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2/3 July
Macon sits on the Saone river in the
Burgundy region of France and is the home to
the Chambers of Commerce and Agriculture for
the Saone-et-Loire Department. Its
industries are based around wine production
and river port activity. It is also home to
Christian Lacoste, a leading vice-president
of the CMSB (Confederation Mondiale des
Sports de Boules) and organiser of the event
Scotland was invited to participate in;
“Macon Open International des Sports
Boules”. The CMBS is an umbrella
organisation for sports that use bowls /
boules and is a vehicle to try and win
Olympic recognition. Affiliated sports are
Petanque, Lyonnaise, Raffa and Lawn Bowls.
The Macon Open ran competitions in Lyonnaise,
Raffa and Petanque. Members from The
Scottish Bowling Association were also over
to demonstrate Lawn Bowls. If anyone is
unfamiliar with Lyonnaise or Raffa I suggest
the search engine them now. The Petanque
competition took the form of a round robin
between France, Italy, Monaco, Slovenia and
ourselves. With our order of play being
France, Monaco, Italy and Slovenia. All the
playing surfaces for the various sports were
temporary and not that easy to play. That
said, the petanque surface was manageable
and only a contributor to a series of poor
results. The main factor was consistency;
especially at shooting. The aplomb with
which the top players pin pointed (very)
high lobs and a new record of 67 in the
shooting by France’s Christophe Sevilla
helped underline how much more work we need
to do. A well contested final was eventually
won by France with Italy runners up. On the
plus side our coche was used for the final
and we seemed to hold our own at socialising
and, believe it or not, social
etiquette.
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CENTROPE
CUP
- KOMAROM, HUNGARY - 11/06/11
Two teams, the Acorns - Malcolm McK,
Brian W and Istvan P from Troon and
the Golden Oldies - John W - B&Bs,
Adrian F - Ayr and Douglas H -
Perth, ably supported by their
groupies Monica, little Vivian,
Rosemary and Therese made the trip
to Hungary to participate in the
CENTROPE CUP arrived in Komorom on
the 9th of June.
With a day to spare before the
competition the time was spent
relaxing at the Komarom Thermal Spa
and sampling the local food, wine
and beer before attending the
Welcome Reception at the Mayor’s
Office and a melee, with musical
accompaniment, at the piste - tarmac
with a very thin layer of fine chips
- in the evening.
On a warm and sunny summers day 39
teams - from Austria, Belgium, Czech
Republic, Hungary, Scotland,
Slovakia and Slovenia - turned up
bright and early for a series of
five timed games - 45 minutes plus
two ends - to qualify for the top 16
and compete in a straight knockout
for the Centrope Cup.
With three wins out of five the
Acorns made it into the top 16 but
unfortunately the Oldies could only
muster up two wins and were 21st
out of 39 and relegated to the
Plate.
In the first round of the main
competition the Acorns met and
defeated a team from Slovenia to
progress to the quarter finals where
they came up against a Czech team.
A tight game ensued but perhaps
fatigue, or was it the local
firewater - palinka!, that took its
toll, and the Acorns succumbed -
however no disgrace in defeat as the
Czech team went on to win the
Centrope Cup beating, convincingly,
an Austrian team in the final.
No luck for the Oldies in the plate
but they were recognised as the
oldest team in the competition with
an aggregate age of 221 years!
Thanks to the organisers for the
smooth running of the competition,
the bar and food tent and to Monika
and Istvan for organising our
transport, accommodation and
entertainment and making our trip so
enjoyable.
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EURO VETERANS
CUP 2011 - MALMO -
28&29/05/11
Scotland’s Veterans Team
of Donnie MacIntyre,
Bill Gray and Grahame
Trantor from Troon and
Douglas Hamilton from
Perth competed over the
28th and 29th
of May at the 2011 Euro
Veterans Cup held in
Malmo, Sweden.
The venue - 30+ out door
and 10/12 indoor pistes
used not only by four
clubs and also casual
players - over 500 in
all we were told. The
venue was also being
used for a National
Competition on both
Saturday and Sunday so
all pistes were being
used and along with
numerous spectators
there was a great
atmosphere and the place
was buzzing!
Back to EVC 2011 -
Eight teams this year as
opposed to six when we
last competed in Holland
in 2009 -
Germany, Netherlands,
Denmark, Norway, Sweden
1, Sweden 2,
Czechoslovakia and
ourselves Scotland.
