KENT PETANQUE ASSOCIATION

Transcription

1 KENT PETANQUE ASSOCIATION ISSUE No.73 JULY 2012 KPA GAZETTE Petanque will not feature in the London Olympics. The nearest we get is a Kent petanque player MICK JENNINGS carrying the Olympic Torch through the streets of his home town of Gravesend on Friday 20th July. Mick is a slightly aging lifetime sportsman and all round good egg. Nominated to carry the torch by the ELLENOR LIONS HOSPICE for whom Mick raised around for the charity last year. He wrote a book called Believe It Or Not and spent a couple of years peddling the book for sale around the area, with all the proceeds going to the ELLENOR charity. Mick has been a lifetime sportsman, exceling particularly at long distance open sea swimming. He has swam the English channel twice, swam in the San Francisco Bay Alcatraz race, the Sydney Harbour race and several other races alongside perfectly designed safe and comfortable ferry routes. He took up petanque early on in his life around the age of 65 and has proved an up and coming star of the lower KPA Summer Leagues. There were quite a few petanque players standing at the roadside in Gravesend cheering Mick on, who displayed obvious pride in having been selected to carry the torch...and as if the gruelling MICK steps ashore where am I? run in the torch relay was not enough..mick popped down to Maidstone in the afternoon to swim the 1 mile Medway Race organised by Maidstone Council. The swimming race was started by several Olympic Torch bearers and Duncan Goodhew, with a half a mile swim from Maidstone bridge, up the Medway and back again, 150 swimmers of all ages took part in the race. MICK...proud bearer of the Olympic torch through the streets of his hometown of Gravesend..many congratulations go to MICK Page 1

2 Dave Littley the landlord of the Villager Pub at Vigo, his family and the Villager P.C. played host to a Bastille Day Triples Competition on Sunday 15th July. WINNER & LOSERS. Losing finalists, Mick Nash, Joyce Nash and Jean Louis Guiot Winning Finalists Rowland Jones, Kevin Spillet and Greg Davenport. Pictures by Ken Buchan The Booth family take the prize...fred, Geoff and Rob After what seems a very long period of uncertainty, good news from JOHN MIDDLETON..who has undergone treatment at St.Thomas s hospital with the insertion of 3 coronary stents, and a prognosis that is decidedly better for the future. Best wishes go to John from Kent Petanquers for a speedy return to playing again. KPA GAZETTE Page 2

3 London welcomes the international world of sports that will be taking part in the London Olympics. Sports men and women competing in a multitude of different types of sports..except PETANQUE. In the early biding stages for the 2012 Olympics, Paris was a front runner competing with London for the games, and some hopeful Petanque players were suggesting that if the games were held in Paris, then surely Petanque would be included as one of the sports. It is not at all clear as to why some minority sports like beach volley ball and riffle shooting should be in the games, and other minority sports like snooker and Petanque are not included. Searching through the pages of history it would appear that a concerted effort was made in 1985 to get Petanque accredited as an international sport, and to push for inclusion into future Olympics. The people at the time thought that combining four individual sports ( Boule/Bocce Lawn Bowling Raffa and Petanque) into one international federation would do the trick, under the title CMSBoules with headquarters in Rome and with registration with the Association of the IOC Recognised Sports Federation...ARISF. The trend of the Olympic movement however has been to reduce the number of sports taking part, and now stands at 26 individual sports for the London games, dropping baseball and softball from previous games. Maybe.the sport of Petanque itself is part to blame! At a very, very rough guess over 20million people play petanque world wide in around 50 countries.17million alone in France..the numbers are all a guess. The numbers that count.and add up and are of importance to the IOC committee are the number of registered players world wide which stands at around 380,000 players including the small number of around 3000 registered players in the U.K. and just under 1000 in Kent. Inclusion of Petanque as an Olympic sport maybe a small reason for belonging to the official organisation of Petanque. Keeping in contact and up to date with what s occurring in the world of Petanque is not that straight forward. The Gazette for Kent, the KPA web-site for Kent, individual Regions and Club web-sites and the EPA web- site for all things English. Another option is FACEBOOK.feared by some for whatever reasons, however can be useful for up to date goings-on in Petanque, and you can register onto the EPA page on a read-only basis without joining the free for all of friends you don t want, and your details being posted around the world. Join the English Petanque Association page, and Mike Pegg will provide acceptance. KPA GAZETTE Page 3

