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Well going into my third
Petanque World Championships I
thought that maybe the novelty
would have worn off and I would
be a little less enthused.
Nothing could be further from
the truth!
This year was different from the
past in a number of ways but the
most significant was that I was
the Chef de Delegation of the
Irish team. Yes, I was the big
‘Irish Cheese.’ However, all
that meant was a lot of running
around and boring meetings to
attend. The main significance of
this was that I was doubly busy
supporting both the Irish and
Kiwi teams.
At
the opening ceremony I led the
Irish team out carrying the
Irish flag which was a novel
experience and one I enjoyed
considerably. The only weird
moment came when they were doing
the draw and asked for the
delegate from Nouvelle Zelande
to come forward and I took a
half step before realising that
I was now with the Irish team.
For
the first time the speeches were
translated into English but if
they were boring before when I
didn’t understand them they were
even more boring when I did
understand them! While it was a
fantastic experience to be out
in the middle, by the end of it
my back and feet were killing me
and we were all glad that it was
over.
The
delegates meeting on Thursday
morning was a bit of a farce
with so little time to discuss
critical issues such as the
future of petanque worldwide.
The international committee
asked why so few countries were
prepared to host the world
champs and then when Singapore
showed willingness they were
ignored.
The
feeling we got was that the main
European countries don’t want
the cost and hassle of
travelling so far. There was a
strong undercurrent from the
non-French speaking countries
and the African nations that the
international committee while
professing to want a truly
international sport was being
very self-serving.
A
suggestion that a levy of one
euro per registered member would
support the world champs and
further development of the game
worldwide was immediately
dismissed. This was hardly
surprising given the fact that
the French Federation has over
400,000 members and while they
are very rich they are unwilling
to subsidise everyone else which
is how they see it. Things need
to change but it will definitely
take time.
Play began at 2.30pm on Thursday
and New Zealand had a tough draw
that was made considerably
easier by the late arrival of
the team from Ivory Coast
meaning we had an automatic
victory We lost our second game
to Cameroon who despite the fact
that they are fairly new to the
World Champs were a very strong
team that went on to do very
well.
We
then went on to beat the
Norwegians reasonably easily.
This meant that with two
victories in the first round we
were through to the second round
without the need to go through
the repechage, a fate not
avoided by the Irish team.
The
next day I was up early again to
support Ireland through the
repercharge rather than having a
relaxed morning due to New
Zealand not having to play This
supporting two teams wasn’t
easy. Ireland failed in the
repechage and was consigned to
the Coupe de Nations (Nations
Cup).
New
Zealand started play in the
afternoon and had another tough
draw meeting Morocco first, a
team that had won the world
champs before. We certainly made
them sit up and take notice as
we put them under considerable
pressure and took them to 13 –
11 a result which we can be very
proud of.
The
Moroccans then went on to play
the Belgians who had won two
years earlier in Portugal and
were expected to win. In one of
many upsets at this tournament
the Belgians were beaten and so
we had to play them for a spot
in the final sixteen. They came
out strongly, smarting from the
loss to Morocco and to a certain
extent New Zealand went in
somewhat overawed to be playing
them. They whitewashed us and we
were fannied to be dumped out
into the Nations Cup.
The
following day we discovered our
draw for the first round of e
Nations Cup and were not unhappy
to discover we had Australia and
Great Britain, as well as the
Italians who were not playing as
well as they had in previous
years.
Our
first match was against Great
Britain and didn’t go well at
all. We were beaten rather
easily and therefore had to face
the Aussies knowing that a loss
would see us out of the Nations
Cup.
Graeme did a great job of
boosting the guys after the loss
to Great Britain and they went
into the Bledisloe Cup of
petanque thirsting for victory.
They were magnificent and the
Aussies had no answer to their
accuracy and superior tactics.
We thrashed them 13 - 2 and
honour was preserved.
That meant we had another chance
at the Poms, who had lost to the
Italians, to decide who would go
through to the quarter final. We
were a different team in the
second match and were very much
in charge throughout. At 10 - 7
ahead Seti did a perfect carreau
for what Graeme and I thought
was the match and we leapt up
cheering and went to shake the
Poms hands only to be told that
it was only 2 points on that end
and the score was 12 - 7. So we
rather sheepishly sat back down
and waited for the opportunity
to leap again.
The
Poms took the next two ends and
the score sat at 12 - 9. The
next end was going in their
favour and we had a couple of
bad boules causing the cochonnet
to be moved quite some distance
away from all except one of our
boules. Naturally with 5 boules
in hand they went to try to
knock our boule away to maximize
the end for them.
As
their shooter had only hit about
twice in the whole game we
weren’t too concerned. On his
first throw he missed our boule,
hit the cochonnet knocking it
out and giving them four points
for the four boule they had in
hand.
It
was a pure fluke and a cruel
twist of fate to knock us out at
that point. Unlike the Austrians
who had knocked the Irish out
with a similarly lucky shot and
were embarrassed to have done
so, the Poms tried to claim that
the shot was always a
possibility.
It
was a poor shot that missed its
intended target by a wide margin
and an undeserved victory but
nonetheless a fantastic all
round performance by the New
Zealand team. We have definitely
arrived on the world scene and
no one will take us lightly in
the future.
The
Moroccans went on to lose to the
French in the final. The gala on
Sunday night was held in the
stadium and was, as always, a
fun event where we get to mingle
with all the teams. After the
prize giving and a fantastic
show by a troupe of dancers
doing a range of dances
including the ‘Can Can’, the New
Zealand team and yours truly
invited the victorious French
team onto the stage to do a haka
for them.
They were immensely impressed
especially Eric Sirot, their
fourth player who found himself
face to face with Andrew who led
the haka ferociously. The
applause was tumultuous and once
again New Zealand had left a
highly favourable impression
both on and off the piste.
I
can’t wait for Geneva next year
and have no doubt that it will
be another fantastic experience.
The support crews from New
Zealand were most appreciated by
the team and it would be great
to see an even larger contingent
next year.
Phil
Doyle, 'Petanque New Zealand', Issue 14,
December 2002 |
