Monkstone Pétanque Club

In cooperation with International Humanitarian Games Association (IHGA)

As we are all aware, this year has been to say the least a very strange one.  Covid-19 has curtailed many of our normal activities and has been responsible for several of our members being “confined to barracks”.

At the beginning of July this year the WPA received an invitation to take part in the very first World Pétanque Offline Cup (WPOC).  This is a completely new concept that has come about as a direct result of the travel restrictions etc. caused by Covid-19 and consists of Junior and Senior (male and female) categories in a modified shooting competition consisting of two very different disciplines that had to be filmed and submitted to the organising committee:-

1. Standard Shooting (with some modifications) – shots at:- single boule, boule between two boules and at the coche, one shot at each from distances of 7.5m and 9.5m.
2. Parthian Shooting (trick shot) – a trick shot from a minimum of 8.5m at a target boule which could involve throwing over obstacles, from moving/stationary platforms etc.

The scoring was the standard precision shooting format of:-

Boule

• 0 – Miss.
• 1 – Target boule hit but does not leave the circle.
• 3 – Target boule and thrown boule leave the circle
• 5 – Target boule leaves the circle but the thrown boule stays in the circle (Carreaux).

Coche

• 0 – Miss.
• 3 – Coche hit but stays within the circle.
• 5 – Coche hit and stops outside of the circle.

An additional twist to the scoring for both Standard and Parthian shooting was there were points available for several other factors such as:-

• The duration of the video (it had to be no more than 239 seconds, 3 mins 59secs.) with no editing.
• The quality of the video.
• The wearing of masks/face coverings, reciting the required statement of “My name is ………. From the country of ……………, BOULES SPORTS FANS – WASH YOUR HANDS”
• With the addition that in the Parthian there were also an additional five points available for the “Beauty of the location”

The FIPJP and International Humanitarian Games Association (IHGA) put this together for several reasons, one of which being to show the International Olympic Committee that with the likelihood Covid-19 will be with us for a while, unlike many other sports we can still hold competitions all be it in a different format.

An email was sent out to all WPA members along with posts on the WPA website and Facebook page inviting members to put their names forward (there was no limit on the number of participants from any country), the original invite was included as an attachment and contained a full description of the disciplines and the rules).  By the closing date of 19 July there were only three WPA members that had shown an interest, Michelle & Gareth Spencer from Monkstone PC along with Derek Jones the WPA Director of Development who plays for Pontyclun. There had been a couple of other WPA members who had mentioned taking part but unfortunately they didn’t send their documents by the cut-off and as a result, Wales had to go forward with just three players.

We had confirmation that our entries had been accepted on the 20 July closely followed by the lists of competitors and countries. 

Considering this was the very first event of this type to ever be held there was a reasonable number of entries (47 in the Senior Women’s and 65 in the Senior Men’s) from countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, Netherlands, Canada, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Wales and Iran who were the “host county”.

The competition was held from the 3–9 August but a couple of days before it was due to start we had an amended set of rules sent through.  The original format was using one camera to record each competitor throwing their boules, a format that we were quite used to as I’ve been taking part in online “live-streamed” shooting and pointing competitions since the start of lockdown.

However, the amended rules said that we had to use two cameras and that the competitor had to be covered by a camera at all times (each competitor was responsible for throwing and retrieving their own boules along with resetting the target area).  This was not a great issue apart from working out the camera placement to ensure we could meet the new criteria. 

We also found out on the 2 August that we had to complete all of the disciplines and have them sent in to the organising committee by 15:00 on Monday 3 August. This did cause a little panic as Michelle and I were both working on the Monday and as a result we didn’t get a chance to complete the Parthian (trick shot) discipline due to the time constraints.  Thankfully, Derek managed to get his first Parthian round in, more about that later.

After the mad rush to complete the Precision Shooting we then had technical issues uploading the videos to a platform called “Telegraph” which was the platform chosen by the organisers (a platform we’d never even heard of prior to this competition).  This was not helped by the fact that everything was in Iranian and we had to rely on the auto-translate function and the wonders of the modern communications network but perseverance paid off and our entries were away into the ether.

On the Wednesday we had the results of the first round of the Precision Shooting and they were:-

• Derek Jones 13^th place – Senior Men’s
• Michelle Spencer 27^th place – Senior Women’s
• Gareth Spencer 32^nd place – Senior Men’s

As only the top eight from each group were to go through to the next round, this was the end of the road for the three of us.  There were only six points between Derek in 13^th position and me in 32^nd place highlighting how close the scores were in the top half of the table.