4 All over for this year with the top teams sorted for the trip to Hayling Island in September to represent Kent in the National Triples Finals. This year has been the most successful for the Qualifier Competition for a few years. The number of teams that played were Qualifier Round teams Qualifier Round teams - Qualifier Round teams Qualifier Round teams and Qualifier Round teams. Representing an increase of 29% of teams over year Twelve teams will represent Kent in the Main Final Competition and four Kent teams will represent Kent in the Challenge Competition. Plus one Junior Squad. We can guess at why this year should have been so popular and successful.for sure it was not the weather. This year there were two generous cash sponsorship deals for two teams to represent Kent at a weekend competition in Ziest Holland, and for another top team to represent Kent in the Dunkerquoise competition. Plus.for those teams that played in the qualifiers, and failed to get to the Finals.there is free entry into the Chairman s Cup in September with a cash prize of 150. Maybe the attraction of a new venue at Hayling Island for the finals was an incentive to play in the Qualifiers. Not forgetting the 55 sponsorship per player to help in accommodation costs at the Finals. The total entry fees that was made by the players in the Qualifiers will therefore been returned to players, in one way or another. Held at the WHITEHOUSE P.H. WEST FARLEIGH on Wednesday 4th July. The result of the Final of the Cup Competition was.george MASTERS 3 wins and LORDSWOOD LIGHTNING 1 win. GEORGE MASTERS are therefore the KPA Summer League Cup Winners for year The George team players were.chris Smith, Gary Atkinson, Keith Atkinson, Mathew Shrimpton, Richard King, and Rob Harvey. The Lordswood team players were.mick Weston, Rob Booth, Dave Chalkly, Mark Dennis, Russell Brewis, and Geoff Booth. The results of the Final of the Plate Competition was...toviliers 2 wins and DUKE OF WELLINGTON CAMPAIGNERS 2 wins, with TOVILLERS winning overall with 42 points to 32 points. The Toviliers team players were.barbara Middleton, Barry Soilleux, John Hines, Nick Hoile, Ron Hill and Elaine Jackson. The Campaigners team players were...alan Dobson, Bill Stotesbury, Jon Sutton, Steve Wilkinson, Ken Pinder and Graham Walker. A good time had by all, overseen by the three league organisers, Mick Nash, Colin Senneck and Ken Buchan. KPA GAZETTE Page 4

5 The atrocious weather this summer has affected the attendance at several Sunday Open Competitions, and could have been the reason for the poor turn-out of teams for the Tovil Pairs Handicap on Sunday 1st July. Only 5 teams played, and Dave Snook went home as there were no spare players to partner him. Faye and Steve Golder organised the competition, changing the original handicap format to a round robin competition with reduced entry fees. The teams were.steve and Faye (Tovil), Mike and Denise (Harriers), Neville and Pam ( Harriers), Mike and Debbie (Lordswood) and Rob and Dawn ( The George). True to this summer s weather there were a few showers of rain, some quite heavy, but all of short duration, and the weather did not dampen the enjoyable atmosphere. Steve and Faye won all their games, thus finishing top team of the day, Mike and Debbie were the runners-up. Faye and Steve and Tovil PC register their thanks to all the teams that turned-up to play and to those that stayed until the end. Steve and Faye suggest that the concept of a handicap competition was not to everyone s liking, and was probably the reason for the low turn-out. Information provided by FAYE GOLDER Several Kent teams fared well in the E.P.A. TOP 16 COMPETITION at Harrow P.C. 8thJuly. Kent Team positions for the Men s Top 16 Competition 2ND Team K.Spillet, R.Jones and G.Davenport 5TH Team D.Ashby (Kent), J.Blows, P.Winston and I.Brittain 6TH Team S.Ashby, N.Baxter, G.Atkinson 8TH Team L.Jamieson, M.Hickman, A.Bruce and C.Watkins 9TH Team A.Cregeen, R.King, B.King and C.Phillips 13TH Team S.Brown, N.Phillips, M.Whatley Kent Team positions for the Ladies Top 16 Competition GROUP #1 3RD Team F.Golder, S.King, M.Cregeen and M.Eldridge GROUP #2 1ST Team R.Brown, P.Whatley, D.Capelin and D.Isles GROUP #2 3RD Team C.Cooter, J.Cooter and T.Turner For the complete list of teams and players refer to the EPA web-site. KPA GAZETTE Page 5

