Author: huddersfieldpetanque

19 members turned out on Thursday 14th for the Valentines Day event in glorious and warm weather. Only 2 teams won all 3 rounds.

On a day that was colder than it looked 18 members nearly froze to death. In the meantime we played our regular 3 round melee and 3 women took first 3 places. Rita Palmer was the winner with the only triple winner on the day. Second was Margaret with 2 wins +16 and third Elaine with 2 wins +12.

The cumulative table with just the March melee to go has changed little at the very top but Maureen and Elaine have put themselves into the reckoning. Only 5 can now win the trophy.

Next and final instalment is 10th March.

Petanque essentials. Two extra large hand warmers being sold in Lidl Brighouse for £1-99. (in between booze and the tills).

Works fast. Lasts an hour and can be re-used 1,000 times by immersing in boiling water.. Selling like hot er… hand warmers.

1. The Shotgun

FIRST BARREL = all posers, good players, shooters
MIDDLE BARREL = experienced old hands, blaggards, middle players
LAST RESORT BARREL = newbies, timid folk, pointers

2. The Marriage
Participants self-select their barrel (or Tupperware bowl). The organisers will have the final say on which barrel is used for each entrant to balance out numbers. Teams are drawn at random from each barrel

3. Team Grid
Teams will be triples if possible
If necessary a mixture of doubles and triples will play
Doubles will start 0-2 down

4. The Challenge
Do good players only win when they play with other good players? OR
Can good players bring the best out of any team AND
Will it be a marriage made in heaven?

We did all this on a freezing Sunday in January and miraculously ended up with 18 players thus 6 teams. So a 3 round snake was played.

It was so cold that players started behaving like penguins, huddling together for warmth.

One team lost all 3, one team won a single game and the other 4 won 2 games each. Points difference came into play. Three teams were very close with differences of +1,+2 & +3 but the winners were +12 due mainly to a 13-0 thrashing of a fancied team in Round one. So the winners were Denise, Barry & Pete. Medals will be presented at a later date.

One brave player even tried to incubate a boule…  without success.

A new competition for Huddersfield this year. The 1,2,3 event is on June 16th starting at 945 and and lasts all day. Teams of 3 play singles, doubles and triples some simultaneously.

This is popular in the South and Midlands and this is the first event of its kind in the North. Demand will be high as there are only 10 places available.

Entry £10 per team. All money returned as prizes. There’ll be a raffle, free tea, coffee and biscuits all day in our new clubhouse and a warm sunny day all making a great day of pétanque. Enter on Northern Pétanque website or by talking to a committee member. Roll up! Roll up!