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Attracted by its
straightforward game plan, New Zealanders are
adding petanque to their repertoire of sports.
The steel balls sit comfortably
in the palm of the hand, before they spin
through the air, flashing a metallic sheen.
The pleasures of petanque - or
boules as the game is more widely known - are
simple but pervasive. A passion of the French,
it has spread through 40 countries to arrive,
three years ago, in New Zealand, where it has
attracted a solid following.
The game is redolent with images
of old France: men in black berets puffing
thoughtfully on cigarettes and slowly sipping
pastis before throwing the boule toward the
cochonnet, the small wooden-ball target. In
France, the champion of the French national
petanque championships is as revered almost as
much as a star rugby player is in New Zealand.
The universal appeal of the game
prompted the formation of the Federation
Internationale de Petanque et Jeu Provencal in
1990, and New Zealand will shortly add its
affiliation to those of the 30 other member
countries. The French federation has a
membership of more than 150,000 boule playing
enthusiasts.
In 1991, New Zealand leisure
pursuits specialist Gavin Campbell began
importing the boules after trying his hand at
the game on a vineyard in South Australia’s
Barossa Valley. New Zealand’s well-established
leaning towards outdoor sports meant the game
stood a good chance of catching on.
Campbell built interest with his
Integrale Petanque tournaments in Auckland’s
waterside suburb of Devonport and at Victoria
Park. The game gained a small following, and
another Auckland and petanque aficionado, Dr
Campbell Calder, also began importing sets of
boules and encouraging newcomers to learn the
game with groups of experienced players,
including himself and French boules players
living in New Zealand.
And on Auckland’s Ponsonby Road,
the owner of the Atomic Cafe turned the backyard
of the cafe into
court where petanque devotees
could combine aromatic coffee and good food with
the game.
The official seal of approval
came some months ago, when Auckland Regional
Council built a petanque court at Victoria Park.
The crushed lime and shell surface, stretching
over a generous square at one end of the
inner-city park, is a popular meeting place for
the growing number of petanque players. It is
also the venue for the national championship,
planned for the third Sunday in November.
The almost instant appeal of
petanque stems from the fact that it is easily
understood, can be played almost anywhere
outdoors and everyone can have a moment of
glory. A rough terrain, in the words of Calder,
is a great leveller. Great shots can be
accomplished with little experience, unlike the
game of croquet, for example, which doesn’t
leave much margin for error.
The jack (or cochonnet) is thrown
by the first player. The object of succeeding
players is either to place their boules as close
to the cochonnet as possible, to hit a
team-mate’s boule closer; or to remove the boule
of an opposing player.
With a backspin motion, the
silver sphere is spun into the air toward the
wooden jack. Games are usually played to 13
points and may last for 10 to 30 minutes.
Teams may be of one to three
players and may play with two to four boules
each. The noise the steel boule makes when it
hits the light wooden cochonnet is “a most
satisfying chock”, writes Peter Mayle in ‘A Year
In Provence’.
The metal balls weigh between 660
and 800 grams, and champions of the game play
not on a village street, country lane, backyard
or public square but on a challengingly smooth
surface with heavier, precision-made balls. The
weight factor plays a big part in providing
greater accuracy to knock the opponent’s boule
off course.
The origins of petanque stretch
back to antiquity, possibly Egypt in the 52nd
century BC. Archaeologists claim to have
discovered a pair of bowls and a jack in the
sarcophagus of a child dating from this time. In
600BC the Greeks played another forerunner to
the game with spherical corns thrown at balls.
Caesar’s Roman legions then took
their form of the game to Gaul, from whence it
spread to northern France, Flanders and England.
In the 14th century it had become addictive.
Such was its grip on the French army, that King
Charles V issued an edict prohibiting his
soldiers from playing while on active service.
He withdrew his order when threatened with
mutiny.
The game evolved into petanque in
the year 1910: in Provence, debate continues as
to whether it was in the town of Valluris,
l’Isle-sur-Sorque or Le Ciotat that the first
players pitched the boule. Petanque derives from
the French words ‘pieds’ and ‘tanques’ which
translate from Provencal dialect into 'feet
together'.
These early petanque players
engaged in a form of the game known as ‘jeu
provencal’, played on a pitch of up to 21
metres. Later it was decided to reduce the pitch
to 10 metres, a decision which reduced the
effort required to bowl long-distance in the
sun.
The boules were originally cut
out of solid wood, then studded with iron nails.
From the 1920s, two hollow, steel half- spheres
were welded together to form the balls that are
now used by petanque players worldwide.
Author Peter Mayle dusted his set
off when he and his wife made the move from
England to Provence. He watched the men who
played every day next to the church and observed
how the “true aces bent their knees in a crouch
and held the boule with the fingers curled round
and the palm facing downwards, so that when the
boule was thrown, friction from the fingers
provided backspin. And there were the lesser
elements of style - the grunts and
encouragements that helped every throw on its
way, and the shrugs or muttered oaths when it
landed short or long.”
“Intrigue and gamesmanship make
up for the lack of athletic drama.” |
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