Personality Profile – Dirk
Winnie
Winning the 1999
Singles Championship in
Christchurch last Labour Weekend
has been the highlight of Dirk’s
petanque career to date. A
highlight and a surprise,
beating off the talented and
experienced Niau Ruta for the
title.
Dirk took up
petanque after seeing it played
on the beach at Whangamata about
6 years ago. Not long after that
the Upper Hutt Club held an open
day and Dirk decided this was
the game for all the family.
Wife Bunny and teenage daughters
Nikki and Sam are now very keen
and competitive players.
As Avalon School
Principle and with a school
tournament under his belt, Dirk
was the obvious choice for Kiwi
Pétanque Coordinator for the
Wellington Region.
Dirk has been
President of the Wellington
Petanque Association for the
past 2 years and has a certain
knack of rallying the troops at
the beginning of the days play
at the Regions tournaments.
Fostering
relations between Wellington and
Auckland players is also an area
in which he has some measured
success, billeting the visiting
players to the National Doubles
made him an instant hit with the
Auckland contingent last
November. And thanks goes to
both Dirk and Bunny for opening
their home to all players for an
impromptu BBQ on the Saturday
night.
A passionate and
dedicated petanque enthusiast,
Dirk will be a hard man to beat
at the National Singles this
year in
Wellington.
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Greetings from the South
The Caversham
Club has been at the forefront
of petanque in the deep south
and the number of clubs in that
area has burgeoned over the past
two years. Christchurch is also
proceeding on this front with
three new groups playing
regularly, hopefully to develop
into clubs in the future.
Halswell Quarry
has entered teams in
Christchurch events and although
the group is small their
standard is quite comparable to
most Christchurch Petanque Club
players.
The petanque
section of Beckenham Bowling
Club has their opening day on
Sunday 19 March. The formation
of this section was a direct
result of the NZ Singles
Tournament being held last
Labour Weekend in Christchurch.
A new social club
has also been formed at Mount
Pleasant.
Christchurch
Petanque will host the South
Island Triples and already has
five entries from Caversham with
expressions of interest from
Milton, Waikouaiti, Timaru and
Oamaru. Coincidentally that
weekend the Crusaders play the
Highlanders at Jade Stadium so
the high light of the weekend
will undoubtedly be the friendly
rivalry between the two groups
of supporters.
Caversham hosts
the South Island Winter
Challenge at Queens Birthday
weekend and southern clubs are
invited to attend for this
highlight of the southern
petanque calendar. The convoy
tootles down the Main South Road
with colours flying, visiting
the various petanque clubs on
the way for a friendly chat and
have even to have a game or two.
Diane Findlay
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Club Profile
-
Taranaki
Petanque Club
Established
in September 1995 in the
grounds of the then Egmont
Hotel at Bell Block, New
Plymouth by a group of 15
keen players. Through their
efforts and cooperation with
the then Hotel manager, an
area for 5 pistes was
constructed with finance
from Paul Dicke and Alistair
Smith, two of the founding
members.
However, the
future development of a
by-pass road at Bell Block
(in 2000) would have
eventually channeled the
main road traffic directly
pass the piste in the Hotel
grounds. The Club opted to
look for another location
that offered room for
expansion, while still
retaining the expansive view
of beautiful Mt Taranaki.
Fortunately
after various offers,
negotiations were entered
into with the New Plymouth
Bowling Club and an
invitation was made to make
use of extra land they had
available.
A petanque
section was already catered
for in their Club
constitution and so the club
was readily accepted. The
club was able to maintain
its identity and affairs
while becoming an integral
part of bowling club
complex, with full use of
all their facilities.
This major
change in location was
effected in April 1999.
After several months of hard
work constructing the
terrain of crushed lime, the
club now has 8 pistes (15m x
24m) and 22 members.
The entrance
to the N.P.B.C. and the
Taranaki Petanque Club is
from Bideford Street, with
the main car park entrance
from the corner of
Upjohn Street
and Brooklands Road.
The Club
meets socially on Wednesday
and Sunday afternoons at
1:00pm. The major Club event
of the year is running the
Taranaki Masters Games for
the WestpacTrust Sport
Taranaki.
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New Zealand Masters Games –
Petanque, Dunedin 9 – 12
February 2000
Eleven pistes at
Caversham, dictated the number
of entries for petanque at the N
Z Masters Games in Dunedin in
February. When entries exceeded
the 88 quota, organisers were
quick to instigate a 2 night
‘Twilight Tournament’ to cater
for the overflow. What a joyous
event it became.
