Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Pétanque Awards
Mathew Howells receives his award from
Club Captain
Thursday, September 03, 2009
REPRESENTING WALES AT KERLOUAN
Following our success in the WPA Qualifying Series 2009, David Mason, Mark Jones and myself from Abergavenny Petanque Club proudly accepted an invitation to represent Wales in the 12th National de Petanque being held in Kerlouan, Finistere, Brittany between the 21st and 23rd of August 2009.
Firstly, some facts to put the tournament in some perspective:-
The 3rd or 4th “best” tournament in
Featuring 6 x World Champions + 5 x French Champions + current World record holder in the Shooting event and dozens of French Regional & District Champions.
All players FIPJP licence holders
480 Senior Triples
120 Ladies Doubles – separate competition
16 Junior Triples – separate competition
Budget of €150,000 for the tournament
Prizes of €30,000
258 x 15m x 4m pistes + 16 “Show” pistes
Stands holding 2500 spectators
20,000 spectators expected over the three days.
It’s Petanque, but
If you regard Petanque as a pastime this is not for you. This is full on competitive sport where every boule counts, every shot is planned and agreed by the team and winning is paramount.
Meeting in Abergavenny on Thursday 20th evening, regrettably without our fourth player Andy Pook who had played such a big part in getting us here but could not make the trip due to work commitments, we drove down to
After lunch at a café in Lesneven we retuned to Kerlouan to watch the Shooting event. This was an invitational event for 16 top players including the current world record holder Francois N’Daiye of
Saturday 21st - Now for the big one. The next morning we arrived early and were very pleased to meet Jean Yves Robic from Penarth PC and his two sons, Sam & Jesse who helped us through the registration process for the “National A”. The format was that we were drawn into a pool of four where winners played winners and losers played losers. Our first game was on piste 214 @ 9am against a team from Landivisiau. It was all any of us could do to let the first boules go. It was a very long game lasting longer than most around us but we learnt then that although we felt on top during a lot of ends the consistency of the opposition through all 6 boules meant that we were never in control. We lost the game 13-4.
This meant that we had to beat the other losers from our pool to progress in National A. We met a team from Mortlais on piste 213 and played extremely well as a team but were outplayed again by consistency and eventually lost 13-8 just before lunch @12 noon. One of the players in this team was the ex-President of Petanque
Having lost two games we were out of the National A and were automatically entered in the National B competition. This is now a win or go home situation. We were drawn against a team from Pluguffan on piste 200. This was a great game we had relaxed a bit now and played some tremendous boules. It was nip and tuck to 7 -7 when we played three great ends and pulled away to 11-7. We had victory in sight but we could not keep them down and went on to lose the game 13 – 11. We were out of the competition for that day.
Whilst accepting the offer of drinks by this team after the match Mark tapped me on the shoulder to say that there was someone who wanted to speak tome. I turned round only to have a microphone thrust under my nose with a bloke on the other end of it asking me loads of questions in his native French and broadcasting all round the site to 5000 people. Taken aback I tried my best to pick out words I understood from his questions and tried to form answers as to what I thought he was asking. After 5 minutes (seemed like an hour) of this pantomime Jean-Yves came running across the field to put me out of my misery and took over. Thank you Jean-Yves! I was minded of the old Morecambe and Wise sketch with Andre Previn when Ernie complains that Eric is making a mess of a piece of music but Eric explains that he is playing the right notes but not necessarily in the right order.
After taking some time to watch some of the “elite” teams play in the main arena we returned to Roscoff to enjoy some well earned food and drink.
Conclusion - In general terms we were pleased with our performance as a team, supporting and encouraging each other, when necessary changing tactics and attacking and defending at the appropriate times. We felt that we had the basic skills to compete at the early level of the tournament but we acknowledged that crucially we lacked the consistency of our opponents throughout the day.
We decided to enter the Brittany Regional Triples next day and extend our playing experience. This again is a fairly brutal format. Lose your first game and you get an entry in the repercharge; lose that and you go home.
On a particularly treacherous piste nicknamed “
So this was it, win or go home. We met a team from Yffinniac and completely dominated the first half of the game. We lead 8-0 and perhaps allowed ourselves to dream of winning. Alas, it was not to be. Slowly but surely they climbed back into the game and after 11/2 hours they came out the winners 13-10. Desolation, Roscoff awaits. We watched some more of the elite teams play, said our goodbyes to the organisers who invited us back in two years time which we gladly accepted.
