From the Editor’s Desk
Welcome to the
new look NZPA newsletter. The
aim is to reach all players with
an informative, interesting
publication. By combining the
old Bouletin and Boules Gazette,
the Association has been able to
cut costs and still keep members
informed.
I’m hoping clubs
from up and down the country
will contribute their ideas and
so keep our unique sport
growing. Regular features will
cover NZPA Committee News, with
a run down of recent meetings
and a Presidents Report. Brian
Smith, organiser par excellence,
will keep everyone informed with
his Seeding Report. A
Personality Profile will feature
in every issue - this issue,
everything you always wanted to
know, but were afraid to ask
about NZPA President - Christian
Fouquet.
Rules some people
seem to have a problem with
these, should we worry about
them or ignore them? Whatever
your views, two will be featured
per publication.
The Club Profiles
look at the different aspects of
the game played in different
club settings. It’s hoped that
in the future more advertisers
will purchase space inside the
front and back covers. If you or
anyone you know are interested
give me a call. Remember this
issue will reach all licensed
members and a copy will be sent
to all clubs in the New Zealand.
Happy reading -
Brenda Dykes (Editor).
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National Triples - Easter 99
Top teams from
Auckland, Napier, Christchurch
and the Wellington region were
competing for the New Zealand
Triples title. Saturday had 4
pools of 7 teams play
eliminations to decide who went
through to the championships or
plate playoffs. The games were
tough and to a very high
standard, but the end of the
day’s play decided 12 teams for
the plate and 16 for the cup.
Sunday and
another typically hot sunny day,
which the Aucklanders may have
found hard to handle, and with
tensions running high, whittled
players down to semi final level
by mid afternoon.
Teams for the cup
final were: Hawkes Bay (Geoff
Greer, Denise Bavidge, Murray
Porter) and Auckland (Niau Ruta,
Tiki Ruta, Charles Peni).
For the Plate
final teams were: Christchurch
(Steve Thwaites, Craig McKenzie,
Neil Satherley) and Kapiti
(Helen Ball, Peter Ball, Gerard
Pinguet).
The final for the
cup was eventually won by Bay
View with a 13 points to 9 win
over Auckland, the final points
being measured by torchlight at
6:30pm.
The plate final
was a thrilling game with both
Christchurch and Kapiti reaching
12 points each, before
Christchurch managed to take the
last point, making the final
score 13 - 12.
The Hawkes Bay
team now go on to represent New
Zealand at the World Petanque
Championships at Reunion Island
in the Indian Ocean from
September 29 to October 3, 1999.
1999 Peugeot National Championships Results
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Personality Profile - Christian
Fouquet
Christian Fouquet
was born in Paris in 1954.
Having a father who was a
regional Petanque Champion, it’s
not surprising that as a 5 year
old he was given his first set
of boules and encouraged to play
in competitions.
Success as a
junior in a few early
tournaments did not convince the
young Christian to continue and
in his late teens lost interest
in the sport. When he arrived in
New Zealand in 1977 no one
played petanque, but with some
French friends he enjoyed casual
games on the beach, attracting
some interest from the locals.
It wasn’t until
1993 that a notice in the Herald
caught his eye and he entered
his first tournament in this
country in Devonport and, not
surprisingly, won!
Since those early
days in Auckland, he has entered
many tournaments and of the
original 12 who established the
NZPA, Christian is the only one
left on the committee. He
currently holds the position of
President. So what of the future
of petanque in New Zealand?
“I believe the
future of petanque is looking
good and will be happy to play
and coach when retired. Unlike
some people, I think the level
of players in NZ is fairly high
and that we should keep
competing in overseas
tournaments to raise the level
of experienced players, which in
turn will raise the level of the
less experienced. I look forward
to meeting you all at petanque
around New Zealand”.
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Club Profile
-
Caversham
Petanque Club
Established,
as were many others in 1996
by a Lawn Bowls Club. A
trial that year proved that
not only was the club
viable, but had successfully
attracted 42 members. The
club began as a section of
the Bowling Club, attracting
sponsorship and grants
totaling $3250.
With good old
Kiwi ingenuity the problem
of transporting the
materials for the new 33m x
10.8m terrain across a water
logged park was over come
with the help of a
helicopter!
