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Acknowledgments
We would like
to acknowledge and give many
thanks to the clubs for their
support and financial
contribution for helping us get
to the World Championships in
Portugal.
Special
thanks to Cam Calder who started
up our fund raising campaign
with his donation and also for
setting up TV coverage and
interviews. Trevor and Sue
Neilson from the Rotorua
Petanque Club for providing the
caps for the team. NZPA who
worked really hard organising
funds for our cause and also for
providing the uniforms.
Phil Doyle
and Peter Dennett from the
Hataitai Petanque Club who were
our only supporters throughout
the tournament and for giving us
your help when it was needed,
much appreciated.
Christian
Fouquet our delegate and fourth
player who was a great asset to
the team plus a great
interpreter, which was quite
handy! You really put a lot of
effort into this campaign and we
all know you did and thank you
for that and for making us feel
comfortable throughout the whole
trip. It wasn’t an easy task,
but you did it.
Also a big
thank you to Imelda Mailei, my
wife for the amount of effort
she put into fundraising and all
the extras she did with the kids
and myself love you for
everything you have done.
Last but not
least a big thank you to all the
petanque clubs and players
throughout the country for all
your support, you don’t know how
much it meant to us! We have
enclosed a video of the world
champs to pass around to the
clubs through the NZPA, as a
token of our appreciation.
World Cup
Competition Experiences
-
40
countries and 42 national
teams
-
Tournament dominated by
shooters
-
Playing
amongst the world’s best
players
-
New
Zealand won 3 games out of
10 with one bye
-
Indoor
and outdoor terrains.
Outside terrain, concrete
base with an inch (2.5cm) of
grey scoria chips spread all
over the top, very patchy,
hard and fast and very
bouncy. Indoor terrain was
quite soft in areas and much
slower than outdoors,
particularly good for the
high boule.
-
Supporters play a major role
when their team is behind.
-
Teams
consist of 4 players and a
coach.
-
Substitution plays a big
part in the game; players
are not allowed to change
during the game.
-
Opening
ceremony was a great
experience; it felt like we
were at the Olympics.
Leilani was our flag carrier
and over all it was a great
feeling, and a great
privilege to represent the
country.
First Day of
Play
Just getting
to terms with the climate we
began the days play, playing our
first game against Mauritania
where we lost 10 - 13. We won
our next game against Japan, and
were quite thrilled as it eased
a few nerves.
The draw saw
us play Mauritania again because
the Irish team had beaten them 5
- 13. Unfortunately the
Mauritianians had got the better
of us winning the game 13 - 5.
Having won one game, we still
had a chance to qualify for the
second round of the main
championship on the second day’s
play.
Second Day of
Play
The first
round began with the draw and
much to our delight we were in
the same pool as France who had
also only won one game on the
first day. We didn’t feel too
bad and also drew the Czech
Republic.
In a pool of
about four, two teams go through
to the top 32 of the main
championship. We played the
Czech’s and lost 8 - 13 and we
then went on to a bye, as there
were only three teams in our
pool. The French had beaten the
Czech’s winning 13-0. We then
had to play the Czech’s again
this time it was revenge - we
won the game in the end 13-2
advancing us with France to the
second round.
Having
qualified with France to the
second round of the main
championship with the top 32
gave us an awesome feeling. At
this point we felt we had earned
the respect of top teams and
finally were accepted into the
world petanque family. Our
relationship started to blossom
with all the top teams, talking
with top players plus getting
their support and even tips, was
a real bonus for us.
Second Round
of the Main Championships
We were put
into a pool of four where we
drew against Senegal, Morocco
and Mauritania. We played
Senegal first, unfortunately
losing to a very good team with
a lot of shooting power 3-13.
Morocco was the next team we
played, where we also lost 2-13
due to bad play. Although we
missed out on the top 16 play
offs we were none the less still
happy with our performance. The
next day we played in the
Nations cup — equivalent of the
plate.
Nations Cup -
Plate
Saturday
morning, first round we drew
against Mauritania and Japan. We
played Mauritania losing 13-0
giving us our first fanny of the
tournament. We then picked
ourselves up and went on to play
Japan beating them for a place
in the top 16. After lunch we
came back to find Great Britain
was on the menu for the knock
out stage for the top 8. The
winner will have the privilege
of moving inside and out of the
crippling heat. Unfortunately
the ‘Poms’ got the better of us
and the final score was 7-13.
Final Results
for the World Petanque
Championships
1. Belgium
2. Tunisia
3. France
4. Italy
Final Results
for the Nations Cup
1. Mauritius
2. Thailand
3. USA
4. Portugal 2
The New
Zealand team finished 9th equal
in the plate with Canada,
Estonia, Mali, Norway,
Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden
and 25th over all equal with
Djibouti, Estonia, USA, Hungary,
Ireland, Norway and Sweden.
Final Night
The final
night was opened with appetisers
leading on to dinner. The crowd
was huge, with over 500 people
made up of players, supporters,
local guests, officials and
petanque staff all mingling and
enjoying themselves. It was here
that we decided to lay down the
foundation for future NZ teams.
Having built a good relationship
with the top teams throughout
the tournament we needed to put
in the final touch.
After dinner
and prize giving, the French
Petanque announced the New
Zealand delegate onto the stage.
Christian returned the
compliment by thanking FIPJP and
the host country and went on to
announce our National Open. He
then announced us onto the
stage. It was here Andrew took
over and led the national haka
that was performed with great
intensity and passion - we
really took it to them! We left
them standing, shouting "All
Blacks! All Blacks! All Blacks!"
It was an
amazing experience as teams
started to queue up at our table
and thank us and present us with
gifts. We knew then that we had
stolen the show and won their
hearts. Monaco the next host
country who walked quite a
distance to get to our table
were so impressed they want to
see another New Zealand team in
the world champs next year
(2001).
Concluding
Comments
Having gone
further than any previous New
Zealand team, our view of
petanque will never be the same
again. With much respect to all
the petanque players in New
Zealand, the world championship
tournament consists of the
world’s very best players at the
highest level, therefore you
don’t go there to take part, you
don’t go there to have fun and
you don’t go there for the
experience. We must select our
very best to go and compete at
the highest level and bring back
results. Having seen it all, I
know we have players who can
compete at this level. It will
be a shame if we don’t carry on
with this wonderful opportunity.
The relationship with the
European and African countries
has been set as well as with the
FIPJP, and I know that in my
heart this will only benefit our
dear sport.
Finally I
encourage supporters to go as
they play a major role in the
tournament. Once again I would
like to thank all those people
who have supported us, right
from the beginning and hope that
future teams enjoy the
experiences as much as we did.
Seti Mailei,
Andrew Mailei, Leilani Mailei |
