KENT PETANQUE ASSOCIATION

Transcription

1 KENT PETANQUE ASSOCIATION ISSUE No.44 FEBRUARY 2010 It is with sadness that we report the death of BABE KETTERING at the age of 90 Babe died of a stroke in hospital on Tuesday 2nd February. Babe is best remembered for her long term playing partnership with JOY DRUMEY, both played for several years with SEAL P.C. Babe and her husband lived in Seal from the 60 s, and Joy who made regular visits to Seal to visit her brother met up with Babe and started playing petanque, around that time. In later years Joy and Babe played regularly at Sunday Competitions around Kent, and can be remembered in recent years for playing at venues that provided a good old fashioned English roast diner, which to them seemed to be more important than progressing into the afternoon knockout stage of the competition. Joy has stopped playing petanque and enjoys her retirement at the age of 92 in Sevenoaks. crunches on through the snow, wind and slush, proving to be one of the worst winters for the Winter League for many a year. Even the League organiser, Mick Nash had enough and had to escape for a couple of weeks to some place hot. The Leagues carried on and it looks like the Crown Crackers have fallen by the wayside, either because of the weather or lack of players, or a combination of both. However an encouraging sign...les Charles Fribbens has formed a team of youngsters which he calls the Village Idiots who play at the Villager P.H. Vigo village. Not so playing idiots for those teams that have played against them, a very promising and enthusiastic group, good to see it. A new team formed by Colin Senneck and a few players from Gravesend Rugby Club play at the new venue at the Railway Inn at Sole Street are doing very well for their first season, and visiting teams have taken a liking to the new venue. And so to the CUP finals which will be held at the Villagers P.H. Vigo Village on Friday 5th March at 8pm, spectators and supporters are more than welcome. MAIN CUP FINAL Tovil Titans v Meadow P.C. PLATE CUP FINAL Hartley Romans v Lord Tovil Page 1

2 Brighton by the sea in Sussex home to BRIGHTON & HOVE P.C. and a team that travelled the fifty odd miles to Gillingham on Sunday 7th February to play the latest round of the European Cup against MEADOW P.C.. M A T C H R E P O R T Meadow PC took on Brighton and Hove PC, the top qualifiers from the Sussex Region, in the fourth round of the Euro Cup qualifiers at the Star Meadow Sports Club on 7 th Feb. The first 2 games of triples were edgy affairs with the Meadow players slow to get into their stride. However they knuckled down to win the games 13-5 and Into the second round of doubles matches and two quick wins, 13-0 and 13-2, secured the victory. The Meadow went on to win the final doubles game 13-8 to secure a slightly flattering score line of 5 games to 0 and maintain their 100% home record in the competition. The Meadow squad consisted of Jennifer Cooter, Corinne Cooter, Tracy Turner, Richard Spillett, Kevin Spillett, Rowland Jones and Greg Davenport. The Meadow now go onto face the Victorians, one of the top clubs from Essex, in the quarter finals of the competition. Report by Mark Cooter BRIGHTON & HOVE P.C. European Cup Team. Ray Ager Dave Alfred Pat Connelly Terry Gibbons Fergal Logan Tony Martin - were supported by Trish and Jeff Taylor Pictures by JACK MILNER MEADOWS P.C. European Cup Team PLEASE NOTE THERE IS A NEW CONTACT ADDRESS FOR THE GAZETTE ronyates6@btinternet.com IS YOUR CLUB OR TEAM SHORT OF ONE OR TWO PLAYERS FOR THE COMING K.P.A. SUMMER LEAGUE? IF SO.CONTACT THE GAZETTE AND WE WILL PUT A NOTICE IN THE MARCH ISSUE TO TRY TO CONNECT YOU WITH AVAILABLE LIKELY PLAYERS Page 2

