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2001
World Championships, Monaco
Manager's Report
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
The Tahitian Connection – The
‘Lotto’ Tournament 28 & 29 July
2001
We didn’t see you
there. Most probably because you
weren’t in Tahiti. Papeete to be
more precise. Fortunately for 13
of us we were invited to stay
with a family as a thank you for
the time given to looking after
a group of Tahitians who venture
each year to New Zealand for the
Open in Auckland.
Through meeting
these people from the different
Papeete clubs Seti and Imelda
Mailei have set up a network and
the network decided to look
after this contingent of Kiwis.
The local group fund raised and
had sponsors who were able to
provide the NZer’s with the
necessary provisions to stay for
two weeks.
In return for
this hospitality we placed 50
cartons and bags on the Air
Tahiti Nui flight out. It helps
when the Managing Director of
the Airline’s wife is travelling
with you back to her home. No
they weren’t all suitcases.
Oysters, corned beef, salted
beef, steak and casks of wine as
a present for the hosts who
numbered about eight families.
As we found out it’s all about
giving.
The four hour 50
minute flight was enjoyable with
lots of different dishes and
drinks to try The ‘in flight’
magazine prepares you for the
inevitable task of finding a
black pearl of the right colour
(green) at the right price. Did
you know that black pearls don’t
actually come from Tahiti. They
are farmed thousands of miles
away around small atolls.
On arrival at the
Airport at 9.00pm we have Noel
meet us. Noel won this years NZ
Open. Strange I had been told
there would be a welcoming
committee then I found out Noel
was actually behind the lines to
help us through Customs. 50
Cartons etc later we all wheel
our trolleys straight through
Customs and out into the foyer
to be greeted by our hosts.
Beautiful leis
made with flowers by the people
are draped around our necks. The
aroma is wonderful.
Introductions all round and out
to the car park. They all have
double and single cab utes in
Tahiti. You are allowed to carry
three in the back.
Somebody pulls up
at the card exit and finds out
you can’t put money in the
machine so we eventually all
move over and exit through the
coin collection.
We travel through
the main streets of the capital.
The lights are a mass of colour.
Strings of lights are wrapped
around the trees down through
the four-lane motorway.
We finally reach
Mahina the suburb that is to
become ours for the duration.
High block walls and large
sliding gates. Are there
marauders at night? Bumpy roads
and judder bars. The roads
appear private and are for the
benefit of the families who own
the land. The house we are
staying in normally houses a
family of five. They move into
one bedroom and we get their
three bedrooms. The house is
very new and large. Tiles wall
to wall to keep the house cool.
It must have been about 28 - 30
degrees most of the time. When
it rained the temperature
dropped maybe five degrees.
The front
verandah is set up with two
large tables ready for a feast
to be served. Welcome to Tahiti.
You learn that you have to eat
or starve. The raw fish is the
first mental block for most of
us. The guests are always fed
first and are looked after
before the hosts.
Pierre and Lucia
Pirato sons Tern, Albert and
Hieraii were our host family.
Pirato, you call them by there
surname, has a wall full of
petanque trophies of which he is
very proud. He has won the
French Championship singles so
you could say he was the worlds
best singles player in 1995.
He has small
chubby fingers, is an
upholsterer by trade, shoots
with a 690gm x 800mm diameter
hard boule. He speaks like most
of them, Tahitian with French as
his second language. So as you
can guess we didn’t have many
conversations except when Imelda
translated but we did a lot of
arm waving and gesturing that
turned into lots of laughs.
On the first
weekend there was a preliminary
tournament on the same terrain
as the Loto. We travelled early
to the terrain, which is a huge
car-park at a sports ground.
There were no strung courts,
lighting when necessary, the
clubrooms of the Vaiete Club,
and the Hinano bar. Hinano is
the local beer and with your
glass bottle empties is cheaper
to buy than bottled water.
Hinano is the main sponsor of
petanque in Tahiti.
We played a warm
up on the very flat hard surface
or I should say tried to. Mama
Noeline came charging across and
split up the teams so that
females were playing with
females and males with males.
Welcome to a French territory.
For the tournament Ian, Seti and
Alan played as a triples and
Paul and I were given a player,
Sash, Noel’s son to make up our
triples team. The girls, Sue and
Imelda played doubles, as this
is what was going to happen the
following weekend of the LOTO
tournament.
We paid our 1000
pacific francs $20NZ each and
dually lost our first game.
Didn’t have the feel for the
ground to start. Paid another
1000 franc each $20NZ and won
the next two. We beat two
Tahitian teams hard to believe
we couldn’t do that in Auckland.
It was all about being on
holiday and learning, without
getting stressed.