6 The British Boule Challenge (BBC) has been visiting the Languedoc Roussillon region of Southern France for 14 years playing against local boule clubs from the villages of Valras Plage, Lespignan, Serignan Vendres, Portiragnes and Bedarieux. The name British Boule Challenge was taken from a suggestion from our own Jack Milner who was one of the original group. Unfortunately John and Janet Price the organisers felt it was time to call it a day hence the title BBC 15 Last Shot. Without John the trips would be very ordinary as his lively extrovert character keeps everything buzzing, if he is not getting everybody singing and acting the fool he is organising another competition on the camp site or a discounted meal for all. This year 49 people attended and remarkably we all A pensive JOHN PRICE contemplates the future or shall I organise a sing song - a game for a laugh - a couple of beers? - and what about next year? This years Petanque Group on tour. seemed to get on with each other, 10 clubs were represented and surprisingly there were none from Wales who in the early years formed about 90% of the group. The clubs were from West Sussex, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset and Kent with Daniel our own Frenchman from Paris. Memories are made of this a get together with the opposition after a game with local food and plenty of wine.and then a sing song a game for a laugh KPA GAZETTE Page 6

7 BBC 15 petanque folks on tour Blue skies, the hot sun, the South of France, and petanque can be played almost anywhere And another sing-song with the Petanque Band of Boule The tour is for 10 days and competitions held on 9 of them, those against the villages are always followed by a social evening with plenty of wine, food, singing and dancing we also had our own group with Barbara Potter on ukulele, Ken Potter on tea chest base (he tells me it s the same piece of string he had in the fifties) and Jim Carr on banjolele. Is it the last trip? We will have to wait and see as John was still seeking out new venues before we left. If it is the last, then we will have to find another outlet for the second-hand trophies which he recycles. REPORT AND PICTURES BY BABS & JIM CARR KPA GAZETTE Page 7

8 For those players over the age of 55. The Top 8 Competition was held at Burnham P.C. on 1st July, with the final table showing the following Kent teams finishing. 1ST L.Jamieson, A.Jamieson and B.Scott 2ND B.Bove (Kent), S.Borsi, R.Silvy and B.Rowland 6TH J.Nash, M.Nash and C.Senneck For complete list of the eight teams and players refer to the EPA web-site. As a result of this summers extreme inclement weather, thoughts stray towards ark type bouladromes, moored at strategic locations around the county. What happens to a petanque match that is abandoned due to a storm, torrential rain and or serious flooding of the piste? Aricle35 Bad Weather of the International Rules of Petanque is open to interpretation, and in any case is aimed at the high end of competition and is not necessarily applicable to a semi-serious League match on a piste at the back of a pub on a very wet Wednesdays night...somewhere in Kent. In some such similar surroundings recently. sheltering from lightning, torrential rain and watching the pistes gradually flood.along with a total of 24 players from two KPA Summer League matches.it was interesting to listen to the many varied explanations and suggestions from the damp players as to what should happen if the storm and rain continued and the pistes were flooded. All the suggestions from the players had a tiny thread of logic, and all came to a different conclusion. Half an hour later.more heavy rain.pistes flooded.one observation was 6ft of water at the deep end with a floating cochonet was an exaggeration. What to do. Matches abandoned. The abandoned matches were more or less half way through, each team having played one complete game. It was agreed by the teams to meet at a later date and complete the games, and inform the League Secretary accordingly. However.without a specific rule and clarifications these types of well intended agreements can be later questioned with differing interpretations.do the same players play in the re-match?...are only the scores from the games carried over, and not points from part games?...are boules in hand carried over?...are rematches played on the same pistes?...and what about food at the rematch? Understand that the League has made a ruling on a similar abandoned match this season, but maybe for the benefit of all..guidelines with clarifications should be added to the Summer League rule book relating to abandoned matches..for whatever reason! A consideration for a proposal or discussion at the League AGM later in the year? KPA GAZETTE Page 8

