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



Jennifer Dow
1949 - 2010

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

 
Home Nations 2010
Added Google Street View
 
The SPA calendar is available to view   2010 Calendar (PDF)
 
Archives
Video at the Birds & Bees from 1982 and new video archive  of Inverleith Pétanque View here
 
EURO VETERANS 2009 - MIDDLEBURG - 12&13/09/09
Brian Ward Don MACINTYRE Douglas HAMILTON Bill Gray

Scotland’s Veterans Team of Brian Ward, Donnie MacIntyre, and Bill Gray from Troon and Douglas Hamilton from Perth competed over the 12th and 13th of September at the Euro Veterans 2009 in Middleburg against the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Poland.

Considering the opposition Scotland came in a creditable fourth equal with Sweden beating Germany 3-1 (German Veteran Champions) and Poland 3-1 but loosing to the Netherlands 0-4, Denmark 0-4 and Sweden 1-3. However in our tense final triples match against Denmark, in which a win would have secured us third place, we fought back from 2-11 to 9-11 but finally succumbed to some outstanding pointing from the Danes.

The exchange of gifts, pins, hats, coches, etc., went well until Donnie and Bill exchanged their Bunnahabhain Malt Whiskey for Polish Vodka Liqueur and were then blamed by the Poles for their under par performance against us!

The hospitality from the hosts and the camaraderie between the teams was excellent with lunches on both days and dinner on Saturday evening provided along with wine, beer and coffee available during the day.

The set up in Middleburg is most impressive with nineteen indoor and forty plus outdoor pistes, a clubhouse with bar, lounge and kitchen facilities - solely for Petanque.

It was with regret that the ‘vets’ packed away their zimmer frames and headed back to Scotland. However next year the Euro Veterans is in Sweden - land of blondes, £10:00 pints and Abba - ‘S O S’ ‘Take a Chance on Me’ Bill, ‘The Name of the Game’ Douglas,

‘I have a Dream’ Donnie and ‘Dancing Queen’ Brian are saving up already!

‘The Winner Takes it All’!

Donnie MacIntyre.
 



Results from group E

Belgium beat Scotland 7:0
Monaco beat Scotland 7:0
Belgium beat Monaco
4:3
Belgium go through to round 2

1st Place Belgium
(Joli Bois)

2nd Place Monaco
(Club Bouliste Monegasque)

3rd Place Scotland
(Troon Pc)

European Championships
Scotland fail to qualify for
2010 World Championship.
Team Report and Pictures [PDF] 1.34mb