Have a great Xmas and a fantastic 2011

Another year has gone and I think we all agree that 2010 has been a quiet and peaceful Petanque year. One highlight has been the good results posted by our world championship team.On a less positive note, I am hoping that the PNZ board keeps us a little better informed during 2011 about the things the board is working on and things still in the queue. A dedicated news page on the PNZ website would work well. I have been really surprised that we've heard so little from our PNZ board.

We will have to wait and see what the future holds for Petanque in NZ and life in general during 2011. When thinking of the future and things unknown, I am reminded of the words by one of our great world leaders, Donald Rumsfeld. With people of Donald’s calibre we can all rest assured in the sound knowledge that our world is in good and capable hands:

“I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started.”
-Donald Rumsfeld
“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.”
-Donald Rumsfeld

Have a great Xmas and a fantastic 2011. –Tom.

PS. Make sure you put your sun-block on this summer. Remember the old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Or as GW Bush has put it: “an ounce of being protectorive is heavier than a ton of feathers”.

Bill passed away

Napier City Petanque Club Inc. is sad to announce the passing away of Bill Billings. Bill passed away peacefully at home on th 9th December 2010. He had been a member of the club since its early days and was the first to be awarded Life Membership of the club. He was still playing the game of petanque that he loved right up until 10 days ago. He will be sadly missed.

-Barbara Lucas

Cockle Bay Petanque Club Open Tournament

SUNDAY 9th January 2011. 9.00am REGISTRATION 9.30am START.

ENTRY FEE $10.00 per player. LIMITED TO 26 TEAMS.

PRE ENTRY ESSENTIAL
Entries may be accepted on the day providing they do not create a bye and the 26 team limit has not been reached,

Five rounds of random draw followed by pool play,
Each complete pool to play off for three places.
Cash Prizes. PLUS PRIZES FOR:
TOP non prize winning WOMENS and SENIORS TEAMS

Entries to:

Warren Barrett, Phone (09) 273 3106 email warrenbarrett@xtra.co.nz
Withdrawal of an entry to be advised prior to the day of play.

NzPetanqueClub Twitter page survey

Ron up for next challenge

PERENNIAL CONTENDER: Ron Sandilands
is swapping his boules for bowls..

From the Howick and Pakuranga Times:

"JUST as the dust is settling on his career in one code, Ron Sandilands is proving he’s an unstoppable force.

After more than 60 years of sport, he’s retiring from petanque, the sixth sport he’s excelled at having represented New Zealand in open competition for the past six years.

The insatiable 76-year-old has previously played to national championship level in tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis, and reached a five handicap in golf. “I have decided to call it quits,” says Mr Sandilands, who has lived in East Auckland with wife Judi for 24 years...."

Read two page article here>>

45th World Petanque Championships Coach's Report

"It was my pleasure to provide support to the New Zealand team at this year’s World Championship in Izmir, Turkey. The team was made up of four successful and experienced players … Maurice Belz, David Lippard, Michael Rocks and Richard Swaney.

A month prior to the competition the players and coach got together for a training weekend at the Herne Bay Club. This assisted in the preparation of the team and enabled the players to discuss their individual aspirations and to set team goals for the tournament...."

Read report>>

1932 film has Petanque scene

"Marcel Pagnol often wrote about pétanque and his 1932 film, Fanny, includes a famous scene in which a tram is stopped in its tracks in order to allow the game to continue (the clip is unsubtitled but, as ever in Provence, the gestures speak volumes). Note that the players are following the "old" rules, and run before pitching, rather than the "anchored feet" version of pétanque generally favoured today." Text taken from this Page.

Computer Software in Izmir

The World Championships Petanque in Izmir was run using computer software by SPORT Software. Is this (or any other) software being looked at or evaluated for use in NZ?

"SPORT organises events, players, clubs, matches, referees and rankings in an easy to use manner.

The SPORT software enables you to generate all necessary printouts:
Standard letters to all clubs or players (with MS-Word),
Draws,
Referee forms,
Rankings, and
Entry fee summaries.

With SPORT, you have always a perfect overview on the tournament!"