9 ZEIST TOWN HALL Zeist is a town in Holland near Utrecht, it is about 3.5hrs drive from Calais. It is the home of Les Cailloux PC from where teams have competed on three occassions in the Kent Classic. This was our first opportunity to return the compliment and take part in their annual Batavia Open. The Kent party comprised the KPA team of Rowland Jones, Kevin Spillet, Greg Davenport assisted by team manager Dave Hurren and KPA President Martin Eggleton, KPA Secretary David Baxter and Annette Eggleton and Margaret Baxter. The party stayed at the very good and reasonably priced Hotel Figi which overlooked the picturesque town hall and was situated only 10 minutes walk from the club. The petanque was played on terrains that suround the club house, and on temporary lanes on the 'Koelaan' (sand on tarmac) and in the grounds of the castle ( gravel pathways). The International Triples began at 9.30am on Saturday morning. The KPA team started slowly but then hit their stride winning their first 2 pool games, both to 5 and going straight through to the top 16. In the afternoon KPA were up against the team of Ferry Kamps + Marco Zeitzen + Maarten van Hout, from the home club who clearly knew their terrains but KPA team came though Our quarter final opponents Mourad el Ansari + Martin Bakker + Kees Koogje were the eventual winners who played near faultless petanque to win 13-1 and then 13-8 in the semi and 13-7 in the final. On Sunday there were two big doubles competitions, The International (79 teams) in which we had the Kent pairings of K Spillet/R Jones and D Hurren/G Davenport but neither managed to reach the latter stages. The friendly Open (57 teams) in which we had the pairing M Baxter/D Baxter who were 5 th after 4 round so just missed out on the semi-finals. The K.P.A TEAM at the ZEIST OPEN. ROWLAND JONES KEVIN SPILLET GREG DAVENPORT AND DAVE HURREN KPA GAZETTE Page 9

10 The Semi-final line up which included 3 players that have played in the Kent Classic at 1st left Kees Koogje, 4th from left Essa Agzoul and 5th from left Erik Telkamp. David and Margaret Baxter with opponents on the red carpet at Slot Zeist Kent watch Mourad el Ansari during their quarter final match in the International Triples. Left: KPA President Martin Eggleton presents a gift of Kent produce to Zeist President Edward van der Meulen REPORT AND PICTURES BY DAVID BAXTER KPA GAZETTE Page 10

11 Held on 12th July at the Whitehouse P.H. West Farleigh. Attending were.martin Eggleton, Annette Eggleton, David Baxter, Ken Buchan, Eric Hatfield, Mick Weston, Richard King, Peter Abblet, Richard Spillet, Corrine Cooter, Mark Cooter, Keith Atkinson and Ron Yates. A few notes that maybe of interest.not minutes! As per last year and as a result of the introduction of a new membership system by the E.P.A. there still remain players awaiting their licences at the Lordswood and Whitehouse Clubs, will be investigated. Finances to date stand at: General Fund, 1793 Junior Fund, 3693 K.P.L. noting that the General Fund includes all entry fees raised from the Qualifier Competitions from which the confirmed 55 per player towards accommodation costs will be deducted for all players representing Kent at the Finals at Hayling Island in September. Also accommodation at Hayling Island for team managers and Juniors will be met by the General Fund. Recorded that this years Qualifier series was very successful in the increase of number of teams entering, raising a total of 3501 in entry fees, The treasurer presented a revised budget for year 2012 including cash movements to date forecasting break-even at year end. The Playing Committee confirmed that, apart from a couple of minor adjustments, the teams and playing positions, and team managers, for the National Triples Finals at Hayling Island had been organised and would be published in due course. It would appear that individual team bookings for accommodation at Hayling Island are progressing without any problems. Plans are in hand for the visit of Nord Maritime to Lordswood on 11th August. Players to be contacted with an invitation to represent Kent against the French team for an all day competition including food and wine...provisional cost 20 per Kent player. Mick Weston on the Lordswood club would appreciate some help on Friday 10th August, in making preparations for this event. Exceeded all expectations...was the view of one. the Zeist competition weekend was very successful, an excellent venue with well run competitions, the Kent sponsored team came 5th in the main triples competition. Plans for the Kent Classic to be held 21st October, are in the early stages...suggested that one team from Denmark, two teams from France and the top England team be invited with minimum cash sponsorship. Entry fee suggested at 10 per player. Cash prizes to be aimed at those of last year. Will be a triples competition with the option of four players per team, with pre-entry for all teams. Nine K.P.A. representatives are planning to attend the E.P.A. Congress this coming weekend. The KPA will be presenting a proposal regarding qualification grading games for the top eight for the England triples competition. Individual players that played in the Triples Qualifiers who did not qualify for the finals will be invited to play in the free entry Chairman s Cup. And with the amount of rain this year..what happened to the canopy cover idea? KPA GAZETTE Page 11