However, as they say “Every cloud has a silver lining” and our silver lining was Derek in the Parthian (trick shot) competition as he was in 5^th place and going through to the second round.

Not expecting to go through Derek had to hurriedly come up with a second trick shot, so he decided to throw a boule over his car at a boule balanced on a small cone.  He pulled off the shot but unfortunately it was only enough to secure him a final placing of 8^th but that is 8^th in the world and 1^st in Europe.

Throughout the competition we also had to wear masks which are a distraction in themselves and were quite uncomfortable in the heat.

It was a great experience and something that will go down in the history of World Pétanque.  The amusing part is that having taken part in what was an official FIPJP competition, it says on the WPA website that along with our World positions of 13^th, 27^th and 32^nd in the Precision Shooting there were also our European positions which are:-

Senior Men’s

• Derek Jones – 1^st
• Gareth Spencer – 2^nd

Senior Women’s

• Michelle Spencer – 2^nd

We are well aware that this is an artificial ranking but as they say “You’ve got to be in it to win it” and we have now gone down in the history of World Pétanque.

Gareth Spencer

Our President was obviously suffering from a post-Brexit party hangover on Sunday and offers the following by way of apology:

Fellow Petanquers,
Sunday 2 February offered an opportunity for another MPC Melee (rescheduled from the previous week). The weather was cloudy and cold but things were soon to warm up on the pistes. El Pres addressed the 24 keen, enthusiasts who  were totally focused on grabbing the top prize.
Round 1 was a competitive affair with 12 victors coasting along into the next round. Peter D.  and Vickie stormed to victory as did Phil R. and Roger Griffin, Roger Green and Tricia, Tony N. and Gill C., Steve and John X., and a special mention to Melys and Jane M. who gave El Pres and Jane D. a lesson in pointing. Mike congratulated the pair through blurred vision caused by the welling tears in his eyes. (A factor that obviously affected his following games).
Round 2 was fought with tenacity and skill by everyone. Peter K. managed to throw the coche onto his own piste (at times!) and Andres claimed ‘ game on zee floor ‘ after one end!!
Vickie claimed another victory together with Phil R., Roger Green, Tricia, John X. and Gill C. Only 6 players were now on 2 victories. It was all to play for in the final round and who could have predicted the outcome? (Certainly not the scorer even after the results were in!).
Round 3 began and the tension was rising. The 6 players competing for the top spot were focused, determined and making every effort to secure a victory. Who would be awarded a laurel and hardy hand-shake as the Melee champion(s)?
Vickie and Gill C. were drawn together and achieved a 13-7 victory. Phil R. and Tricia were also drawn together and in an extremely tight game against Mike and John M. secured a 13-12 win. Roger Green fell to the silky skills of Tony N. and Jane D., and John X. was more focused on his Sun. dinner than the coche. As a consequence, after the final round, 4 players were to be congratulated on successfully winning all 3 of their matches.
All that remained was for the scorer to announce the winners. Using numerical skills involving algebraic equations, trigonometric calculations and advanced mathematics, the scorer registered the top 3 places. Is the scorer ‘Brighter Than Your Average Five Year Old ?’.  Well, apparently not!
In the bar the financial rewards were allocated with an amazing result of 3 players showing totals of exactly the same scores 39-17. (Vickie, Phil and Tricia ). However! All was not as it appeared! The scorer had miscalculated!  A very observant (some might say nosey!) member noticed a discrepancy in the totals. I won’t mention your name Phil – sorry, I mean Pike! but, quite rightly, the final placings needed amendment. The final, and I mean final, (subject to TMO and VAR) results are :
1st: Vickie and Phil. – 3rd: Gill C. = 4th: Tricia.  Well done to the top four players.
Incidentally, I failed to win any games all day! However, by my calculations I managed to come 5th!!! Great day everyone. ( Also I have invested in an abacus with lovely coloured balls for future calculations!!).
                                  Mike.    El Pres.

The second leg of the 2nd annual Winter Friendly Trophy was held today at Caerleon RFC PC. Readers will remember that Monkstone had performed particularly well in the first leg held at the beginning of December, running out winners by 30 points to 15. It could be said that Monkstone were quietly confident of securing the 16 points they needed for victory out of the 45 on offer, There were even grand thoughts that wins in 8 of the 9 singles (Monkstone had won 7 out of 9 in the first leg) would give them the 16 points needed.

