to breed a consistent approach to 

coaching across all coaches. 

Since completing the course I have also developed a 

kit of coaching aids that are now available to coaches 

and regions to purchase to assist them in developing 

14 

their coaching sessions. These kits have already been 

ordered by Kent and East Midlands. These regions 

along with the coaches who have already ordered kits 

will receive them in the next couple of weeks. 

EPA Grade 2: 

Since returning from the CIEP course last July I have 

been working on a new modular Grade 2 course that 

will comprise several modules covering all aspects of 

pétanque. It will develop the thinking in the Grade 2 

and actively develop upon Grade 3. 

The course modules will be are as follows: 

Module 1 – Introduction to the Grade 2 (including 

assessment of Grade 3’s skills) 

Module 2 – Tactics & Analysis 

Module 3 – Team Management 

Module 4 – Practical Coaching Skills Assessment 

Module 5 – Presentation & Communication Skills 

Module 6 – Situation based testing of all skills 

covered in Grade 2 

The 1 st module will be run in the Autumn of 2009. 

Renewal of Coaching Licences: 

In 2006 the EPA introduced CRB Checking for all 

coaches. Since then as and when coaches have taken 

examinations they have had to be CRB checked 

before being issued with a licence to coach. All 

current licences expired at the end of March 2009. In 

January all coaches were requested to provide 

evidence of the coaching they have undertaken to 

remain active as a coach. 

Through the renewal process I can confirm that we 

currently have 38 active coaches with 16 still in the 

process of renewing. Between the 38 active coaches 

have delivered 1727 hours of coaching have been 

given to members in the 3 year period. These hours 

are broken down as 433 hours coaching were 

completed in 2006/07, 574 hours in 2007/08 and 720 

hours in 2008/09. 

Adult Coaching Day: 

In response to several requests made in recent months 

I am in the process of arranging an Adult coaching 

day to be held at a central venue. The event will open 

to all members on a first come first served basis and is 

planned to take place in August. The details of this 

event will be advertised on the EPA website in the 

next couple of weeks once a venue has been 

confirmed and details have been finalised. 

EPA Academy Events: 

This year two EPA Academy events have been 

arranged. The first event was held in January at 

Whittlesey and was attended by 5 cadets. However, 

the second event which was planned for April at 

Solihull was cancelled due to no entries for the event.

The PÉTA�QUE QUARTERLY Guide to “What’s on Where” – Part II 

International, National, Regional & Local Calendar - June to September 2009 

Date International Events National (EPA) Events 

Friday 5 th 

Saturday 6 th 

Sunday 7 th 

Espoirs & Juniors Intercup, 

Germany 

Hedebo Open, Denmark 


Germany 

Ibiza Triples 


Intl Ville de Bron, France 


Germany 

Ibiza Triples 


Intl Ville de Bron, France 

EPA Premier League * 

EPA Open Leagues 

JUNE 2009 

15 

Closed Regional / 

County Events 

Isle of Wight Junior Qualifiers 

Norfolk County Junior Pairs 

Open Regional & Club Events 

(See next page for Key) 

Bridlington Over 60's Singles (NR) 

Admiral Cunningham Summer Doubles (SR) 

Half Crown Open Melee (WM) 

Boules-London Open Doubles (LR) 

Wetherby Triples (NR) 

Lamb Open (SR) 

Half Crown Triples (WM) 

Colne Angel Open Doubles (ER) 

Boules d'Or, Cleaver Square (LR) 

Saturday 13 th Grand Prix de Vienna West Midlands Squad Weekend 

Sunday 14 th 

Anglia Pairs 

Kent Qualifier 2 

EPA Juniors Qualifier 3 Thames Valley Qualifier 2 

EPA Espoirs Qualifier 3 West Midlands Squad Weekend Doncaster Memorial Pairs (NR) 

Friday 19 th Kent Singles 

Saturday 20 th Intl Challenge, Monaco 

Sunday 21 st Intl Challenge, Monaco EPA Ladies Triples Top 8 * Isle of Wight Qualifier 1 

Lordswood Open Triples (KT) 

Fox Triples (NR) 

Southampton City Open (SR) 

Coventry Melee (WM) 

Saturday 27 th Anglia 5 Nations 

Chiltern Round Robin 3 

Isle of Wight Qualifier 2 

Centrope Cup, Czech Republic 

Southern Masters Hereford Open (WM) 

Sunday 28 th 

Chiltern Round Robin 4 

Eastern Qualifier 2 

East Midlands Qualifier 4 

Isle of Wight Qualifier 3 


Northern Qualifier 3 

Bob Carter Centre Junior Pairs (AR) 

Southern Masters 

Martin Birkhead Trophy,Lincoln (EM) 

Centrope Cup, Czech Republic 

Sussex Qualifier 3 

London Open Triples (LR) 

Intl la Ville d'Orléans, France 

Thames Valley Qualifier 3 Hereford Open (WM) 

