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I
was very proud to be manager of
‘our’ team of Georgio Vakauta,
Louis Mesnage, Chris Priestley
and Christain Fouquet (Delegate
and reserve). We had a support
team of my wife; Linda and
Louis’s wife; Lynette, who were
joined by Louis and Lynette’s
daughter; Nadine, who lives in
London and Louis’ sister;
Jeanette, who lives in Paris.
Phil Doyle joined the supporters
in Monaco.
The
team left Auckland on Thursday
20th September. We were
farewelled by a small band of
family and petanque friends. The
team travelled in uniform
(tracksuits) and we looked very
smart and gave our sport some
good publicity. On the flight
from Auckland to Singapore we
received a lot of attention from
the New Zealand passengers. Who
were we and where were we going?
After a two-hour stopover in
Singapore it was on to Paris, 13
hours flying through the night
to arrive at about 5.3Oam. The
plane zigzagged around trouble
spots (Iraq and Israel) before
flying over Europe and on to
Paris.
Our
first experience of French
authority was when we arrived at
Charles De Gaulle Airport and a
customs officer wasn’t sure
about Georgio’s passport.
However after about an hour or
more we finally got it sorted.
First lesson for the manager -
the ability to speak French
would be a help. Fortunately we
had four fluent French speakers
in the party.
It
was then into the rental van and
off to Sartrouville (a suburb of
Paris where Christian’s parents;
Michel and Simone, live and
where he was brought up). Here
we were treated to a typical
French lunch (horse meat) and
games of petanque on the local
piste. After a very pleasant
day, all but Christian and
Georgio were off into central
Paris. Chris, Linda and I to our
hotel and the others to stay
with family.
After a day and a half of
sightseeing and playing petanque
(we played petanque at every
opportunity - including under
the Eiffel Tower) in Paris we
were off on the journey south to
Nice. The Auto-route which runs
the length of France is a 3 - 4
lane (in each direction)
motorway with a speed limit of
130kph. We cruised at 14Okph and
were overtaken constantly by
other vehicles. The road was
excellent but there are toll
gates about every 80 - 100 km.
At
about 5.00pm we decided to get
off the Auto-route and find
somewhere to stay for the night.
We found a medieval village
called Tournon Sur Rhone which
is situated on the bank of the
Rhone river. We stayed in a
hotel several hundred years old.
Before and after dinner the team
was out playing petanque on the
piste across the road from the
hotel. The piste was big enough
to have at least 40 or 50 games
going at once.
Next day after a brief
exploration of the town it was
off south again. By early
afternoon we reached the Côte
D’Azur – the Mediterranean Sea.
Before we left New Zealand I had
thought it would be great to
visit the cafe featured on the
boules poster (I think put out
by Integrale). The cafe is in a
medieval village called St Paul
de Vence. The village is now an
art and craft centre and many
hours could be spent walking
inside the walled village
exploring all the pathways. We
spent most of the time playing
petanque outside the cafe.
Whilst we were playing outside
the cafe we were approached by
several Kiwis and Aussies who
noticed our uniforms. We had
quite an audience at times.
After several hours at St. Paul
we had to ‘drag’ ourselves away
and find somewhere to stay for
the next two nights before we
could move into our tournament
accommodation. We found a little
hotel at a place called Cagnes
Sur Mer (just west of Nice).
Even though this hotel was on
the beachfront and had a
wonderful view of the
Mediterranean it was quite
cheap. It was due to be pulled
down at the end of that week to
make way for a casino.
Next day we were off to Monaco
to check out the venue and to
watch some of the Celebrity
Tournament (Prince Albert and
the soccer player Eric Cantona
were just two of the celebrities
involved).
Monaco was all I imagined it to
be - oozing wealth. The number
and size of the yachts moored in
the marinas had to be seen to be
believed. The venue for the
tournament was a permanent
circus tent (used for promotions
and car shows amongst other
things). There were about eight
pistes in the main tent area and
another three covered areas
outside which had four to six
pistes each.