A major
change in 1997 saw the
formation of the Caversham
Sports Club incorporating
the bowlers and petanque
members, giving everyone
equal representation.
February 1998
saw the hosting of the
Master Games and it was this
event that convinced members
that the terrain needed to
be enlarged to accommodate
more players. This project,
to allow for 8 terrains, 15m
x 3.8, plus the construction
of a clubroom with toilets
and office space has now
been completed.
The club is
planning a temporary terrain
to allow for large
tournaments and hope this
will be ready for the 2000
Masters Games.
Other major
events are held during
Festival Week and Queens
Birthday weekend, the latter
is a ‘tongue in cheek’ South
Island supremacy event, but
all are welcome. Club days
are Sunday from 1.30 pm and
floodlit games are played
Tuesday evenings from 6.30
pm.
The club has
assisted the formation of
new clubs at Milton, Oamaru,
Waikouaiti, St Kilda and
City Rise and will shortly
be hosting the inaugural
meeting for the anticipated
Southern Regional Pétanque
Association.
-
Bay View
Petanque Club
Established
in 1996 and successfully
approached the local Bay
View Bowling Club for their
support. Financial
assistance was given and 5
pistes were laid on spare
land behind the club.
The
relationship between the two
clubs has continued with the
Bowling Club currently
renovating their rooms to
cater for the expanding
petanque membership.
The relaxing,
rural surroundings are
symbolic of the laid back
nature of the club and its
members. It’s not uncommon
to have the local cows
hanging their head over the
fence and giving the
occasional, encouraging
“moo!”
The club is
run by a small informal
group who, through
consensus, administer the
finances and activities.
In 1998 the
Eastern and Central
Community Trust granted the
club funding to enable the
playing area to expanded to
11 pistes. Improved
facilities and success in
both regional and national
tournaments has lifted the
club’s profile and now
boasts a membership of 27
dedicated players. Plans for
the future include:
-
Developing the
facilities to enable the
club to bid for Regional
and National
tournaments.
-
Develop
relationships with other
clubs for competitions
and socialising.
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Regional Roundup
In line with the
strategic plan, regional
associations are now in the
process of being established.
The eventual boundaries will not
be finalised without the
consultation of the clubs
involved and final decisions
could be some way off.
Ian Baker is
bringing all the clubs in
Auckland together to meet, with
the plan to form the Auckland
Petanque Association. Terry Holt
has also planned a similar
meeting with clubs in the deep
south.
Trevor Neilson is
making progress with clubs in
the Central North Island and
Hawke’s Bay regions.
Unfortunately
there appears to be friction
between some clubs and these
differences will need to be
ironed out and compromises made.
In the end it doesn’t matter how
differently clubs run their
affairs, what is important is
that the sport of petanque is
encouraged in a way that suits
everyone. The NZPA is here to
help.
Most regions now
run a ‘Winter Series’ of one
form or another and as the clubs
within the regions become more
comfortable with each other,
this type of competition will
encourage all clubs and members
to participate.
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Petanque - The Northern
Hemisphere
Whilst in the UK
on business recently, I enjoyed
a little petanque with ‘The
Lads’ (the group included my son
Martin). Over a beer or two we
fell to talking about the sport
in the South East Region of
England. This Region is the
largest in the country,
membership wise, and comprises
Kent & East Sussex.
It has 89 clubs,
one known as ‘Ye Olde Thirsty
Pig Petanque Club’, with playing
membership in aggregate of a
little over a thousand. ranging
from 10 years to a lot. Renowned
opponents of ‘The Lads’ are two
ladies from Seal, who are in
their eighties
The Kent League
is the biggest and this year has
a record number 86 teams playing
on a Wednesday evening.
Competition starts early in
April and ends in September with
Triples at the start and Doubles
later in the competition.
Everyone playing
in the League has to have a
licence - which costs about $40
a year and provides 3rd party
insurance. Yes! Insurance.
Apparently an American tourist
watching a game, was struck by a
high speed boule, resulting in a
broken leg!
While the average
player is content with the
League. those wishing to qualify
to represent Great Britain play
all weekend for weeks on end.
Last year ‘The Lads’ played most
weekends in National
competitions.