Sash was a good
shooter, hard and fast but no
carreaus. Lost the fourth game
and we were out. That took up
most of the day as the number of
teams covered the whole car
park. Shoes were compulsory, no
singlets, shirts to have sleeves
and they weren’t allowed to be
tucked into the shoulder.
You received a
ticket when you paid, with the
team to play and your details.
The winning captain took both up
to the registrar at the end of
the game. The winning captain
then got his next piece of paper
with a team to play on it. It
was total knockout once you lost
you went into a plate and paid
each time you wanted too.
You could also
reorganise your playing team and
change each time you paid to go
into the plate. We played to 11
points on the first day. The
last 16 teams played to 13
points on the Sunday to find the
winner by straight knockout.
Sue and Imelda
won one then lost the next and
decided to drop out. It was hot.
The other NZ triples team won
three and then lost but carried
on in the plate.
Sunday we were
taken to the end of the road to
a beach which was where Papa Tam
one of the group lived in his
bach. Outside, the sand roadway
with all its undulations was the
local petanque terrain. Once a
game starts up, out comes all
the guys to watch and play. You
are invited to play but if you
lose it’s very difficult to get
back into another team to
challenge.
Finally we moved
onto a home terrain at another
beach around the coast and here
was a full on tournament. You
paid your 500 francs and played
until you lost then paid again
until finally there was an
unbeaten winner. Nobody
performed too well so in the
dark we went home.
11.45 pm that
night in walks Seti a big smile
on his face he had moved on to
another home tournament, paired
up with Fati another of the
group and ended up winning the
final prize. A box full of
frozen chicken. This appears how
some make a living or at least a
feed to eat.
Each day we were
taken out. To the markets in
Papeete. Around the Island. The
bachelors came home one
afternoon from Point Venus beach
with sunburnt tongues. This is
where the young Polynesian and
French girls sit on the beach
topless. Beaches are black sand
and not very clean. Rubbish is
dumped on the side of the road
for collection but it seems to
stay and proliferate, empty
plastic bottles the main enemy.
For a tourist
resort you would think they
would have it sorted but it
appears to be the
Tahitian/French way. The number
of dogs, mainly female that roam
on the streets is huge. That is
why they have the block walls
and heavy gates to keep them off
the property.
They are not
aggressive just wander and
excrete everywhere. At night
they barked until 1 – 2.00am in
the morning then the roosters
took over. Now I know why the
rooster is the French emblem.
On the Wednesday
we had to be presented to the
sponsors of the Loto Tournament
at their offices in town. We
walked in the door and here was
this guy in a New Zealand black
shirt with a silver fern. It was
Michel Vancampenhout the captain
of the world champions Belgium.
He was wearing
Bay View club member
Murray Porter’s shirt that he
had swapped at the
Reunion worlds in
2000. We duly included him in
our team photo with all our
black shirts. We received the
sponsors shirts, put them on and
had our photo taken and appeared
on the front page of the next
day’s paper.
Inside was a
further picture of the New
Zealand participants. The
sponsors had paid for the
Belguim and Spain teams to come.
France unfortunately did not
arrive. New Caledonia and New
Zealand had players playing on
their own behalf and it was nice
to be included.
Sue went into
hospital that afternoon with an
infected toe. She had to have
surgery to drain the toe
otherwise she could have lost it
if we had waited until we got
home. Thank you Southern Cross
Travel Insurance. The cost of
the antibiotics was $176NZ and
the three hour operation
$1300NZ. The moral of this story
- don’t go to Tahiti without
travel insurance. Unfortunately
that was the end of Sue’s
petanque, swimming and dancing.
One morning we
got up at 4.00am to catch the
first ferry to Moorea - one of
the outer islands. 6.00am the
ferry sailed with three utes and
a heap of people. While sitting
outside the supermarket at
Moorea the Belgian and Spanish
teams go flying past on the back
of utes also.
The weather
wasn’t great but by the time we
got round the island for lunch
we found the postcard beach with
its white sand and beautiful
blue water.
Everyday we
played petanque. The ground was
irrelevant as long as you
played. The surface was usually
bumpy with deep- seated rocks
with channels carved by the
rain. I went to learn to shoot.
I shot 10 times, the rest of the
time I was pointing the first
ball in. You have to be a good
pointer first before you are
allowed to shoot.
Saturday 5.00am
we are up ready to go to the
tourney. Not much parking and we
needed to practice, all week we
had played on anything but what
the carpark was like. Today the
courts were strung with over 70
pistes. Wooden boards with
spikes in the ground separated
the courts backing onto each
other.
1157 players; 100
women’s doubles teams; 300 men’s
triples teams. In the first
round 50 teams had a bye - not
our luck. Sash turns up late as
the coin is tossed and Paul’s
not happy. I point, Sash shoots,
Paul tidies up. Played poorly
couldn’t get the first boule
close. Couldn’t believe it after
all the games played during the
week. The Spanish pointer comes
down to see the competition.