Saturday 4 th 

Sunday 5 th 

Abergavenny PC Open Triples 



EPA Juniors Qualifier 3 

EPA Espoirs Qualifier 3 

JULY 2009 

Anglia Singles & Shooting 

Thames Valley Regional Triples 

West Midlands Singles/Shooting 

Wanderers 9 Boule Triples (AR) 

MacMillan Charity Mêlée, Limes (SR) 

Half Crown Melee (WM) 

Bucks Head Open Triples (CH) 

Aniversary Cup, Hurricanes (IW) 

NAF Cup Triples, Tovil (KT) 

Wigginton Charity Pairs (NR) 

Woodstock Triples (NR) 

Flight Refuelling Open Triples (SR) 

Norwich Gold Cup Prs, Cottage (AR) 

Willow Pairs (EM) 

Bastille Day Triples, Villager (KT) 

Ricard London Open Triples (LR) 

Yorks Open Triples, Doncaster (NR) 

Adur Bastille Doubles (SR) 

Redlynch Zimmer Frame (SR) 

Sunday 12 th 

Weds15 th Andre Conan Pairs, Cottage (AR) 

Saturday 18 th EPA Congress of Regions 

Sunday 19 th 

Anglia Triples Championships Engine Open (CH) 

Eastern Qualifier 3 

Anchor Mid Summer Triples (EM) 

Isle of Wight Doubles 

Half Crown Open Pairs (WM) 


London Doubles 

Northern Doubles 

Southern Triples/Junior Triples 

Sussex Triples


Friday 24 th 

Saturday 25 th 

Mens European Championship, 

France * 

International Festival, Poland 


France * 

International Festival, Poland 

Grand Prix, Italy 


France * 

Grand Prix, Italy 

Sunday 26 th 

Friday 31 st Centrope Cup, Hungary 

Saturday 1 st 

Sunday 2 nd 

Friday 7 th 

Saturday 8 th 

International, Lithuania 

International, Poland 

National la Massana, Andora 

Scandinavian Open, Sweden 

Centrope Cup, Hungary 

International , Lithuania 

International, Poland 

National la Massana, Andora 

Centrope Cup, Hungary 

Dunkerquoise (France) 


Sunday 9 th 


Grand Prix, Switzerland 

Monday 10 th Grand Prix, Switzerland 

Friday 14 th 

Millau International, France 


Sunday 16 th 



JULY 2009 Continued… 

AUGUST 2009 

16 


County Events 

Norfolk County Pairs (AR) 

Thames Valley Regional Pairs 

Chiltern Doubles 

Isle of Wight Mixed Doubles 

Sussex Doubles 

Home Nations Championships, 

Wales * 

Millau International, France Kent v Nord Maritime (France) 

Home Nations Championships, 

Wales * 

Millau International, France Northern Triples 

Saturday 22 nd Centrope Cup, Slovakia 

Sunday 23 rd 

Bratislava Doubles, Slovakia 

Grand Prix de Zürich, 

Switzerland 

Monday 24 th 

Grand Prix de Zürich, 

Switzerland 

Saturday 29 th Copenhagen Open, Denmark 

Sunday 30 th Copenhagen Open, Denmark 

Monday 31 st 

Friday 4 th 

Saturday 5 th 

SEPTEMBER 2009 

Chiltern Singles & Shooting 

East Midlands Doubles 

Isle of Wight Godbold Pairs 



Admiral Cunningham Charity 

Doubles (SR) 

Queens Head Open (CH) 

EMPA Open Triples, The Willow (EM) 

Town Trophy, Crowborough (KT) 

George Open Doubles (KT) 

Brandesburton Pairs (NR) 

Open Doubles, Brighton (SX) 

Portchester Invitation Plate (SR) 

Wigginton Team Event (NR) 

Half Crown Melee (WM) 

Circle in the Sand Pairs (AR) 

White Hart Open Triples (CH) 

Ricard Cup Doubles, Tovil (KT) 

Wigginton Team Event (NR) 

ILM Doubles, St Albans (CH) 

Hartley Open Triples (KT) 

Wetherby Pairs (NR) 

Sandra Preece Trophy Burnham (TV) 

Coventry Open Pairs (WM) 

Kath Watts Memorial Pairs, Cottage 

(AR) 

Raven Open Triples, Bath (GW) 

Sports Shield Dbls Crowborough (KT) 

New Milton Charity Open (SR) 

ABC Kirdford Open (SR) 

WWPC Open Triples, Whitnash (WM) 

Thomas Memorial Doubles, Rayne 

Swan (ER) 

Kent Classic Open, Lordswood (KT) 

Kent Classic Open, Lordswood (KT) 

York RI Pairs (NR) 

Marches Triples (WM) 

Bridlington Pairs (NR) 

British Sugar Golden Boules Prs (AR) 

Courage Cup Triples, Seal (KT) 

Mistral Singles, Bridlington (NR) 