World Championships in Izmir

Any info that comes my way from or about Izmir will be made available on our Twitter page over the next couple of days.

To Our Team

To the New Zealand World Championship Team,

All the best for Turkey, play your hearts out, represent New Zealand with dignity and have a great experience.

Also, best wishes for an enjoyable and smooth running trip to Lorraine Brock (manager), John Targett (coach) and Joanne Lippard (supporter) - hope you all have a wonderful time.

Liz Rocks

HAWKE’S BAY CLASSIC RESULTS

Trophy

1st Maurice Belz Bayview and Ron Sandilands Cockle Bay
2nd Denise Bavidge Bayview and Geoff Greer Bayview
3rd John de Gueldre Tauranga and David Bosley Napier Club
4th Lee Tafford Bayview and Ian Baker Herne Bay
5th Christine Strichen Wanganui East and Shirley Selwyn Wanganui East
6th Dean Norman Windy Hills and Claire Wilson Masterton
7th Barb Lucas Napier Club and Barb Johnston Masterton
8th Sharon Cannon Bayview and Murray Porter Bayview

From left to right. David Bosley President Napier City Petanque club presenting the HB Classic Trophy to Maurice Belz and Ron Sandilands.

Plate

9th Ian Hay Napier Club and Ralph Priddle Masterton
10th Richard Turfrey Wanganui East and Pete Hamilton Wanganui East
11th Robert and Sue Wilson HB Lawn Tennis
12th Gordon Ogden Napier Club and Philippa McNiven Napier Club
13th Susan Norman Windy Hills and Joan Miller Masterton
14th Gerard Flaschner Napier Club and Marie Fenton Napier Club
15th Eddy King HB Lawn Tennis and John Maxwell Bayview
16th Roberta Campbell Bayview and Arnold Lander Rotorua

Bowl

17th Yvonne Futcher Wanganui East and Dirk Winnie Wellington
18th Graham Morris Masterton and Beth Gardner Bayview
19th Dean Futcher Wanganui East and Sandra Carston Wanganui East
20th Annette and Jim Forrest Tauranga
21st John Hudson and Josie Parkin Tauranga
22nd Julie Chambers Napier Club and Vicky Cox HB Lawn Tennis

Bowl Consolation

23rd Peter Dennett Hataitai and Cliff Wood (Hataitai ?)
24th Brian Futcher Wanganui East and Krissy Dinnis Wanganui East
25th Peter Sutherland Napier Club and Olive Wright Napier Club
26th Val Nicholson Napier Club and Bill Billing Napier Club
27th Chryssa and Allan Munroe (both) Wanganui East
28th Pam Nicholson Napier Club and Pam Fuller Napier Club

National Championships

I am contacting you on behalf of the Horowhenua Petanque Club Committee (I am not a member) to try and get as wide a distribution as possible for the attached paper (see link at end of this post).

The paper is self-explanatory. It deals with a decision by the PNZ Board to only run National tournaments at the 3 main centres – Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The Board has even made a decision on the clubs in each region at which these tournaments will be run. In the case of the our region, the WPA, the clubs chosen are – Park Avenue and Kapiti. The criteria used to select these clubs are “Cost and Accessibility”. Even a cursory glance will tell you that there is little or no difference in cost of travel etc and accessibility between several clubs in the WPA, such as Manawatu, Horowhenua, Otaki and Kapiti/Park Avenue.

If you further look at facilities at the clubs you find that clubs such as Horowhenua and Manawatu win hands down in terms of clubhouse, toilets etc.

We are not asking for any special favours in this. All we are asking for is a level playing field in which we can bid for nationals (or even internationals) on our merits, and we dislike the draconian method of decision making by the Board which has not consulted us or our Regional Association.

Kind Regards,
Bryan Wells on behalf of the Horowhenua Petanque Club Committee.