Joke. Loss 11 -
3. Have to pay 1500 francs $3ONZ
for the plate entry. Not on the
car park but up on the top
ground on the grass. We decided
it was a waste of money. Stayed
and watched our NZ team play
their first game in round two.
They played a different game and
tried to point instead of the
Tahitian way, point and shoot
until you have the advantage.
Got beaten so we didn’t feel so
bad after all. Imelda played
with Leilani and won their
first, lost the second and
dropped out.
The day
progressed and we watched our
hosts. Two of their teams got
through to the top 16 for
Sunday. Sunday it rained and
when it rains in Tahiti it
pours. The clothes on the
clothesline were so heavy the
post leaned over out of the
ground.
Sue with her toe
stayed home. We left later in
the morning expecting to get wet
all day but it was warm so
didn’t matter. To our surprise
the terrain had been re-strung
and there was hardly any
spectators there. We moved into
a corner under cover with the
overseas teams and watched for
the day. Wonderful petanque,
they just play more, have
accuracy and consistency and
keep it simple.
Play the basics,
simply shoot by dropping on to
the ball, one point that moves
right to left, one straight
point, and a high lob, no plombe
beaus except for Robear. Pierre
and Robear’s team reach the
quarters. Robear had one boule
to play to save the game but
landed and slowly rolled away
from the cochonnet.
Belguim play
Spain in one semi and two
Tahitian teams in the other. We
expected Belguim to win as
Spain’s pointer was not too good
but Claudy the Belguim shooter
who we had seen earlier carreau
a boule at 15 m, crashed and
Spain won 13 - 12.
The rain stopped
at
5.00pm
when the final began so I stood
on the scaffold seating up high
looking down on the ends. The
Tahitian team took the lead
early and held off Spain as the
rain came down again 13 - 11.
The locals went wild. Ranui the
young 19 year old in the team
was known to the players who
played in last years Oceania’s
as he had won two gold and one
silver.
Why did they win?
The Spanish were pretty volatile
and the shooter had to take over
from the pointer and he ended up
carrying the rest of the team
but it is a team game and they
couldn’t get the consistency
they had earlier. They were
pointing games rather than the
point, shoot and when there was
the chance of an advantage they
kept the end tight rather than
shoot.
The winning team
had the choice of a round the
world trip or a Vespa scooter
each which in Tahiti were worth
about $l0,000NZ.
Monday we went to
town. The shopping is not great.
Everything expensive, most
probably three times dearer. The
Tahitians come to the open in
New Zealand not for the prize
money but to shop. They are
taken to the Warehouse and they
go crazy buying things to take
home. They are also very good
traders.
There appears to
be no restrictions in
Tahiti
every road has stalls, vans,
trucks with produce, flowers,
beers all vying for the same
dollar. Comparing prices showed
very little difference between
shops and markets. The newspaper
costs $2.40. Leg of lamb $42.
Chicken over $20. Packet of
chocolate biscuits $6.
Monday night we
were invited to the Excelsior
Club. 15 people from the
Marquesa Islands had been
staying at the club and in
return for the hospitality, they
had put down an umu meal similar
to a hangi.
They wished to
share it with us. Goat, fish,
pig with a few other delicacies.
I had to give the usual speeches
as the ‘NZ official’ which the
Tahitians and French seem to go
for. One of the Marquesas people
could converse and they said
they were coming to New Zealand,
50 of them in December. The
wives said not to play petanque.
We pushed our barrow in so far
as the timing of the holiday
because it would be great to
have them in Auckland in January
but unfortunately it didn’t fit.
Wednesday night
was farewell party night as we
were going early Friday morning.
Pierre got a large marquee and
had it all decorated up with
ferns and flowers. Three calves
were barbecued. 100 people came.
The band of ukuleles and guitars
were made up with petanque
players. The Polynesian people
can certainly dance. They have
rhythm. It was a great night.
Everybody enjoyed
it especially Hieraii who is 15
and handicapped. He loved the
music. We were given presents,
shell leis and shirts which had
been made especially for us to
wear at the airport when
leaving. Amelia who was the lady
who had looked after her during
all her traumas with the big toe
gave Sue a black pearl in a
setting. They couldn’t speak to
each other but they knew it was
from the heart. So much love and
emotion.
Thursday night
was the last night and it is
tradition that the guests
prepare the meal for the hosts.
Sue and Imelda couldn’t wait, it
was a chance to prepare some
good Kiwi food. Chicken, a salad
with tomatoes and egg, rice, red
cabbage and home made garlic
bread. We as guests still had to
eat first then they came and
ate. We were a bit embarrassed,
as there wasn’t the usual amount
left over. Then we got the phone
call, the plane was on the
tarmac going nowhere.
