Pétanque
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
On the beach at Nice, FrancePétanque is a form of
boules where the goal is to throw metal balls as close as possible to a jack (a
small wooden ball called a cochonnet in French, which means piglet). The game is
normally played on hard sand or gravel, but can also be played on grass or any
other surface. Similar games are bocce and bowls. Pétanque is generally
associated with southern France, particularly Provence. Pétanque is the most
played sport in France. The leisured form of the game of Pétanque is played by
about 17 million people in France. There are about 480.000 players licenced with
the Fédération Française de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal (FFPJP). The FFPJP is the
4th-largest sporting federation in France. The licensed players play under the
precise rules of that very competitive form of Pétanque which is called Pétanque
Sport.
Rules
The game is always played in teams. In
competitions there are three different configurations:
three players per team (two boules per player), called triples
two players per team (three boules per player), called doubles
one player per team (three boules per player), called singles
The boules are made of metal and weigh between 650 g and 800 g, with a diameter
of between 71 mm and 80 mm. The jack is made of wood or synthetic material and
has a diameter of between 25 mm and 35 mm.
The playing area should be at least 15 meters (49 ft) long, by 4 meters (13 ft)
wide.
A player from the team that wins the toss starts the game by drawing a circle on
the playing field (35 to 50 cm in diameter). Both feet must be inside this
circle, touching the ground, when playing. The player then throws the jack to a
distance of between 6 and 10 metres from the starting circle. The jack must be
visible and at least 1 metre from any obstacle or boundary, otherwise it must be
thrown again.
A player from the team that wins the toss then plays the first boule, trying to
place it as close to the jack as possible. Then the opposing team must get
closer to the jack and keeps playing until they succeed. When they do, it is
back to the first team to do better, and so forth. When one team runs out of
boules the other team plays their remaining boules.
A player may choose to 'place' a boule (get it as near as possible to the jack)
or 'shoot' it (attempt to displace another boule). A point is scored for each
boule that is nearer to the jack than the opposing team's nearest boule. The
team that wins a round starts the next one and a new circle is drawn where the
jack was in the previous round.
One game is usually played up to 13 points.
History
Pétanque is reputed to have been invented around 1910 as a less
physically-demanding form of jeu provençal. Physical effort was reduced by
reducing the length of the pitch by roughly half and replacing a moving delivery
with a stationary one. The name is derived from the French pieds tanqués, "fixed
feet", because in Pétanque the feet have to remain together within a (small)
circle. Pétanque is also known as Jeu de Boules, "the game of balls". Many
French villages have a special stadium for the game called a Boulodrome.
The international Pétanque federation Fédération Internationale de Pétanque et
Jeu Provençal was founded in 1958 in Marseille and has about 600,000 members in
52 countries (2002).
The first World Championships were organized in 1959. The most recent
championships were held in Faro, Portugal (2000), Monaco (2001), Grenoble
(2002), Geneva (2003), Grenoble (2004) and Brussels will host 2005. Fifty-three
countries participated in 2004 and the number is growing every year.
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