Go to Paper

Oceania Championships Report

The Oceania Championships 2010 … a report from the Coach.
Six nations with one goal … to win the Oceania Championship.
Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, Wallis & Fetuna, Vanuatu and hosts New Caledonia came together to compete for the title in Noumea on a terrain that was flat, hard and super quick like the Christchurch Petanque Club terrain in mid summer. Read more>>

New Zealand South Island Singles

Sat 2nd / Sun 3rd October.
At the St Kilda Petanque Club. 33 Royal Crescent Dunedin.
Download entry for here
St Kilda welcomes you and hopes you will have an enjoyable two days.

Oceania Championships

I am using twitter to provide any news that comes my way. Two items up already. Great stuff and well done. Go well New Zealand!

PNZ Selection Process

Please download the outline of the revised Representative Selection Process and Registration Form for 2010/11.

These documents will also be available on the website shortly.

Barbara Whittington
Secretary
Petanque New Zealand

Napier City Petanque Club Inc HB Classic

Hi everyone, it is two days till  the official start of spring and our Napier City Petanque Club Inc HB Classic tournament is one of the best places to experience a great spring petanque tournament. The date for this is September 11th and 12th. We would love to see you here in the sunny Hawke's Bay. Closing day for entries is 3rd September 2010. 

Barbara Lucas

Secretary Napier City Petanque Club Inc.

Download entry form

Wellington Wins Chanticleer Cup

Congratulations Wellington for your resounding win over Auckland.
You can find the results on the WPA website.

Tauranga Open Doublettes

"As the Tauranga Open Doublettes is a new tournament, I'd like to remind you and your club's members that this tournament is coming very soon on 28th and 29th August, entries will close on Tuesday 24th August, this mean that if you wouldn't like to miss the first doubles tournament of the new season and haven't sent your entry form and fees yet you have only 9 days left to do it, (details and entry form attached to this message).
Petanque Tauranga BoP Ass. is looking forward to see you in 2 weeks in Tauranga.
Can you, please, forward this message to all your club's members
Regards - John Degueldre"

Should there be prize money?

Here are the results from our survey. As you can see most would like some money. Even though I asked, not one person has been able to explain why a small amount of prize money at national tournaments would be undesirable.

I suppose that from our national petanque body's (PNZ) point of view it is more lucrative to not provide prize money - more cash in the coffers. Regional bodies would financially benefit in the same way - no prize money for, say, the WPA or APA Triples.

If you are from outside New Zealand, let us know what happens in your part of the world. Do you have prize money at your national tournaments?

Help with Chanticleer Cup - Auckland vs Wellington

We need a volunteer to send text messages about this event to our twitter page. We need someone who will be at the tournament for a part of each day. A supporter would be ideal. I would set you up and you simply text short 140 character twitter reports about the tournament from your phone (between 5 or 10 per day) to 8987. These textings will immediately appear on our twitter page. People can follow the tournament via our twitter page or elect to receive these twitter reports automatically on their mobile phones (Get updates via SMS by texting "follow NzPetanqueClub" to 8987).

As a volunteer you do your own thing - just some news such as scores, interesting game you are following, weather conditions, funny happenings, etc. If you are happy to help with this contact me on usabilitynz@gmail.com

If it proves successful (people like it) we can do it for other tournaments.

How boules got cool

"....Some players reach extraordinary levels of skill: the great Christian Fazzino was capable of shooting 992 boules out of 1,000 in the space of an hour. The undisputed young star of the moment is Dylan Rocher, barely 18, who earlier this month ousted 12-time world champion Philippe "Le Dieu" Quintais and his team to take the Mondial triplettes in Marseille. He's now famous for life in France...." Read more>>

This is a fantastic article about our game and well worth a read!

Women's National Championships Venue

"Please note that the 2010 Women's National Championships (September 18/19) are being held at the Manawatu Pétanque Club in Palmerston North.

This is important for those needing to make travel and accommodation arrangements for this event.
Regards
Barbara Whittington
Secretary
Pétanque New Zealand"

Chanticleer Cup - Auckland vs Wellington

Auckland

Open:

Niau Ruta

Charles Peni

Eddie Inia

Walter de Thierry

Cliave Bartleet

Louis Mesnage

James Inia  (R)

Dez Grant  (R)

Senior:

Ray Pierce

Charles Brock

Paul Bickleman

Frank Pinder

Margaret Maher

Alain Coulomb

Myrine Gilbert (R)

Eileen Lippard  (R)

Wellington

Open:

Morgan Choveaux

Yvonne Futcher 

Annick Le Guen

Barbara Nicholls 

Richard Turfrey 

Dirk Winnie

Senior:

Pete Hamilton 

Doug Hay 

Helene Hay 

Graeme Morris 

Ralph Priddle 

Shirley Selwyn

Tournament date 22/23 August at Herne Bay Petanque Club.