Conclusion - This was a fantastic experience for all of us, we had not experienced an event anything like this before and we were all mightily impressed. We would recommend that the WPA use this tournament and the one next year in Combrit as the one to send it’s top teams to instead of looking anywhere else. Evaluation of the results achieved by these teams over a number of years will be a good guide to the development of Petanque as a sport in
Peter Clarke, Mark Jones & David Mason - WPA 4
PS – The costs of going to this tournament worked out for us at about £450 each.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Closed Singles & Doubles and upcoming events
Following on from our Open success, our club closed singles and doubles event was held last Saturday in Bailey Park in glorious sunshine. The turnout for the event was one of the best, if not the best we have ever had so thanks to everyone for coming along and making the event so enjoyable, I hope you all had as much fun as I did! On the day Ian Bailey won the singles trophy and played consistently well all day and succeeded in taking home the doubles trophy as well in the afternoon when he played with Julie (!). I was singles runner up, Matthew Howells was 3rd (after a phenomenal semi-final where he played great boule and pushed Ian all the way to 12 points!) and Andy Pook was 4th. Bérengère and I were runners up in the doubles with Andy Pook and John Prosser and Colin and June Anderson sharing 3rd spot.
A further honourable mention must go to Andy Pook who played one of the most memorable and special boule shots after the event in a friendly game!! He says he is available for coaching on Mondays at 7pm……. !
This weekend sees the Home Nations event return to
As the league season winds down, there will still be a number of weekend events taking place, not least “finals day” in the BIG and WPA leagues and the Presidents Cup in Abergavenny on Sunday 13th September. Jim Page from Brecon has also specifically requested I remind you of the doubles competition they are hosting on 23rd August. Please contact Jim (pageja1@tiscali.co.uk) if you wish to play. I have also received an email from Bob Pugh this morning reminding me of the Welsh Wenvoe Open Triples on Sunday 30th August and if you wish to play you should contact Dai Cannan (d_cannan@sky.com). Both Jim and Dai are playing in the Home Nations this weekend.
Best of luck for the final few games of the season, particularly in the promotion or relegation battles!!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
11 August Result
Roman Lodge 3 – 1 Abergavenny Clarets
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Big League Results
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Big League Results
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Big League Cup Results
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Monday, June 29, 2009
Big League Results
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Big League Results
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Clarets Result
15th June
Aber Reds 1 – 3 Aber Clarets
Monday, June 15, 2009
Big League
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Abergavenny Pétanque News
Four representatives of Abergavenny Petanque Club recently visited Troon Petanque Club in
Results
Claret Results for the record
June 1st Tradesmans 2 – 2 Clarets
June 8th Clarets 4 – 0 Roman Lodge
Monday, June 01, 2009
Big League Results
1st June 2009
ROF B 2 v APC Golds 2
APC Team Peter Clarke, Joan Matthews, Alan Cuningham, June Anderson
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Friday, May 29, 2009
Big Leauge Results
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Friday, May 22, 2009
Captains Update - 210509
Dear all,
Congratulations to all ladies who participated in last week’s Ladies Qualifier in the pouring rain at the Wheatsheaf! Out of 4 triples teams, 5 players were from Abergavenny, more than any other club in the WPA which is a fantastic achievement and is testament to the standard of play of the female members of the club. Although it seems a little weird to say it (!), many congratulations to Bérengère for finishing in the top team and thereby qualifying to represent the Welsh Pétanque Association at the World Championships, probably in
The APC Open entries have really picked up pace and the event is now over half-full with just under 2 months before the competition date! The competition promises to be the highlight of our calendar and if you have not entered yet but plan to, you’d better hurry and send your form in!!! Our meetings are now underway for the organisation of the day and I will be in touch with further information and rota’s etc in the first week of June! Please do everything you can to ensure you are available to help make the day a success!
Finally, you will see the league scores and tables regularly being updated on the website and it seems the Reds are off to a stormer in Division 2! Congratulations to them and best of luck to everyone for the next few weeks. Keep an eye on our site and the WPA site for forthcoming events you can take part in.
See you soon!
Gareth
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
abegavenny clarets vs red lion b
Abergavenny clarets won 4 - 0 due to red lion b not turning up to the match.
congrats team.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Big League Results
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Monday, May 11, 2009
Big League Results
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Friday, May 08, 2009
Captains Update (!) - Celtic Challenge, Beaupréau, League + APC Open......