3 Having a good clear-out after Christmas and came across a copy of No.5 of the E.P.A. Petanque Quarterly, Spring Edition 2007, expertly edited at the time by Mark Cooter, and on page 10 an article by David Baxter explaining how the Swiss System works ( or not as the case may be). The article explains perfectly all you need to know, about the Swiss system, and is re-printed here for the present day sceptics. SO HOW DOES IT WORK? Firstly, each event (competition) will have a set number of rounds, and every team plays all the rounds. The first round may be seeded, if not it will be a random draw. In the second and subsequent rounds, teams with the same record are drawn against each other. For example, in the third round a team with 2 wins will play another team with 2 wins, a team with 1 win will play another team with 1 win, and a team with 0 wins will play another with 0 wins. In this way you should be matched against teams of similar ability. If your team keeps winning, then you get to prove yourself against other teams that also keep winning, or had been winning until you beat them! If there are any odd number of teams on the same wins, then one of the group, usually the lowest ranked, will be drawn into a match with a team from the next lower group. If there are an odd number of teams in the tournament, then a team from the 0 win group will draw a winning bye. Also you should not be required to play the same team twice. At the end of the tournament, teams are ranked according to their number of wins. Teams that have he same number of wins will be ordered by their Performance Measure, and if still equal, by the sum of their opponents Performance Measures. Performance Measures (PM).what s that all about? What s wrong with good old Points Difference?...When ranking teams with the same wins..you want the team that has managed to acquire those wins by playing against better teams to rank top. The trouble with the traditional points difference method is that in general terms it does not do that, and may even do the opposite..ie you normally get a higher points difference when playing the weaker teams. However with the PM method, a win against a team that itself wins 4 or 5 times is worth more than a win against a team that wins or 3. Also it is worth pointing out that a loss against a team that wins 1,2,3, or 4. The PM that will be used is calculated by adding up the number of wins achieved by your opponents. So in a 6 round Swiss beating that finished 3rd, would add 5 points to your PM while beating the team that finished last would give 0 points to your PM. If two or more teams are equal on games won and PM, then we would look beyond the wins of each opponent to the PM of each opponent, and add those up to give the Sum of PM s. PM EXAMPLE...if in a 5 round competition you played against teams A,B,C,D and E who scored 1,5,3,3 and 3 wins respectively, then your PM would be 15. If the PM of A,B,C,D and E were 12,18,16,15 and 10 respectively, then your Sum of opponents PM would be 71. The concept of the SWISS System, is based upon winning games, and winning games against good or better teams makes a big difference to overall placings. Apparently the above was discussed at length by the BPF Playing Technical Committee in 2006/7, that concluded. we are confident that the Swiss System is a fair system that will enable every team to achieve just rewards for their efforts. It was also predicted at this time, that computers would be used at competitions where the Swiss System was employed. Page 3

4 The Region has a number of active Club Coaches who need to coach on a regular basis to maintain their coaching status. Does your club need coaching for new players? We can arrange coaching at a suitable venue or possibly at you own club. All coaches have CRB clearance. Do you have players who would benefit from some coaching - contact Eric Hatfield for more details? eric.hatfield@bigfoot.com Tel: Mob NOW THAT S CLEVER! The one upside down in the middle is called lucky. Those were the days when this time of year was the annual first Petanque Competition of the season at Braintree, now the ROB COOTER competition at Meadow seems to be the first of the year! ORGANISED BY THE MEADOW PETANQUE CLUB SUNDAY 14th MARCH at The Star Meadow Sports Club Darland Avenue Gillingham Kent ME7 3AN Registration Fee 15 per team Registration closes at 9:45 for 10am start Food and drink available all day including cooked breakfasts, therefore own food and drink must not be consumed on the premises. All proceeds go to the Special Care Baby Unit at Darenth Valley Hospital. Prizes sponsored by Rob s family. Any further details please contact Mark Cooter 13 Sun Lane Gravesend DA12 5HQ Tel: m.cooter@btinternat.com Page 4

5 Player pictured making his way to a Wednesday night KPA Summer League match after a hard day s picking in the garden of England. Picture taken last September in a lane not far from you. This time of the year however, Clubs are doing the sums to calculate how many teams they will be entering into the 2010 Summer Leagues, and how many players are signing up. One Club has found by experience over the years that the ideal number of players in a team is nine, which allows for non-availability for holidays and such like.however as the village sage spoke his words of wisdom., that means there are three players not playing on a Wednesday night from that team...and if that Club has more than one team, there can be a lot more than three players not playing.and if this is repeated across the county, there could be a large number of Kent players sitting-out on a Wednesday night...wishing for a competitive game! There are THREE major Petanque events during the KPA season. 1. teams representing Kent at the National Triples finals Competition at Brean Sand in September. 2. the Annual competition between a selected Kent squad against a touring group from Dunkerque, played alternatively in France and Kent, this year in Kent at Lordswood P.C. 3. the Chairman s Cup a triples competition played in September at the Lordswood Club, free entry with first prize of 150 to the winning team. And to qualify for all three..turn OUT TO PLAY IN THE KENT COUNTY TRIPLES QUALIFIERS (or some of them) - LORDSWOOD 18th April HARTLEY 2nd May TOVIL and the 16th May the GEORGE P.H. 13th June and the STAR MEADOW 11th July KENT & SUSSEX WINDOW CLEANING AND GUTTERING CLEANING COMMERCIAL & DOMESTIC RELIABLE & FRIENDLY SERVICE PROVIDED COMPETITIVE PRICES GIVEN FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR QUOTES PLEASE CONTACT or Page 5