NZPC via twitter

NZPC is now also active via twitter and will be used to alert the wider petanque community to what is happening in NZ. I will also use it for general international petanque news rather than using our Blog as I have done up until now. There is a permanent link in the right-hand column. Enjoy.

Petanque as an alternative sport in schools

Introducing Petanque as an alternative sport into the Primary School system. Counties Manukau Sport invited the Cockle Bay Petanque Club to take part in an Emerging Sports Have A Go Day in Otara on the 20^th November 2009. Ten schools of year 5 & 6 children were involved.
Regards Warren Barrett
President Cockle Bay Petanque Club.


Complete story and photos on this page. -Tom.

Prize Money for National Championships

"A proposal from the Auckland Petanque Association that prize money should be offered for National Championships was discussed and rejected as inappropriate for these events." (taken from this page).

"Inappropriate for these events" What does this mean? PNZ should be clear and state why this would be inappropriate.

Part of any tournament entry fee goes to prize money, so why can't the winners of, say, the National Triples receive a little money? Let us know what you think. I am especially interested in receiving comments from those who believe it is inappropriate for National Tournaments and the reasons why.

You are also encouraged to take part in our NZPC poll.

Notes from the PNZ Board Meeting

Notes from the PNZ Board Meeting 22 & 23 May 2010.
More>>

See also the PNZ Strategic Plan 2010 - 2013. This is a link to a PDF file.

Pétanque S'il vous plaît

Nice little TV Petanque news item. It's informative to listen to these young people and see what it is they like about this game of ours.

More>>

45th World Championship IZMIR Seferihisar (Turkey)

"The next world championship in Triplettes 2010 will be in Izmir (Turkey) from 7th until 10th of October. For your information we send to you the provisional agenda. The turkish Federation will send to you the usefull informations for your accomodation asap." IZMIR

Our team is:
Maurice Belz, David Lippard,
Richard Swaney, Michael Rocks

More>>

End of winter tournament in Tauranga

Can you please inform all your members of the end of winter tournament: the TAURANGA OPEN DOUBLETTES 28th & 29th of August.
Details and entry form attached, thank you.

Cheers, John

Oceania Championships

The New Zealand team for the Oceania Championship is:

Women: Roberta Campbell (Bay View_, Pam Jenkins (Herne Bay), Barbara Johnston (Masterton), Christine Strichen (Wanganui East), Tina Targett (Christchurch), Christine Taylor (Christchurch)

Men: Maurice Belz (Bay View), Christian Fouquet (Herne Bay), David Lippard (Herne Bay), Michael Rocks (Khandallah), Ron Sandilands (Cockle Bay), Richard Swaney (Herne Bay)
The coach is John Targett (Christchurch).

The Oceania Championships will be held in New Caledonia from 31 August to 4 September.

Update: Claire Bradburn (Silverstream) has replaced Roberta Campbell in the Women's team and Lee Taffard (Napier) has replaced Maurice Belz in the Men's team.

The reasons for these replacements is not known. -Tom.

Masterton Mid-Winter Doubles - results.

Congratulations to Dirk Winnie and Maurice Belz for winning this prestigious event. Dirk and Maurice won the final against Michael Rocks and Nico Toyne.
More>>

N Z Team for 45th World Championships

The PNZ Board is pleased to announce that the following players have been selected to represent New Zealand at the 45th World Championships to be held in Taipei, Taiwan, 30 September - 3 October.

The team is:
Maurice Belz, David Lippard,
Richard Swaney, Michael Rocks

Lorraine Brock
President, PNZ

01/06/2010 FIPJP has announced that the Taiwan Federation has withdrawn as hosts for the 2010 World Championship.