Qualifying to
represent Britain on ability
alone is harder to do. The Open
Champs start with 64 triples
with the pool being reduced to
32 teams after one event. There
are then four events involving a
random draw, where winners play
winners and losers play losers.
A random draw decides who plays
who and after five rounds you
have a winner.
Local
competitions take place on a
Sunday and are either Regional
or National competitions. The
venue is usually a Pub, however
some are at Leisure or Sports
complexes and the surface ranges
from heavy pea sized shingle to
lime.
The British
Petanque Association is the
National body and is responsible
for training and development. It
grades instructors and coaches
to level 1, 2 and 3 and also
provides qualified umpires for
Regional and National
competitions.
The BPA has a
Youth Development Officer and
one weekend every season is
given to training youngsters.
This system is proving
successful with a team whose
ages ranged from 10 to 14 years
making it into the last 32 of
the Nationals last year.
Robin Pennell -
Kapiti
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President’s Report
Hello friends.
Since the election of the new
committee, we have held two very
successful meetings. The first
was the Saturday following the
AGM, where we introduced
ourselves, sorted out duties and
set some goals for the coming
year.
This meeting gave
me a great deal of hope for the
future of petanque and I was
thrilled by the positive and
co-operative way in which the
meeting was conducted. We left
Wellington armed with our tasks
and each member worked hard,
ready to report at the next
meeting - a telephone conference
- at the end of May. This went
longer than anticipated but all
items on the agenda were covered
and this format proved extremely
successful. The next meeting is
planned for early August and
will see everyone meet in the
Central North Island.
I personally have
been working on the task of
sending our national team to the
Reunion Islands in September for
the World Championships and will
now be planning to go myself as
the committee has elected me to
represent NZ as delegate to the
World Conference.
I sent a letter
to all clubs asking for views on
holding another National Raffle.
The response was mixed, but with
strong support from some
regions, it was voted to
proceed. I ask that all members
make a big effort in support of
the teams traveling overseas.
At the AGM at
Easter the outgoing committee
presented Cam Calder with a Life
Membership. Cam has worked
tirelessly for petanque over the
years - as the founding
secretary of the NZPA - and more
recently in his work having
petanque accepted as a Kiwi
Sport. He has also been
responsible for securing major
sponsorship, which has helped
our sport gain recognition
through out New Zealand.
The recognition
of petanque as a Kiwi Sport is
another major development and
will ensure a continuing supply
of younger players.
I am off
overseas, taking the family on a
holiday to France and while
there, will visit clubs and no
doubt play the odd game. With
the proposed adoption of the
Strategic Plan and a new
constitution here, the set up of
clubs and regions in France will
be my focus of attention. I will
report my findings to the
committee upon my return. Good
bye for now.
Christian Fouquet
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New Zealand Petanque Association
News
Report –
Committee Meeting - 4th April
-
General
Business
Discussion re
the proposed change to the
end of the financial year
raised at the AGM.
-
1999 Raffle
A decision
was made to write to all
clubs asking for their
support, emphasising that,
as well as sending teams
overseas, proceeds will also
be going to the promotion of
the sport in NZ and place
getters in the National
Triples will visit
regions/clubs for
demonstrations/coaching.
-
Strategic
Plan
Ask for
comments in the next
newsletter.
-
Regional
Structures
One of the
Committee’s aims for
1999/2000 should be to
strengthen the regional
organisation of petanque. To
this end, it was decided to:
-
Identify
and define regions.
-
Allocate
an NZPA member as a
contact point for
liaison.
-
To
compile a comprehensive
list of clubs throughout
NZ.
-
Constitution
It was agreed
the current document needs
to be rewritten to better
reflect the aims and
functions of the
Association, in line with
the Strategic Plan. Ivan
Hansen was co-opted to
assist with this.
-
Committee
Responsibilities
-
Ian
Baker - Junior
development, Growth &
Development, North
Island
-
Brenda
Dykes - News
Publications
-
Michael
Emerson - Public
relations, foster
petanque for the
Auckland Region
-
Diane
Findlay - Junior
Development, Growth &
Development, South
Island
-
Mick
Sharpe - Coaching
coordinator and social
activities (the latter
in conjunction with
Christian)
-
Meetings
Schedule
Planned - May
29 conference call
Labour
Weekend - Christchurch
-
Boules
Gazette
It was agreed
that ways should be looked
into to avoid duplication of
postage. Seek permission
from families to receive
only one copy per address. 3
editions per year.