Hampshire Rose Open (SR) 

Boyne Hill Open (TV) 

Half Crown Twinning Triples (WM) 

Brian Sullivan Doubles, Croydon (LR) 

Bridlington Triples (NR) 

Ville de Pielagos Junior 

Triples, Spain 

Grand Prix, Hungary 

Centrope Cup, Slovenia 

ille de Pielagos Junior 

Triples, Spain 

Grand Prix, Hungary Worthing Open Doubles (SR)


SEPTEMBER 2009 Continued… 


County Events 

PÉTA�QUE QUARTERLY is edited by: Mark Cooter. Any items for inclusion should be sent to: 

Post: Pétanque Quarterly, 13 Sun Lane, Gravesend, Kent DA12 5HQ 

� Tel: 01474 354310 

17 

Fax: 01474 832437 E-mail: m.cooter@btinternet.com 



Sunday 6 th 

Ville de Pielagos Junior 

Gin Trap Charity Pairs (AR) 

NHIA Fixed Coche (CH) 

Leicester Open Triples (EM) 

Meadow Triples (KT) 

Westow Triples (NR) 

Open Triples, Brighton (SX) 

Triples, Spain EPA Over 50s Doubles Chiltern Junior Championships MTT Open (TV) 

Monday 7 th Senior Games (50+), Holland 

Tuesday 8 th Senior Games (50+), Holland 

Weds 9 th Senior Games (50+), Holland 

Thursday 10 th Senior Games (50+), Holland 

Friday 11 th Senior Games (50+), Holland 


International Veterans 

Tournament (55+) Holland 

Guernsey Open Doubles (CI) 

International Bicbo, France Leicester v Chiltern 

Limesdowne Open (SR) 

Sunday 13 th 

Bob Carter Centre Inter Club 

International Veterans 

Eastern Singles 

Tournament (AR) 

East Midlands Triples 

British Sugar Golden Boules Prs (AR) 

Northern Singles 

Bird in Hand Mixed Triples (CH) 

Southern Mixed Doubles 

Guernsey Open Triples (CI) 

Tournament (55+) Holland 

Thames Valley Club Team Hartley Open Doubles (KT) 

International Bicbo, France 

Championships 

Adur Charity Open (SR) 


Inter Regional 

Admiral Cunningham Autumn 

Championships* 

Doubles (SR) 

Sunday 20 th 

Inter Regional 

Championships* Handcross Autumn Doubles (SR) 


Grand Prix du Valais, 

Switzerland Kent Chairman’s Cup 

Sunday 27 th 

Chiltern Ladies & Mens Doubles Rayne Swan Charity Doubles (ER) 

East Midlands Singles/Shooting Lansdown Open Doubles, Primrose 

Grand Prix du Valais, 

Kent Triples 

Hill (LR) 

Switzerland 

Southern Singles and Shooting Doncaster Autumn Pairs (NR) 

Key to Open Club Events: 

AR = Anglia Pétanque Association GW = Great Western Region NR = Northern Regional Association 

CH = Chiltern Region IW = Isle of Wight Region SR = Southern Counties Pétanque Association 

DR = Devon Pétanque KT = Kent Pétanque Association SX = Sussex Pétanque Region 

EM = East Midlands Pétanque Association KW = Kernow Pétanque Association TV = Thames Valley Pétanque Association 

ER = Eastern Counties Region LR = London Pétanque Association WM = West Midlands Pétanque Association 

* Closed events – Entry via qualification or invitation only. 

IMPORA�T �OTE - THIS CALE�DAR IS I�TE�DED AS A GUIDE O�LY. 

PLEASE CHECK WITH THE COMPETITIO� ORGA�ISERS BEFORE TRAVELLI�G 

Kent Pétanque International 

After three years of success the ab Fab Classic Pétanque competition in 2009 has moved from February to August 

and expanded from a one day event to a two day festival of pétanque to be held at the Lordswood Pétanque Club on 

August 22 nd and 23 rd . Ab fab flowers the Walderslade based florist has announced that it will again support the Kent 

Pétanque Association in staging the biggest international pétanque competition in England. It will attract players 

from all over the UK and Europe. The holders from the Fort Mardyk club (near Dunkerque) in France are expected 

to defend against stiff competition from English, Dutch, German and Spanish teams. Teams from Kent are usually 

prominent and this year it should be no exception with almost half of the 80+ teams expected to come from within the 

county. 

The relationship between flowers and pétanque began in 2006 with support for players from Lordswood who in their 

first year playing under the ab fab logo achieved Kent representation at the Inter-regional championship. In 

November 2007 at the EPA International Tournament the ab fab team of Mark Dennis, Barry Wing and David Baxter 

won the Silver Plate final. While in 2008 the ab fab team of Sofiane Lachani, Simon Bird and Nic Baxter were 

runners up in the ab fab Classic. Report from David Baxter

Dial up - English Petanque Association

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