12 SUNDAY 29th JULY LORDSWOOD OPEN DOUBLES At LORDSWOOD SPORTS & SOCIAL CLUB NORTH DANE WAY CHATHAM ME5 8YE Start at 10am Sunday 19TH august Harriers ricard cup Doubles TOVIL WORKINGMEN S CLUB TOVIL HILL MAIDSTONE ME15 6QS Starts at 10am SATURDAY 11th AUGUST KENT versus NORD MARITIME Includes lunchtime buffet and wine At LORDSWOOD SPORTS and SOCIAL CLUB Contact Annette Eggleton if you are interested in playing SUNDAY 26th AUGUST MEADOW DOUBLES Star Meadow Sports Club Darland Ave Gillingham ME7 3AN Starts at 10am SUNDAY 12th AUGUST HARTLEY OPEN TRIPLES At HARTLEY COUNTRY CLUB CULVEY CLOSE HARTLEY DA3 3DS Starts at 10am MONDAY 27 TH AUGUST TOVIL TRIPLES Tovil Workingmen s Club Tovil Hill ME15 6QS Starts at 10 am Maidstone With connections in high places.the CROWN JEWELS petanque team who play at the CROWN INN Chislehurst showed due patronage to mark the Jubilee by proudly displaying their new team strip. A top of the range expensive slim fitting stylish fog grey piece without matching bottoms. A Royale tribute by the Crown to the Crown.as it were. The Crown Jewels are currently in Division 5 of the KPA Summer Leagues, soaring like an eagle towards the top, and Division 4, even after suffering some very unlucky losses. The full team as pictured is. Front row, David Garland, Catherine Mahy, Linda Connell, Philip Wall and the back row, David Oliver, Peter Connell, Marian Clark, Ian Smith and Steve Robbins. MICK NASH DAVID BAXTER FAYE GOLDER CATHERINE MAHY LIZ BURTON BABS & JIM CARR KEN BUCHAN COLIN SENNECK JOHN MIDDLETON For providing reports and info for this issue of the Gazette KPA GAZETTE Page 12

13 HOLIDAY VILLA AVAILABLE 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 MILNER ROAD ELVINGTON DOVER KENT CT15 4EQ Tel or sales@embroiderydepot.co.uk In the village of Diano San Pietro - fully furnished 2 bedroom villa is approx 2 miles from the Mediterranean beaches of DIANO MARINA nearest airport is Genoa for full details contact JOHN SUGUATO Tel See also Gazette Issue 50 for full report KENT & SUSSEX WINDOW CLEANING AND GUTTER- ING CLEANING COMMERCIAL & DOMESTIC RELIABLE & FRIENDLY SERVICE PROVIDED COMPETITIVE PRICES GIVEN FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR QUOTES PLEASE CONTACT or TO ADVERTISE IN THE GAZETTE CONTACT RON YATES ronyates@btinternet.com FREE to all KPA MEMBERS 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 KPA GAZETTE 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 & O E Page 13