Sport & Recreation

It Takes Balls By Nathan Toohey

Issue 11 November 4 - December 2, 2004

	Jennifer Chater
	Petanque: Buddy Club

The game is said to have originated with the ancient Romans, who brought their simple stone-throwing version to Western Europe. Petanque proper appeared rather more recently. As the story goes, in 1910, Jules LeNoir, a popular player of jue provencale — a different variety of bowls that involves several strides before tossing — suffered an accident that left him confined to a wheelchair. To allow him to continue to play, his friends came up with new rules according to which the player must stay within a small circle while tossing.

The sport’s appearance in Russia is also quite recent, with Russia’s first petanque club, Buddy, celebrating its second birthday earlier this autumn.

Nathan Toohey
Boules: Balls of steel

The hourly rates, which include use of the club’s boules (solid metal balls), are reasonable and vary depending on the time of day, ranging from 200 rubles on weekdays between 11am and 4pm, to 500 rubles after 10pm on weekends.

www.eng.petanque.ru

Petanque for Dummies

Jennifer Chater
Petanque: Measure and score

Flip a coin to decide which team goes first.

The winner starts off by making a circular marking in the gravel, with a diameter of about 50 centimeters.

Step into this circle, and throw the little ball (often called “pig” or “cochonette”) more than 6 meters and less than 10 meters. If you throw it too close or too far, try again. The team that throws the cochonette also throws the first boule.

The second team then plays until it has a boule closer to the cochonette than the first team’s. The basic rule is, “if you do not lead, you have to throw.”

When one team has no more boules left, the other team throws its remaining boules.

First to reach 13 points wins the game. According to tradition, any side that loses 13-0 must kiss “fanny.”