-
Spring -
September
-
AGM
edition - February
-
Winter -
June
-
NZPA Website
Mick to
ensure this is running.
-
Seeding
Brian Smith
is happy to format
tournaments and seed players
for the Association.
-
Tournament
Dates
Expressions
of interest to be requested
for:
-
National
Doubles - 27 & 28
November 1999
-
National
Triples - Easter 2000
-
National
Singles - Labour Weekend
2000
Editor’s
note: It has been decided to
hold the National Triples
and the AGM at Easter, the
Doubles in November and the
Singles over Labour Weekend
each year. If your club
wishes to be considered for
hosting any of the above
events, send a detailed
proposal to the Secretary
NZPA. If you need more
information as to the
requirements for holding a
National competition,
contact a committee member.
Report –
Telephone Conference – 29th May
Terry Holt from
Dunedin has been co-opted onto
the committee.
General Business
-
Raffle
Progress
Written
replies received from 15 of
the 30 clubs contacted and
some verbal from Auckland.
Most happy to participate if
tickets sell at $2 each.
Concern raised over the use
of proceeds and some did not
want it spent on overseas
trips but used in NZ -
coaching etc. Decided to go
ahead, tickets available
from the end of July and
drawn in September.
-
Overseas
trips progress
Singapore
tournament cancelled but a
tournament to be held in
Sydney late October.
Discussion of funding
overseas representation to
be discussed at next
meeting. Option discussed
for players to gain overseas
experience by sending teams
to ‘local’ (Oceania,
Australia) overseas events.
-
Three players
and a delegate have been
booked for World Champs
and flights arranged.
Christian nominated as the
NZPA delegate.
-
Financial
Current funds
stand at approximately
$7,980.
-
Constitution
New
constitution making good
progress. Membership/voting
rights needs to be sorted
out before we can go much
further. Info needs to be
collected on all clubs/
membership details:
-
Graeme:
Hawkes Bay/Taranaki/New
Plymouth/Wanganui
-
Brenda:
Rotorua/Bay of Plenty
(including Hamilton)
-
Barbara:
Wellington
-
Diane:
Upper South
Island/Christchurch
-
Terry:
Otago/Southland
Editor’s
Note: jf your club has not
been contacted for details,
please contact the member
above who is responsible for
your area. This applies to
all pétanque clubs.
-
Strategic
plan - feedback
Few comments
so far - to be publicised in
the newsletter.
-
Membership
Discussion re
the requirement for photos
on cards and application
process. Decided to stay
with the present situation
and look at options for the
next meeting.
-
National
Triples - Easter 2000
Easter and
ANZAC fall together causing
potential conflict between
National Triples and Rotorua
Doubles. If combined, likely
to be accommodation problems
with making 2 or 3 day
bookings over a 5 day
weekend. Decided to seek
expressions of interest from
all clubs.
-
NZPA planning
programme
Brenda
highlighted the need for a
programme to help with the
committee planning for the
year. Michael agreed to
co-ordinate this.
-
Other
-
Kiwi
Sport - Diane
asked how Kiwi Sport and
the Petanque in School’s
Association fitted in
financially with the
NZPA. Ian said almost
all requirements for
petanque to be a Kiwi
Sport had been met
making the Petanque in
Schools Association
defunct.
-
Special
General Meeting -
October - to consider a
remit to change the
financial year to 31
December, starting 1999.
Agreed to hold this in
conjunction with the
National Singles in
Christchurch. Draft to
appear in the
newsletter.
-
NZ
Singles 1999 -
planning is well in
advance.
-
National
Doubles 1999 -
Barbara advised WPA was
putting forward a
proposal to hold this
event over the weekend
27, 28 November.
-
Petanque
in France -
Christian advised that
he will visit France in
June/July and will take
the opportunity to look
at the structure of the
sport there.
-
Next
Meeting
A two day
meeting is planned for
the weekend of August 7
& 8, 1999 to be held in
a central North Island
location.
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