6 Bumped into MICK JENNINGS on a cold February morning standing at the bus stop, both of us with our free bus passes to hand. Mick looking fit and tanned explained that he had just returned hot foot from the hot sands of Egypt after early negotiations to get his book translated into Egyptian. I asked why translate into Egyptian? Mick said the Egyptians prefer it that way. Mick, you might remember launched his book BELIEVE IT OR NOT last autumn and so far has sold over 700 copies with all the proceeds (apart for the publishing costs) going to the very worthy ELLENOR LIONS HOSPICE. Mick and his wife Ann play petanque in Kent, and are devoting much of their spare time in publicising and selling copies of the book. For example sales of over 700 were made from a one day sales push in the foyer of Waitrose, this will be followed by sales pitches at Sainsbury s Crayford in April and two sales days at Morrison s some time in the near future. Mick has also appeared on the PAUL JAMES & PAUL HARRIS Radio Show on Radio Kent, being interviewed whilst pushing his book. One of the many stories in the book relates to the several times that Mick has swam the Channel, and this year he will be honoured at a dinner celebrating the 50th year since first swimming the Channel, and as he gets older he is reminded that there are only a half a dozen fellow swimmer s who have reached this 50 year period of longevity. As part of this anniversary Mick proudly told me that this year he is also going to swim the HELLESPONT.. that s nice I said. And at tickle of a mouse we all become experts of the Hellespont The HELESPONT - the narrow channel between the sea of Marmara and the Aegean. The Hellespont hit the mythological headlines a long time ago. Leander, who lived on the Asian side, had the misfortune to fall in love with Hero, who lived in Europe. The course of true love did not run smoothly. Geography was not on their side either. The Hellespont has a nasty current ripping down the middle of it and a reputation for chewing up ships. And religion didn't help, either. Hero was a priestess of Aphrodite, and sworn to perpetual celibacy. So their meetings had to be covert and at night. Just as in most relationships, ancient and modern, the bloke did all the travelling. She held out a lantern, and he swam each night towards it. They were at-it all night, and he then swam back., completely knackered. One night the wind blew out the lantern and that current took Leander out into the Aegean. He never returned. The heartbroken Hero had the decency to hurl herself into the Hellespont and the myth was born. The Hellespont crossing from Europe to Asia is 4kms, and first of the modern day swimmers was Lord Byron who swam the Hellespont on 3rd May 1810, described as probably the best syphilitic club footed swimmer Britain has ever produced.. Hellespont..variously named in classical literature as Hellespontium Pelagus...Rectum Hellesponticum (surely not) was the ancient name of the narrow strait, now known as the Dardanelles. So Mick is going to hit the mythological headlines, along with a couple of hundred fellow swimmers for the Anniversary Swim in August FOR MORE TALES OF LOVE,LUST,and ADVENTURE get a copy of BELIEVE IT OR NOT From MICK JENNINGS michael@jenningsmichael.wanadoo.co.uk PRICE 8.99 Page 6

7 For no apparent reason this month s issue contains articles and references to what could loosely be called literature, tenuously connected to sport or petanque! This following has nothing to do with either, but is charming in it s simplicity, written by a 6 year old girl. I WENT TO HAVE MY EYES TESTICLES I DIDN T LIKE THE MAN WHO TESTICLES MY EYES I VE GOT LILAC COLOURED GLASSES The next K.P.A. Management meeting is on Thursday 4th March at Lordswood Sports & Social club at 8pm, registered KPA members are welcome to attend The K.P.A. Summer Leagues start immediately after the end of the Winter Leagues, and to ensure a smooth and efficient start to the Summer Season, Team Registration forms are to be with the League Organiser by the 28th February. If you are in any doubt as to your Clubs commitment of number of teams or number of players, at least register your number of teams and the team contact details by the 28th, the number and names of players can be registered a couple of weeks later. Send Registration details to the league organiser MICK NASH kentpetanqueleague@talktalk.net Tel Billings Hill Shaw Hartley Kent DA3 8EU A new window opens up to the world of Petanque courtesy Alan Cregeen leader of the Dover based Embroidery Company, and petanque player of some repute on the petanque circuit in and around Kent. Good to see a new avenue opening for two way information about petanque, and also hopefully meaningful debate and discussion for the overall benefit of Petanque. As argued previously in the Gazette we seem to be at a period of change for passing on news and information, albeit newspapers or specialised magazines. Some of us can remember the very good glossy quarterly magazine produced by the B.P.A. and posted to all individual members, and the informative newsletters edited over a long period of time by Mike Pegg and Mark Cooter, and a few others,...however the future seems to be all electronic. That said, it still needs someone to spend time editing and organising and updating this new venture, so best of luck and success to Alan and the new Portal. See that some stars of stage, screen, and petanque pistes have already signed up for the portal. See it all at UK Petanque Portal Page 7

