Author: huddersfieldpetanque

On Monday a group of 22 students and staff from Greenhead College (Modern Languages Dept) came to try pétanque. They hadn’t been able to arrange cultural trips to France recently because of Covid and Brexit so earlier in summer they contacted the club and after site visits where Robin met their staff and talked through the options they arrived at 1330 on a nice sunny but windy afternoon and played for 2 hours. There were 2 staff, 2 french assistants and 18 sixth form students.

After a brief introduction (in french) they were split into 5 groups and they practised the game for half an hour then played a 2 round competition with random draw for each round. When it was all over at 1525 there were 3 people tied for first place with 2 wins and +13. A one boule shoot out took place where Matty came 3rd and Scarlett knocked out the Paul (the french teacher’s) boule to win the gold medal.

Everyone had a good time and we hope to repeat the event next year. One of the french teachers in the group said she would return on Sunday to play again so we might have a new member and everyone there went home with a business card to spread the word.

A great afternoon and special thanks to Paul, Robin, Rita, Fred, Ian, Amanda and Jane who did the organising, coaching, umpiring and clearing up. They left us some chocolates which are on the table in the clubhouse for members to enjoy.

Fine weather and a good turnout undoubtably helped this very successful men v women event but the positive and competitive spirit of all the competitors definitely made it a fun and enjoyable day. I’m pleased to say despite the obvious difficulties in organising this Grail Challenge competition it went smoothly and without any problems and was very well received by all players both new and long standing. 

The communication via AMiP, notice board posters and WhatsApp seems to have worked well.

28 players in total were put into 6 teams a side both with a mixture of doubles and triples.

Round 1 shows the Ladies to be in aggressively good form gaining a 4 game lead of 5-1 with the men narrowly avoiding a whitewash. In round 2 the men fight back with 3 – 3 to bring the cumulative score to 8-4. In round 3 with 2 games to play the men are just 2 games off a draw but the ladies hold them off for a 10 – 8 victory.

Ian was the winner with 3 wins; Jane and Christine were 2nd and 3rd also with 3 wins but worse points difference. Welcome to new players Rick, Mike and Mathilde. Cumulative totals below. There are another 11 people who have played but not troubled the scorers. 44 players in total have played at least one event. E&OE. This table compiled from a whatsapp image rather than the actual scoresheet.

21 people braved the heat for the Picnic. We had a good afternoon and raised £53 for our charity.

28 members took part in the monthly Melee.  

Five members won all 3 games – Didier 3 wins nicely in front with +26, then a very close contest with second place Sue W +17, third Fred +15, fourth Brendan +14 and fifth Dominique +13.  Cumulative totals below this list. E&OE.

1/ 13 points Didier        3 wins +26 

2/ 12 points Sue  W      3 wins +17 

3/ 11 points Fred           3 wins +15 

4/ 10 points Brendan     3 wins +14 

5/  9 points Dominque   3 wins +13 

6/  8 points Christine     2 wins +11 

7/  7 points Roy H         2 wins +9 

8=/  5.5 points Jane S     2 wins +7 

8=/  5.5 points Yvonne    2 wins +7 

10/ 4 points Neil            2 wins +6 

11/ 3 points Jim    2 wins +5 

12/ 2 points Moira         2 wins +4 

13/ 1 point Roy F          2 wins -1