Firstly congratulations to Ian Bailey who was the sole member of Abergavenny Pétanque Club in the successful Welsh team who defended the Celtic Challenge Trophy for the third time in a row. Congratulations also go to the whole team who have done extremely well to achieve this feat and to win a closely contested contest by just one game from
A number of club representatives have also just returned from a Twinning trip to Beaupréau where several games were played with and against the local side, SMS pétanque in a “melee” competition. The aim of the competition was to participate in a social game of pétanque with the traditional aperitif afterwards!! Much of the trip was devoted to celebrating the 20 years of Twinning between our 2 towns, all of the participants from Abergavenny had an enjoyable weekend and members of APC enjoyed their games of pétanque, and a try at “sand boule” in some cases too! APC’s very own “celebrity couple” of Mayor and Mayoress John and Christine Prosser were much in demand during the whole trip and did a sterling job representing our town and club at a multitude of functions and events. Despite the success of the whole event, there was a sentiment amongst many “petanquers” that it would be nice for the 2 clubs to meet outside of the Twinning “framework” for a weekend of 100% boules…..and pétanque-related socialising of course!!! Now that the Twinning has created the “bond”, we will investigate the possibility of a “Pétanque Club” only trip and see how feasible that may be!
Finally, the league season is now underway and both the Blues and Reds have made a good start to the campaign, and are currently in the top 2 places in their respective divisions. Having only played one game so far due to a bye, the Clarets are solidly placed mid-table, just above the Golds, although the Wheatsheaf C in division 2 have won both of their games 4-0 and are the early pace-setters. With only 2 weeks gone however, everything is still to play for, so every point (and shot….) counts!!
Don’t forget your entries for the Abergavenny Open if you haven’t already sent them, and I will be in touch soon regarding the details when my sub-committee has met! The event itself will take place on the 12th July and, as I mentioned before, it is imperative that we get as many helpers involved as possible to make this event a success and a stand-out event on the calendar for the future. I am assuming therefore that all members will want to be part of this grand occasion for our club, even if you can only spare a few hours, but if for some reason you will be unable to help out at all on the day it is important you please let me know ASAP as I will start organising “teams” to run the event very soon!
Good luck all, and see you soon.
Gareth
Big League Results
Thursday, May 07, 2009
5/5/09 RESULTS
Thursday, April 30, 2009
27/4/09
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
petanque results
From mathew howells
BIG League Results
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Inter-Club 3-way. Round 1 @ Wheatsheaf
These results have now been published and are downloadable here.
Thanks to those who took part and the Wheatsheaf for hosting. next round is at the Swan in Letton on 5th April.
Gareth
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Fw: WPA - Draft Calendar, Welsh Cup for Clubs and competition Venues
Happy New Year All,
Here's my first of many e-mails this year!! Please pass this on to anyone I've missed as I haven't updated my e-mail contact list (but will do once the WPA Membership forms are in and details are updated).
Please find attached the draft calendar for 2009. The second worksheet of the document has the requirements for each venue. If your club wishes to host any of these events can you please let me know so I can ensure the competitions are held at the appropriate venues.
Also if you want to list any club open events please let me know and I'll add them.
I've also only had 3 entries for the Welsh Cup for Clubs (Abergavenny, The Barn and Caerleon) but may have missed some during the change over so if your club wants to enter please let me know ASAP.
Cheers
John Legge
Vice-President Playing
Welsh Petanque Association
' 01495 750573
Ë 07989742106
* john@jclegge.fsnet.co.uk
Sunday, November 16, 2008
APC Triple Win Awards at EPA International Open
Monday, September 08, 2008
NEWS FLASH
Well Done to all members of teams who took part in the Big League this season.
There have been good results from all APC Teams,
Blues have finished 3rd in the 1st Division
Golds have finished 3rd in the 2nd Division
Reds have finished 4th in the 2nd Division
Clarets have finished 5th in the 2nd Division
Next on the agenda for the BIG League will be the
Cup final APC Golds V APC Blues (date TBA)
Plate final APC Reds V (date TBA)
The BIG League Champion of Champions Venue is at APC home ground (date TBA)
Welsh League - APC Blues finished 3rd in the First Division Congratulations to you all.
Now that the League season has finished for the winter, Club night will continue to be on
Monday evenings from 7pm we hope to continue to have 'friendly' games between us all
and skills practise with pointing & shooting. Do all try to come along on Monday nights
where we can all 'catch up' with each other and get to know the newer members who have
joined this year.
Regards
Barbara
ABERGAVENNY PETANQUE CLUB
c/o 10 St Marys Road
ABERGAVENNY
NP7 5RS