8 T H E R E V I E W Maurice Abney-Hastings, the founder and first chairman of the British Petanque Association, has written another book. His first one was the Pernod Book of Petanque, which became the must have reference point for those interested in Petanque in this country in the late 70 and early 1980 s. During the intervening forty years, Maurice has had a full and interesting life which has included lots of writing. He was living in Hampshire and playing Petanque at Shedfield when the BPA was formed. The first British Championships were held there and the World Championships held for the one and only time in the UK, in Southampton. Since then he has lived and worked in other rural parts of the country and Big Days in Ashthorpe Magna, his second volume, is a fictional account of his experiences living in small English country towns. Think The Archers and mix in a touch of Tom Sharpe s Wilt and you have this rumbustious, funny book summed up. The big day in Big Day that interests us particularly is the foundation of the Petanque Club at Ashthorpe Magna and it is amazing the coverage that the town got for it, thanks in part to a connection with (yes you ve got it) the founding chairman of the BPA. Unlike some of the other big days recorded in the book, the Petanque opening day was a huge success with much French involvement and of course it led to twinnings with French clubs. This is a tale of local politics, rivalries and relationships, with boules thrown into the entertaining mix. Many of the characters portrayed everyone will have met at some time or another and either loved or hated. Following on from last month s Gazette we present a review of a novel written by Maurice Abney-Hastings. It took quite a while to obtain a copy, and after a good deal of persuasion Colin Senneck agreed to read the book and write a balanced review. Apart from being a slightly above average petanque player, Colin is generally a man of many words, or alternatively, few words depending on the occasion and has the capability of adding pen to paper and stringing a few meaningful sentences together. Also, he was born and brought up in the Kentish village of Cranbrook which is not too dissimilar to Ashthorpe Magna, the subject of the book. Colin was the top reader of the Cranbrook class of 1951 and received many gold stars and a picture of a banana as reward for his reading efforts. Of late Colin is the local correspondent for three Kent villages reporting weekly in the Gravesend and Dartford Messenger. He is also the editor of the Kent magazine The Town & Country Post. To obtain a signed copy of the book, call or Maurice@ashthorpemagna.co.uk. COLIN SENNECK Feb 2010 Page 8

9 EMBROIDERY DEPOT are able to supply and machine embroider a wide range of polo shirts, T shirts, sweatshirts, rugby shirts, fleeces, jackets, caps, bags, towels, flags and other garments, sew-on or iron-on badges. EMBROIDERY DEPOT can offer up to 15% price reduction for PETANQUE CLUB orders. ALAN CREGEEN proprietor. EMBROIDERY DEPOT 28 ELVINGTON ROAD DOVER KENT CT15 4EQ Tel or tel : Walderslade Road Walderslade ME59LW Florists with over 40 years experience traditional modern and bespoke designs and arrangements. Sample of bouquets and competitive prices on our web page. Flowers plus a variety of supplies for all occasions balloons mothers day funerals hampers Laura Ashley Flowers flowers sent abroad corporate anniversary colours weddings. All major credit cards accepted. All you need for petanque supplies from the on line brochure. Boule accessories trophies bags and clothing. Tel Shop and Sales Office at Pen-y-Coed Petanque Up Street Bradwell Bury St. Edmonds Suffolk IP31 1AA The KENT PETANQUE GAZETTE is edited by RON YATES. Any item of news for inclusion in future editions should be sent to ronyates6@btinternet.com The views expressed in the KENT PETANQUE GAZETTE are those of the editor and contributors only, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the KENT PETANQUE ASSOCIATON or the ENGLISH PETANQUE ASSOCIATION E & OE Page 9