The weather was mixed
and usually it's the
Scots who brave the
elements in t-shirts and
say "ach we're used to
this!" (west coast
expression!). Not this
time - despite some sun,
the cold and the biting
wind with occasional
rain showers meant we
were in jumpers and
coats while the
Scandinavians were the
ones in shirts or light
jackets.
Two pools of four on
Saturday -
Pool 1 - Netherlands,
Sweden 2, Czechoslovakia
and Scotland.
Pool 2 - Germany, Sweden
1, Denmark and Norway.
Despite beating
Czechoslovakia we lost
out to both the
Netherlands and Sweden 2
so it was the Plate for
us on Sunday.
Norway first up and we
were not happy bunnies
and lost the triple but
in the doubles all four
of us were in
scintillating form and
stormed through to meet
Denmark in the final of
the plate. Denmark are
celebrating their 25th
Anniversary this year
(ours was last year -
did we acknowledge it?)
and are another country
with hundreds of players
and are government
funded - are we the poor
relations of European
pétanque or what? - we
certainly felt it.
Back to the piste - we
lost to Denmark 2-1 - no
Plate.
Full result -
1st Germany;
2nd Sweden 2,
3rd
Netherlands, 4th
Sweden 1, 5th
Denmark, 6th
SCOTLAND,
7th Norway
and 8th
Czechoslovakia - so not
the wooden spoon!
With such a great
atmosphere maybe we were
distracted by the
occasion in failing to
do better - or maybe the
Glenmorange, Bowmore,
The Glenlivet, Tuborg,
and Czech beer being
liberally shared around
on Sunday eventually
took its toll!
But what a great time,
games played in a most
friendly of spirit (see
above!) and an invite to
us ‘boys’ to participate
next year - probably in
Germany.
However it was nice to
get home having
mortgaged our houses to
buy a round of 4 drinks
(not even pints) and 4
packets of crisps at
over £40!
To Bill’s disappointment
we never found the
fabled six foot, blond,
long legged Swedish
bombshells - but hey -
another time!
‘I have a Dream’ Donnie
- that ABBA ye ken! -
and ‘The Name of the
Game’ Douglas.
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IQS Standings 2011
SPA - GRAND PRIX
NEWS - 20/04/11
Now that GP1 is behind
us, and the dust has
settled, it is worth
recording a few facts
about the teams that
took part.
Firstly we welcome two
new teams -
Les Folles (Mad
Women!) - Christine &
Marie from Inverleith
and Alison from Perth.
and Triaxel
- John J, Paul & Kevin
from Troon
Unfortunately we have
lost a team -
Cabbage and Ribs
- Fiona,
Howard, Emma and Ben are
taking a year out.
However Emma has joined
Deuchars IPA
- Derek and
Colin - in place of
Stephane who is also
taking a year out.
Lynn of Pisteols fame
has joined
Pretty Vacant -
Shirley and Richard -
Chris dropping out.
Gavin is back in the
den, lair or chair with
The
3 Bears
after missing last
year’s Masters.
The Pointiers
have recruited Donnie as
a fourth player for a
bit of verbal
encouragement!
Otherwise it is all the
familiar suspects -
Acorns - Malcolm, Istvan
and Brian.
Champignons - John, Mags
and Colin.
Capercaille - Jean, Ian
and Stuart.
Just Us - Eileen, Mabel
and Margaret.
Maboules - Zandra, Bob,
Dani and Douglas.
Migetiers - Susan, Dave,
John and Norma.
Nord Ecosse - Pat,
Gordon, John and
Christine.
Sex Pisteols - Paul,
Robbie and John.
All, I am sure, are
looking forward to the
rest of the series -
GP2 - 15th
May in PERTH and
GP3 - 5th
June in INVERNESS.
Douglas.
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Frank Malcolm
On behalf of Frank
Malcolm’s family and the
Perth Petanque club we
would like to thank very
much those who
participated in the
Frank Malcolm Memorial
Trophy held in May 2010.
With your contributions
to the competition and
raffle we have been able
to donate £200 to the
Cancer Research UK
charity. We presented a
cheque to the manageress
of the shop in
Blairgowrie and they
were very appreciative
of the donation they
received. A photograph
of the presentation is
included with members of
the Perth club including
Stewart Malcolm
presenting a cheque to
Olwen Baker.
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Once again thank you
very much to all those
who participated and we
look forward to seeing
you again at next years
event. |
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2010
HELM
TRUST International Competition
The first Jersey Petanque
Association International, sponsored
by Helm Trust, took place over 2
days, 26 & 27 June at the
Weighbridge Square.