Two blokes,
Russel Lewthwaite and Dave
Yardley set the scene. Dressed
in berets, striped shirts,
knickerbockers and painted curly
moustaches, they looked the
part. Accompanied by an
entourage of tricolour waving
mademoiselles called ‘The Taieri
Kerplonkers’ they generated a
jovial atmosphere.
There were other
colourful characters also
including a bevy of Waikouaiti
petanquers dressed in green
berets and shirts with yellow
scarves. Looking like a troop of
Aussie scouts they were equally
boisterous. With the wine
flowing freely between games, it
was a happy affair.
Unfortunately,
the top duo of Ian Baker
(Auckland) and ‘Southern Man’
Ewi Mihaka, one of Caversham’s
top players, missed the cut off
due to their late entry and
ended up in the twilight. They
were untested in winning the
event.
The serious
petanque too had it’s colourful
characters. Local dignitaries
Eion Edgar and Warwick Grimmer
‘Le Grande Tiosseurs’ suitably
attired in their French outfits
were shocked with real petanque
where their good pointers were
shot out. ‘LGT’ were fannied in
their opening game by eventual
winners, Mark Richardson and
Barrie Kendall but rallied
enough to win a few games.
Shirley and Ray
Macnee of Milton were also
dressed in the French style and
‘Hodgkins Heroes’, staff of
Frances Hodgkins Rest Home,
dressed in purple shirts
contrasted with the Waikouaiti
PC greenery.
There were 4
pools on the first day. The top
4 in each pool going through in
the top grouping. On the second
day there were 4 pools of 4,
with only the top team in each
pool going through to the medal
play offs.
Richardson &
Kendall (Dunedin) won the gold,
Dianne and Andrew Findlay
(Christchurch) won the silver. A
consolation bronze went to Ian
Baker (who was able to fill in)
partnered by Ann Wright
(Dunedin). The other bronze
winners were Lorraine and Bob
Watson (Dunedin).
There were other
divisions too, a second tier of
16 Doubles and a plate play off.
The tournament was well run
under the control of Terry Holt
and went through with barely a
hiccup.
With four
enjoyable days of petanque here
in Dunedin the awareness now of
the sport is beginning to stir.
What does it hold for Masters
Games 2 years hence?
Barrie
Kendall
A Footnote from
the Organisers
The fantastic
weather and the wonderful
friendships forged will ensure
another busy February in 2 years
time. The 1996 Petanque Masters
had 18 competitors, the 1998
event had 84 competitors and the
2000 event hosted 152, any
arguments on the growth of the
sport?
The success of
the tournaments was undoubtedly
due to the support of Club
members, both bowling and
petanque who carried out their
prescribed tasks efficiently and
without any fuss, they made the
organisers jobs so much easier.
Those who have
not witnessed the comradeship
and fun of a Masters Games
village will have to start
planning for 2002 it is an
experience with out equal. See
you at Caversham in February
2002.
Anne Sinclair &
Terry Holt, NZ Masters Games
Delegates
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Peugeot Open Doubles – January
2000
Its true. The NZ
Open Petanque Tournament is the
best Petanque tournament in the
country. Spectacular venue, live
band music both days, free food,
great competition and drama. The
drama we could have done
without.
The whole of NZ
who watched the Sunday 6.00pm
news lead story knew about this
tournament. All 160 of us there
witnessed the horrific accident
where a 4wd crashed off the
motorway viaduct, just 75m from
the terrain. We sadly learned
later that two died. Our people,
first on the scene helped to
pull clear the sole survivor, a
teenage girl. It did tend to
place a dampener on subsequent
happenings.
Early Saturday
morning all 64 teams were
greeted to the traditional Maori
welcome by the local Iwi.
Fifteen teams from
Tahiti
had especially flown across for
this tournament. Splendidly
decked out in white tee-shirts
and matching caps, they were an
awesome sight. We learnt that
their club, celebrating its 20th
anniversary, subsidised the 22
men and 10 women to travel to
tournament.
To ease costs,
billets were provided by the
Auckland petanque community. The
lesser skilled Tahitian teams
would have played to a level
most good club players would be
proud of in NZ. But the top
teams are world class, simply
awesome to watch. Indeed we
learned the Tahitians, to their
annoyance, are not permitted to
represent Tahiti at the World
Champs.