On
the seaward side of the circus
tent was a very long Marquee
rent, which was the dining area
for the players. Lunch and
dinner were provided for each
team member each day.
We
watched me of the Celebrity
Tournament before going to the
Monaco Petanque Club which was
only about 500 metres away. The
Monaco club has a large indoor
area (about 40 pistes). It was
rather like the Clareville
complex (but on a grander scale)
where my own club Masterton hold
our Queens Birthday tournament.
The
club has their own clubhouse
with and facilities. Some of us
played the Danish junior team
who were at the championships
just to observe and experience
the occasion. I guess you can
afford to do that when you live
in Europe and the championships
are relatively easy for them to
get to. Others of us played some
of the locals.
Next day it was back to Monaco
for registration and to move
into our hotel accommodation.
The hotel was several hundred
metres up the cliff at a place
called Cap d’Ail (pronounced Cap
Die).
After unpacking and a swim in
the hotel pool, it was off to
the tournament venue for dinner
and the Opening Ceremony. I
found the Opening Ceremony a
real ‘buzz’. Marching in with
all the teams and being part of
it all was great.
Thursday morning saw Christian
and I attend the meeting of
delegates. This was held at the
Princess Grace Theatre near the
Casino. During this time Georgio
competed in the preliminary
rounds of the World Championship
of Tir (shooting). Unfortunately
Georgio was narrowly eliminated,
missing getting into the second
round by 6 places.
In
the afternoon the tournament
began. We drew Seychelles,
Norway and Luxembourg in our
pool. Our first game was against
Luxembourg. We had a nervous
start but were competitive even
though the final score was 5 -
13. We then played Seychelles.
The game could have gone either
way but we lost 9 - 13, which
meant we were eliminated from
that pool.
Seychelles went on to play
Luxembourg for the last
qualifying position from our
pool. Luxembourg won 13 - 10 and
went on with Norway as the
qualifiers from our pool. It was
into the repechage for
Seychelles and New Zealand.
In
the repechage we drew Holland,
Slovenia and Comoros (a small
African country made up of
several islands. It lies between
the mainland of Africa and the
island country of Madagascar).
Our first game was against
Holland. We went to a good lead
12 - 8 and it looked as though
we were in for our first win.
However, Holland came back at us
and squeezed in 13 - 12.
This was a very good game that
could have gone either way.
Holland are very good team as
was shown by their second
placing in the Coupe des Nations
(which is the plate competition)
effectively giving them 18th
place in the championship.
Comoros had defeated Slovenia 13
- 8 so we then played Slovenia
in what was our last chance to
stay in the championship. Here
again we went out to a good lead
early on (4 points on the first
end) and got out to about 8 - 3
before a couple of tactical
errors on our part allowed them
back into the game and we went
down 12 - 13 again!!!! So it was
in to the Coupe des Nations
competition for us on the
Saturday.
Our
pool in the Coupe des Nations
included Ivory Coast and
Mauritius. First up was Ivory
Coast who defeated us 13 - 2 in
what was a very one-sided game
which was probably the worst
game we played in the
tournament. We then played
Mauritius in our last chance to
stay in the tournament.
Here again we had another very
close game that could have gone
either way. We eventually lost 9
- 13. Mauritius went on to play
in the semi final of the Coupe
des Nations. It just shows that
with a little luck on our side
(the ‘rub’ of the piste never
went our way at any time - but
no excuses), we could have been
right up there in the top 20 -
25 teams.
In
the championship quarterfinals
France had a very close game
with Spain. This game was very
exciting and had all the
elements of a top class game of
petanque. The experience,
tactics and skill of the French
team eventually won the game.
France often employed a tactic
that got them out of trouble. If
the end wasn’t going well for
them they would simply shoot the
cochonnet out of bounds thus
killing the end. The French were
very skilled at doing this and
could shoot the cochonnet
consistently.