The event was opened by Deputy Sean
Power. Bagpipe music from Michael
Cowan was included and Beautiful
Jersey was sung by Sadie Reynard.
12 teams took part, over 3 rounds,
playing in triple format. Eight
teams came from Jersey; from the
Jersey Petanque Club, Carrefour
Club, St Mary’s and a player from
the lunchtime league which is played
at the Weighbridge. Four teams (12
players) came from Ireland. They
were all members of the Irish
Petanque Association; the players
came from North Down, and Cork. The
Scottish teams (12 players) came
from Inverness, Stirling, Perth and
Inverleith.
In the first round, Jersey Team 1
took a lead which they maintained
throughout the two days. Team A in
this group consisted of Marc Nichol,
Jeremy Grigg and Matthew Pinel. They
had fantastic form over the 2 days
eventually winning all 12 games, the
only team to do so.
The totals from the 2 days play were
as follows:
Jersey 1 33wins.
Top team: Marc Nicol, Jeremy
Grigg and Matthew Pinel 12 games won
Jersey 2 24 wins
Top team: Lawrence, Ian and
Mick Rondel 8 games won
Scotland 23 wins
Top team: Mags and Colin Montgomery
& John Watson 7 games won
Ireland 16 wins
Top team: Paul and Tricia Murray &
Michel Romney 6 games won
Thanks are given to members of the 3
local pétanque clubs who were
responsible for running a very
successful first international
event. It is hoped that this is a
prelude to further international
participation by Jersey teams.
Dorothy de Gruchy
Celtic Challenge
The
Celtic Challenge 2010, held in Wenvoe, near Cardiff
on the weekend of 1 and 2 May proved to be a
disappointing experience for the Scottish Team who
had travelled with good expectations from the
weekend.
The team
was hampered by the unfortunate withdrawal of Robin
Gardner from Scotland 4 and his replacement by Bob
Boyle, and also by the illness of one of Scotland 1
on the Sunday.
The
Scots began against Ireland and drew the first round
2-2, lost the second 1-3 but immediately recovered
to win the third by the same score. The last round
was also tied to leave the match at 8-8, a
reasonable start to the event.
The next
match was against Wales A, and began badly with a
1-3 loss in the first round, although 2 of the
losses were from close games. The run continued,
however and the Scots lost each of the 4 rounds to
finish on the wrong end of a 12-4 defeat.
The last
match was against Wales B and the Scottish team
hoped for redemption against the alleged weakest
team. Things did not go according to plan, and this
match was also lost this time by 10-6, although
again some of the lost games were close-run affairs.
Best of
the Scots were Scotland 1 (7 wins) and Scotland 4 (5
wins) and although the teams tried their best it
just did not happen for them. All credit to the 4
teams for their exemplary turnout and conduct
throughout the match in exceptionally difficult
circumstances. The Scots finished fourth in the
event, 3 wins behind the Wales B team.
It
should be noted, though, that one of the Wales B
teams played with 2 substitutes on the Sunday which
actually made the team stronger, winning 4 from 6 on
Sunday after just the one win on Saturday.
This
should not detract from the fact that despite their
best efforts the weekend was desperately
disappointing for all concerned, although the
renewed friendships and general camaraderie to some
extent compensated for the lack of success.
Byron Milton
President
Scottish Petanque
Association
Jennifer Dow |
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Jennifer Dow
1949 - 2010
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It is with deep regret I
have to inform you all of the passing of Jenny Dow,
wife of Ronnie and mother to Mike and Stephen.
Jenny was a founder member of the Birds and Bees
Pétanque Club in the early 80s and of the SPA upon
its formation in 1985.
In the early days of Scottish National competitions
the family team of Dowsers, with Jenny and Ron with
a very young Mike, were feared opponents and had
much success at National level, with their names
appearing on several National trophies.
In 1986 the Inaugural British Open Triples was held,
sponsored by Piat. After a Scottish qualifying heat
Dowsers qualified along with 3 other teams to
participate in the Finals to be held at Blenheim
Palace. The best-performing of the Scottish
contingent that weekend Jenny and the “boys” reached
the last 16 where they held a commanding lead before
succumbing to the greater experience of the
opposition, the Number 1 English team of the day,
who went on to be runners-up in the tournament
I am sure all SPA members will share with me in
sending our heartfelt condolences to the family at
this extremely difficult time.
Byron Milton, SPA President |
Jennifer with Chris Pern |
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