Read about previous pullouts (China and Holland) here.

See also this posting on Petanque America. -Tom.

PNZ Representation Process Survey - Results

"29 responses were received, mostly (72%) from those who had been involved in the process since its inception.
A large number of helpful observations and suggestions for improvement were also made."

More>>

Seniors trip to the UK - August/September

Twelve players are venturing to the UK in August and September 2010. The players are:

Jean & Charles Parley, Diane & Andrew Findlay,
Bryan & Chris Wells, Bob & Colleen Bridge,
Bill Peachey & Lynn Mason, Trevor & Sue Neilson.

Trans Tasman - Congratulations New Zealand

8/5/10 Open: New Zealand 48 points, Australia 12 points

Seniors: New Zealand 48 points, Australia 12 points

9/5/10 News just in: New Zealand has won both divisions with two rounds still to go!
Congratulations New Zealand

Images by Sandy Austin.

More>>

National Club Championships: Results

Division (1)
1st: Bay View; 2nd: Central Combined; 3rd: Masterton
Division (2)
1st: Mainlanders

"It’s official, the Bay View Club is now the best in the country. Twice National Triples Champion, Hawke’s Bay’s Mr Petanque - Murray Porter, has been flying Bay View’s flag for well over 10 years – and now he can prove it.

Over the Anzac Weekend, Bay View defeated 10 other club teams from around the country to win the National Petanque Club Championship and allow Porter to claim his 3rd National Title...." Text taken from this page.

More>>

Trio boules to a win

THEY THOUGHT they might win one game, but together Waikowhai Primary School students Ce-Wade De Thierry, Sam Pau and Seli Fuimaono beat the lot.

The 10-year-old boys are revelling in the glory of being the youngest team of triples to win the annual Auckland All-Schools Petanque Championship.

More>>

PNZ National Triples Results

Congratulations to Andre Noel, Georgio Vakauta, Charles Peni for winning the PNZ National Triples. They won the final against Christian Fouquet, David Lippard and Lee Taffard.

Follow the link at the end of this post to view the complete results.
More>>

New PNZ Board

Congratulations to PNZ and Dirk. This is an overwhelming endorsement and gives the new board a clear mandate to move the running of our sport in a new and more inclusive direction. I hope the board will adopt a firm yet open and democratic style of leadership. Go well PNZ!

PNZ Annual Report 2010

When you click on the link at the end of this post you will download the report as a PDF (4 pages, 164 KB).
Download

Survey Results

As promised here are the results of the web based survey. The survey finished on 31/03/10. Remember, the numbers 1 to 5 are what people selected as their answers to the questions (see image). There are also a number of freestyle questions - respondents provide their own text. To see the results follow the link at the end of this post.
More>>

WPA Regional Triples Results

Congratulations to Myles Cowper, Michael Rocks and Peter van Heusden for winning the final against Grant Bray, Pete Hamilton and Dirk Winnie.
More>>

PNZ Trans Tasman Team

The New Zealand Representative team to play against Australia in the Trans Tasman match in May is:

Women: Sharon Cannon (Bay View), Pam Jenkins (Herne Bay), Barbara Johnston (Masterton), Christine Strichen (Wanganui East), Christine Taylor (Christchurch), Tina Targett (Christchurch)

Men: Maurice Belz (Bay View), Christian Fouquet (Herne Bay), David Lippard (Herne Bay), Michael Rocks (Khandallah), Ron Sandilands (Vic. Park), Richard Swaney (Herne Bay)

Seniors:
Men: Pete Hamilton, Graeme Morris, Rex Hayes, Charles Brock, Bill Peachey, Bob Bridge
Women: Joan Miller, Helene Hay, Shirley Selwyn, Jean Parley, Margaret Maher, Marilyn Bunce

News just in from Singapore

"news just in from Singapore - Andre Noel Bronze Medal in the shooting - he qualified with 35 - best effort ever by a NZ player.
Stop your bickering and play the game - Ricardo at large in singapore. PS David Jasrrod and Andre in the quarter finals, cross your fin gers for a great day tomorrow!"