Whenever they do
play the World Champs winning
French teams, the Tahitians
generally are victorious. Two
teams from New Caledonia and one
from Australia also entered, a
first from these countries since
the event started in 1995.
A live band
provided the entertainment all
day, both days. Three guitars, a
beat box, fantastic vocals and a
wondrous array of mostly music
from the Pacific region,
enchanted players and spectators
alike.
Free croissants
and French pasty delights were
available thanks to Christian’s
French bakery connections, and
Auckland’s
famous Victoria market only a
quick walk away if hunger
beckoned.
The competition
was intense with most of the
Tahitians teams clearly enjoying
the boundless opportunities to
be had to shoot boule.
A vigilant
catcher at the far end of the
terrain was absolutely vital.
Even with every precaution,
wayward boule often caused
mayhem. Some became temporary
lost. Panic! I’d wished I’d
learned French for “Wait, I
can’t find my other boule”?
Fortunately
others had the same problem. In
fact on one end, I played an
identical boule that wasn’t
mine, without realising it. The
Tahitian women rarely spoke. The
old schoolboy French needed to
be dusted off.
At the quarter
final on Sunday, only one NZ
team remained, the other seven
all Tahitians. To watch the
final was a special delight for
us petanque players keen to
learn new skills. Not for them
timid 6 - 7 metre ends, the
cochonnet being thrown out to 9
- 10 metres every time.
We all witnessed
effortless high lobs, landing a
quarter metre in front of the
target. All shooting shots were
on the full, in fact the bouncy
terrain most unsympathetic to
any shot landing short.
Two thirds of
tiers attempted achieved
results. All agreed the standard
of play, was equal to that seen
at the World Champs, in deed
anywhere in the world
To wind down from
the events of the day, Heme Bay
Pétanque Club played host on the
Sunday evening at their club.
The semi-tropical setting and
newly laid piste surface proved
irreistible to a few players
despite the amassed gallery of
petanqued out spectators.
Those brave
enough to venture piste bound,
were rewarded to an impromptu
coaching from none other than
the charismatic, guitar playing
Raphael, the tournament winner.
As if he hadn’t had enough. A
lack of French speaking ability
didn’t appear to hinder the
trainees appreciation of the
moment.
Auckland, with
its abundance of musical and
dancing talent, allowed our
hosts the ability to honour us
later with a real Pacific Island
treat. The hypnotic drum rhythms
and swinging hips of the 5 young
dancers even impressed the
Tahitians, whom we guessed would
be used to such things.
It was a
magnificent end to a wonderful
event. Thank you Christian, the
Herne Bay Petanque Club, and the
many Aucklanders who worked long
and hard to make this happen.
Neil Dykes
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New Zealand Petanque Association
News
A Brief Report –
Committee Meeting – November 27,
Wellington
The NZPA
Committee:
-
Agreed that
the Whanau Trophy should be
awarded to the family team
that progresses
furthest at
the National Doubles
Championships; husband/wife
teams are eligible as well
as parent/child.
NB: the
Whanau Trophy is currently
held by Geoff Greer & Denise
Bavidge.
-
Endorsed
petanque’s participation in
the NZ Secondary School’s
Festival 2000. This event is
being held in Hamilton in
December 2000, to build on
the enthusiasm generated by
the Sydney Olympics.
-
Discussed
various matters to do with
the conduct and running of
tournaments.
Guidelines
are being drafted to apply
to all NZPA run tournaments.
They will clarify the
relationship between the
NZPA and the local
organising body with respect
to responsibilities for
publicity, sponsorship,
entries, etc, and will also
cover such things as
allocation of venues, NZPA
expectations of the standard
of the piste, cancellation
or postponement policy,
disciplinary and judicial
processes.
-
Established a
policy on repayment of entry
fees when teams withdraw
from tournaments - that fees
will not be repaid if
withdrawals occur after the
dosing date for entries. It
was acknowledged that
withdrawals may occur for
reasons beyond the entrant’s
control. However, late
withdrawals involve
administrative costs such as
having to do re-draws.
-
Agreed to
have T-shirts made for all
NZ teams and NZPA tournament
winners, commemorating the
specific tournament/event
(name and date). These will
be retrospective, ie given
to all winners of NZPA
tournaments to date. It was
also agreed that only the
actual members of NZ teams
going to overseas
tournaments should wear the
official T-shirts, so that
they are differentiated from
supporters.