We would have to
stay until Saturday night,
report to the Airport at
midnight because we were a group
and the plane would leave
3.45am, arrive Auckland 7.00am
Sunday. We had said our
farewells and given a koha to
our host - now we had two more
days to fill in.
Friday we went to
two markets out of town and
looked at the local handicrafts.
Better quality but still very
expensive. We then got dropped
off in town and wandered the
streets for that French coffee
on the boulevard at the
waterfront. We had gone home on
another day by bus so was used
to looking after ourselves.
Saturday we
thought was going to be a non
event but we ended up at the
corner playing petanque all day.
Finally I managed to play my way
into a team with Ian Baker and
Pierre. We won about eight on
the trot and I was finally
getting the pointing consistent.
We ended up champions for the
day and
Pierre
had finally accepted me into the
petanque fold. That night 12 of
us went to the Royal Tahitian
Hotel drank and danced the night
away before going to the
airport.
At the Airport
everybody involved with our stay
turned up in the black shirts
and caps we had given to them as
presents. Unfortunately we had
been asked by Pierre to wear the
Hinano gear that the Hinano Rep
had given us as a sponsor
instead of our Tahitian shirts.
Not to worry we wore our shirts
on the plane and at the other
end.
It was a sad
farewell, we had made so many
wonderful friends and we now
have a much better understanding
of the people and their living
and petanque culture.
We didn’t intend
to play the Open in January 2002
but we will be in Auckland to
meet up with our friends again
and help share the work load of
looking after them while in New
Zealand. Why don’t you make the
effort to become part of a new
experience?
Trevor Neilson
2001
Peugeot National Singles &
National Doubles Championships, Bay View
Two tournaments
for the price of one. Such was
the attraction of combining both
the National Singles and Doubles
over 3 1/2 days that 69 players
entered the singles, not put off
by the endurance aspect of such
a long tournament.
The Auckland
clubs entered in mass with 26
players, Wellington 19, Hawkes
Bay 10, Rotorua, & Christchurch
4. Dunedin and Ngaruawahia both
entered 4 players.
Host club, Bay
View turned on a typical
scorcher on the Friday
afternoon, in complete contrast
to the weather three days later.
By Friday evening a few ‘known’
players had qualified into the
bowl, including the NZ World
Champ bag carrier, Graeme
Morris.
By Saturday
afternoon, 12 Aucklanders had
shown their class being in the
top 16 along with a delighted
Daphne Hendrie from Wellington.
Georgio once again demonstrated
why he’s top seed by defending
his singles title from the ever
improving Simon Faby. The final,
recorded on
Steve Thwaites’
video, saw Georgio shoot a total
of 13 times, missed 2 (that’s
85%) with 4 carreau, the last
two to finish the game.
Chris Priestly
and new raising star Andre Noel
battled it out for 3rd & 4th.
While Auckland dominated the
championship, Wellington did the
same with the plate and the
bowl, with
Brian Smith
beating Michael Rocks for the
plate, Gordon Dykes 3rd, Gerard
Pinguet 4th. The Bowl saw
Wellington’s Matthew Bradbury
beating Rotorua’s Trevor
Neilson.
A further 43
players joined the now weary
singles players for Sunday and
Monday’s Doubles Championships -
a record 56 teams, including 14
teams from the local clubs in
Hawkes Bay.
Fortunately the
forecast southerly showers held
off until late Sunday evening.
By the 8.00am start Monday
morning, teams with the
foresight to pack their gummies
and winter parkas revelled in
the atrocious conditions.
Hardy petanque
players know the water skipping
properties of steel boule before
invented by Barnes Wallis of
‘Dam Busters Bomb’ fame. Our own
dam busters in the form of local
hero Eddie King paid short work
to a section of terrain wall,
releasing tonnes of lime
coloured water from the piste
into the already flooded fields.
And we all thought it didn’t
rain in the Hawkes’ Bay.
Steve & Neil from
Christchurch, as a team, were
playing well above their dismal
level earlier in the weekend.
Booked for a flight out at
5.00pm Monday evening, they had
to swap flights with the bowl
winning Findlays.
The gamble paid
off. Dressed for the conditions
and looking much like penguins
from the Antipodies, these two
gave Georgio and Christian a
good run in the championship
final. Played under lights in
misty rain, the Aucklanders
played masterly petanque.
Christian’s high lob pointing
accuracy a joy to watch. Seti
and Louis played well to hold
off a determined assault by
Brian & Dirk for 3rd and 4th
respectively.
Of the Plate and
Bowl, Aussie Samual and Tupekula
Hivaua triumphed over Hawkes
Bay’s Geoff & Denise. Roy Zeier
& Sharon Cannon were second to
Andrew and Diane in the bowl.
Neil Dykes
2001 Peugeot National Championships Results
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