The
full quarterfinal results were:
France 13 - Spain 11; Belgium 2
(last year’s champions) 13 -
Canada 4; Tunisia 13 - Morocco
12 (this was another very
exciting game and the
disappointment shown by one of
the Moroccan players at the loss
was very expressive and lasted
for quite some time before he
came back and apologised to his
team mates); Madagascar 13 -
Senegal 3.
This left the four teams that
had won the last four world
championships (1997 Tunisia,
1998 France, 1999 Madagascar and
2000 Belgium) to play the
semi-finals. France were matched
up with last year’s champions
Belgium 2. France won
comfortably 13 - 4. Tunisia won
the other semi-final against
Madagascar in a game that could
have gone either way.
In
the play-off for 3rd place,
Belgium 2 beat Madagascar 13 -
10. In the final of the Coupe
des Nations Monaco 1 defeated
Holland 13 - 8.
So
to the final!!! France versus
Tunisia. The crowd support for
France was very loud and chants
of Alléz le bleu (go the blues)
rang around the circus tent at
each exciting play. France went
on to a comfortable 15 - 4 win
and the crowd went wild. It was
great to witness it and be part
of it all. The medals and
winners’ shirts were presented
immediately after the final and
other presentations were made at
the closing Gala Dinner.
The
Gala Dinner was held on the
Monte Carlo side of Monaco at a
palatial venue - called Salles
des Etoiles Sporting Monte
Carlo. The building decor was
amazing, use of star like
lighting throughout the room
created a great effect. During
the speeches (everything in
French incidentally) mention was
made of the ceiling in the room
- at which stage it began to
open up to reveal the night sky.
There were trophies for the
losing quarter finalists up
(which I thought devalued the
main trophies - and they were
very large trophies at
that!!!).There was an orchestra
playing throughout dinner and
then a tempo change brought out
some Brazilian dancers (very
scantily clad women wearing
great plumes of feathers -
apparently there were some male
dancers???) who danced around
the diners. Dancing was then the
order of the evening and a good
time was had by all.
Our
team had a very good rapport
with the Belgian, French and
Dutch teams in particular.
Petanque at world level is just
the same as in New Zealand from
a camaraderie point of view.
Everyone is so friendly.
After the dinner we went briefly
to the Casino Square but decided
to head back to the hotel as we
were all very tired.
The
next day we left on our journey
back to Paris. We decided that
as we were so close to the
Italian border (about 5 - 10km)
that we would hop across for
lunch in Italy. It wasn’t a
particularly nice part of Italy
and we were pleased to get on
our
We
stopped for the night in a
wonderful little village called
Suze la Rousse (on the northern
border of Provence), which has a
medieval chateau that is now a
University of Wine. We found a
nice little hotel and played
more petanque on the driveway
before dinner.
I
describe the trip to the World
Petanque Championships as a
‘life experience’. For a
petanque enthusiast like myself
it was wonderful to play
petanque in such places as
Sartrouville, under the Eiffel
Tower, Luxembourg Park (all in
Paris) and the French villages
and particularly St. Paul de
Vence. If there is a supporters’
tour party to go to the World
Champs next year - in Grenoble
(as is hoped) some of these same
places for the supporters to
play at could be on the
itinerary. It was also great to
be able to watch and learn in
person from the world’s best.
I
believe that consistency and
better tactical awareness is
what players in New Zealand need
to improve on. I also believe we
need to construct terrains that
are less smooth i.e. place
stones and pebbles across the
surface.
Participating in as much
international competition as
possible can only benefit our
sport on the local scene. The
championships also gave me the
opportunity to meet
administrators from other
countries. In particular, I have
set up links with the Dutch
coach and the Australian
President. We are keen to get a
Trans Tasman series going in the
not too distant future and the
Australians would like to bring
out a French coach or technical
person and share that project
with us.
On
behalf of the team, I would once
again like to thank all the
clubs and supporters around the
country that enabled us to get
there. Our team cannot help but
gain from the experience of
taking part in the
championships. I hope that we
can share our experiences with
as many of you as possible over
the summer.
Graeme
Morris, 'Petanque New Zealand', Issue
10, December 2001 |