-
Agreed to
establish a central record
of all past tournament
winners, and office holders,
(Presidents and Committees)
in cluding photos. This is
to ensure that we don’t lose
track of where we’ve come
from, and also in
anticipation of the day when
we have our own central
facility in which to display
this information.
-
Discussed a
Drugs Policy, which the
Hillary Commission requires
us to have in our
constitution. Christian
reported that this is being
discussed by the
International Petanque
Committee, so it was agreed
to hold any action until we
receive their decision.
(Random testing of petanque
players for
performance-enhancing
drugs?!)
Barbara
Whittington - Secretary
NZPA News & Upcoming Events
-
Catch 22
One of the
main items of business for
most AGMs is the setting of
the annual membership fee.
However, the NZPA has a bit
of a problem which has been
complicated by the change of
date for the end of the
financial year.
In order to
enter the National Triples
at Easter, players must be
financial. The plan to send
out the renewal forms has
been thwarted - as it was
last year - by the need for
members to set the fee at
the AGM. The NZPA realises
petanque players are a
reasonable bunch and common
sense will prevail.
Therefore the Committee
recommends:
-
That fees
paid on or before 31
December 1999 be valid
to 31 March 2000
-
That fees
paid on or after 1
January 2000 be valid to
31 December 2000
-
That the
fee for the financial
year January 1 to 31
December2000 be set at
$10
-
That the
fee for the financial
year to 31 December 2001
remain at $10.
The
membership renewal forms for
the year 1/1/01 to 3 1/12/01
will be sent with the
September mail out and
members will be asked to
renew their membership by
1/2/01.
-
Continuing
Benefits
Membership to
the NZPA will lapse if the
subscription is not renewed
by April 30, this year.
Remember, in
order to continue receiving
this magazine and to play in
National Tournaments,
members must be financial.
All members
are encouraged to keep up
their membership - $10 is a
very reasonable amount
compared to affiliation to
other national sporting
bodies.
-
Future
National Tournaments
Graeme Morris
has been working on a set of
procedures for clubs hosting
national tournaments. These
will clearly outline all the
requirements and ensure
there is consistency in
events. The new procedures
will be available at the
AGM.
It is also
hoped that more Open
Tournaments will be used for
national, seeding purposes.
Shortly after the AGM it is
hoped to have a set of
procedures available for
clubs to follow in order to
have their tournaments NZPA
approved.
-
Upcoming
Tournaments
This year the
NZPA has been invited to
send teams to a number of
international tournaments
(see below). Some important
policy changes have been
made by the Executive
regarding NZ representative
teams:
-
for the
year 2000,
representatives other
than at the World
Championships, will be
chosen, taking seeding
into consideration, by a
selection committee
comprising members of
the NZPA Executive and
the National Seeding
Co-ordinator. This will
be the last year the
winners of National
Triples Championship
will be representing the
country at the World
Championships
-
from the
year 2001, all teams
representing NZ in
overseas competition
will be chosen by the
selection committee.
This includes the
national triples team to
represent the country at
the World Championships
-
financial
arrangements, including
fundraising, will be the
responsibility of the
team(s) concerned. While
the NZPA will offer no
guarantee of finance,
every assistance will be
given.
-
a World
Championship Coordinator
will be appointed and
together with a
nominated member of the
executive, assist the
national team with their
preparations.
The early
selection of the national
team means players and
organisers will have longer
to prepare for the World
Champs. Instead of having to
wait for the Easter Triples,
selection can take place
very early in the year,
giving the team possibly 3
months extra preparation
time.
-
Peugeot
National Triples - Easter
2000 Victoria Park –
Auckland, 22 &23 April
The winners
of this year’s tournament
will be invited to represent
New Zealand at the World
Championships in Portugal in
September. If for any reason
member/s of the winning team
will not be able to
represent NZ overseas, a
player/s will be chosen by
the team, with the approval
of the Selection Committee.
-
The Inaugural
National Shooting Com
petition
In
conjunction with the Peugeot
National Triples, a
competition - similar to
those held overseas - will
be held to find the National
Shooting Champion. While
players are waiting for
their next game - either the
team has a bye or it’s
likely that the next game
will be some way off -
players can take part in
this competition. An annual
trophy will be awarded at
the prize giving dinner.
-
Oceania -
Papeete - October 2000
New Zealand
is invited to send 6 men and
3 women to this event for 4
days of competition.
-
Women’s World
Triples Championships -
France - October 2000
New Zealand
has been invited to send a
team to this event.
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