We have a large Petanque area where our two teams play on Wednesday’s

Pétanque (pronounced [pe.tɑ̃ːk] in French) is a form of boules where the goal is, while standing with the feet together in a small circle, to throw metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (jack). The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel, but can also be played on grass or other surfaces. Sandy beaches are not suitable. Similar games are bocce and bowls.
The current form of the game originated in 1907 in La Ciotat, in Provence, in southern France. The name comes from Les Ped Tanco in the Provençal dialect of the Occitan language, meaning "feet together." [1]
The casual form of the game of Pétanque is played by about 17 million people in France, mostly during their summer vacations. There are about 375,000 players licensed with the Fédération Française de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal (FFPJP) and some 3000 in England.

History

The Ancient Greeks are recorded to have played a a game of tossing coins, then flat stones, the stone balls, called spheristics, trying to have them go as far as possible, as early as the 6th century B.C. The Ancient Romans modified the game by adding a target that had to be approached as closely as possible. This Roman variation was brought to Provence by Roman soldiers and sailors. A Roman sepulchre in Florence shows people playing this game, stooping down to measure the points. [2].
After the Romans, the stone balls were replaced by wooden balls, with nails to give them greater weight. In the Middle Ages Erasmus referred to the game as globurum, but it became commonly known as 'boules,' or balls, and it was played throughout Europe. King Henry III of England banned the playing of the game by his archers, and in the 14th Century, King Charles IV of France and Charles V of France also forbade the sport to commoners. Only in the 17th century was the ban lifted. [3].
By the 19th century, in England the sport had become "bowls" or "lawn bowling"; in France, it was known as boules, and was played throughout the country. The French artist Meissonnier made two paintings showing people playing the game, and Honoré de Balzac described a match in La Comedie Humain. In the South of France it had evolved into jeu provençal, similar to today's pétanque, except that the field was larger and players ran three steps before throwing the ball. The game was played in villages all over Provence, usually on squares of land in the shade of plane trees. Matches of jeu provençale at the turn of the century are memorably described in the memoirs of novelist Marcel Pagnol.
Pétanque in its present form was invented in 1907 in the town of La Ciotat near Marseilles by a French player named Jules Lenoir, whom rheumatism prevented from running before he threw the ball. [4] The length of the pitch or field was reduced by roughly half, and the moving delivery was replaced with a stationary one.
The first pétanque tournament with the new rules was organized in 1910 by Ernest Pitiot at La Ciotat. After that the sport grew with great speed, and soon became the most popular form of boules. The international Pétanque federation Fédération Internationale de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal was founded in 1958 in Marseille and has about 600,000 members in 52 countries (2002).
The first World Championships were organized in 1959. The most recent championships were held in Faro (2000), Monaco (2001), Grenoble (2002, 2004 and 2006), Geneva (2003), Brussels (2005), and Pattaya / Thailand (2007). Fifty-two teams from 50 countries participated in 2007.

Rules

BASIC RULES FOR BEGINNERS • The game is played as singles, doubles or triples. In singles or doubles each player has three boules and in triples two. • The team that starts is decided by tossing a coin. • One team member draws a circle on the ground, 35 to 50 cm diameter. The first player throws the jack 6 to 10 metres away and at least 1 metre from the boundary. He or she then throws the first boule (both feet must remain in the circle and on the ground until the boule lands), placing it as near to the jack as possible. • An opponent then tries to throw his/her boule nearer to the jack or to knock away the leading boule. Then players from whichever team are not closest to the jack play until they get a closer boule and so on. When a team has no more boules the other team, in turn , throw theirs. • If the closest boule from each team is equidistant from the jack then the team which played last plays again. If the boules are still equidistant then the teams play alternately until the position changes. If the boules are still equidistant at the end of the game then no points are scored by either team. • A boule hitting a boundary is dead and is removed from that end. On a piste marked with strings a boule is dead if it completely crosses the string. • When both teams have no more boules, points are counted. The winning team receives as many points as it has boules nearer to the jack than the best of the opposition. • If the jack is knocked out of play then if both teams have boules left to play the end is void, it is also void if neither team have boules to play. If one team has boules and the other does not then the team with boules receives 1 point for each of the boules they have to play. • The game continues with a player from the team that won the previous end drawing a new circle around where the jack finished and throwing the jack for a new end. The circle can be moved back in the line of the previous end if there is not room to play a 10 metre end. • The game continues until one team reaches 13 points

TIPS • The boule can be thrown at any height or even rolled depending on the terrain. • Boules are thrown underarm, usually with the palm of the hand downwards which allows backspin to be put on the boule giving greater control. • Each team should have suitable measuring equipment. In most cases a tape measure is adequate but callipers or other measuring devices may be needed. • Competition boules are made of metal and are sold in sets of 3. They weigh between 650 and 800 grams and have a diameter between 7.05 and 8 cm. The jack is made of wood and has a diameter between 25 and 35 mm. • Leisure boules are also available. They are also made of metal but are frequently lighter and are made to a lower standard. They are sometimes sold in sets of 4, 6 or 8 and are cheaper than competition boules. Leisure boules are reasonable for beginners but they are not allowed in serious competitions. • Competition boules can be identified by a manufacturer’s mark or logo, the weight (in grams) and an identification number (or combination of letters and numbers). Leisure boules have some markings but normally not these markings.
Mike Pegg – International Umpire 02/01/05

Strategy

A successful pétanque team has players who are skilled at shooting as well as players who only point. For obvious reasons, the pointer or pointers play first -- the shooter or shooters are held in reserve in case the opponents place well. In placing, a boule in front of the jack has much higher value than one at the same distance behind the jack, because intentional or accidental pushing of a front boule generally improves its position. At every play after the very first boule has been placed, the team whose turn it is must decide whether to point or shoot. Factors that count in that decision include:

1. How close to the jack the opponents' best boule is,
2. The state of the terrain (an expert pointer can practically guarantee to place within about 15 centimeters if the terrain is well tended, not so if it's rocky or uneven), and
3. How many boules each team has yet to play.

A team captain, in an idealized game, requires his pointer to place a boule reasonably close in approach to the jack (paradoxically, in competition, the first pointer sometimes aims not to get so close to the jack that the opponents will inevitably shoot their boule immediately). They then visualize an imaginary circle with the jack as its centre and the jack-boule distance as radius and defend that circle by any legitimate means.