Tansy Mayfield called all the competitors to order, welcomed Monkstone to the Caerleon and admitted that Caerleon had a bit of a mountain to climb to retain the cup they had won last year by the slenderest margin of 1 point.

The singles got underway and Monkstone were looking comfortable with the first 3 scores to come being 13-3 wins for Mike Jones, Gareth Spencer and Jayne Dunn. With Amanda Jenkins, Peter Kensett and Phil Roberts holding reasonable leads in their games, it was looking like 6 wins for 12 of the points needed for victory. Only rookie Amanda managed to hold onto her lead  for a 13-7 win while Peter and Phil went down 10-13 and 12-13 respectively. With Tony Smith and Michelle Spencer also going down Monkstone were left with only 4 wins out of 9 giving them half of the required 16 points.

So it was onto the 4 doubles games where Monkstone were looking for a better return. It didn’t turn out that way – Tony Smith & Bernard Adshead let an early lead slip and were always struggling eventually going down 7-13. Mike Jones and Gill Greenwell went down 9-13 and Roger Griffin and Vickie Adshead lost 10-13 on the last end. The whitewash was saved by Phil Roberts and Jane McGirr who took their game 12-9.

The result of this was that it left Monkstone needing to win one of the three triples – a situation they had hoped to avoid by picking up the points they needed from the singles and doubles. In fact they only gained 11 of the necessary 16. At this point Caerleon were leading 19-11 on the day but Monkstone were leading 41-34 overall.

A break was taken to devour the extremely tasty soup, bread and cakes provided by Caerleon. 

The triples got underway with players and spectators alike keeping their eye on all three scoreboards. Roger, Bernard and Vickie in the mixed triples were always struggling but a glance across to the other two pistes showed that Gareth, Phil & Peter building a healthy lead and Tony, Mike & Jayne slowing edging ahead of their opponents.  A couple of ends later showed G, P & P had shipped a few points and their lead had been cut down. Meanwhile T, M & J were increasing their lead whilst R, B & V were still struggling. The first game to finish was G, P & P who ran out winners by 13-6 securing the trophy for Monkstone. Shortly after T, M & J posted a 13-2 win leaving the mixed triple as the only game to finish. Monkstone had been 8-1 down but a small run of form  pegged Caerleon back to 8-5 before they reimposed themselves on the game increasing their lead to 10-5. R, B & V weren’t going to give up without a fight taking it to 10 -7. A bad end followed in which it was wide open for Caerleon to take the 3 points needed but they missed the final point to increase their lead to 12-7. Monkstone took 1 on the next end for 12-8 but time was up during the end leaving a final end to be played. V opened with a great boule on the cosh but Caerleon knew that they only had to keep it tight so didn’t attempt to shoot. They pointed in all 6 boules with 2 of them within inches of the cosh. V put her next boule about 15 inches behind the cosh, leaving Monkstone first and fourth. B pointed his first which also went behind the cosh close to V’s. The agreed plan was to try to roll the cosh back a few inches to give 3 or possibly 4. B threw and agonisingly touched the cosh but only moved it a fraction leaving them still holding 1. R pointed in, got a ricochet and sneaked through for 2.  R threw the final boule which fell slightly short, ending what would have been a great comeback and leaving Monkstone on 10-12.

All the points were totted up and Tansy announced that Caerleon had salvaged some pride by winning 24-21 on the day but overall Monkstone had taken the cup by 51-39. Tansy congratulated Monkstone on their win and said that she thought that it had been a great competition played in a friendly spirit. Bernard said that he agreed entirely with Tansy’s comments and said that we should get the dates in the diary for another encounter in 2020/21.

Advance notice: The agreed dates are: 29 November 2020 at Caerleon and 10 January 2021 at Monkstone : 

Revised Dates:  22 November 2020 at Caerleon and 10 January 2021 at Monkstone

Today at the club we held the 1st leg of the second annual Winter Friendly against Caerleon. The match started in dry but quite cold weather until mid-morning the sun broke through when it warmed up considerably – at least for the time of year. The competition was played using the Cup for Clubs format but extended to 9 singles, 4 doubles and 3 triples. Using the C4C scoring system meant that there were 45 points on offer so 23 were needed for victory.

The singles got underway with Roger Griffin, Mike Jones, Roger Green, Gareth Spencer, Phil Roberts, Sean Smith, Michelle Spencer and Gill Greenwell playing in the open singles with Jayne Dunn filling the last spot in the Ladies singles. As the games progressed it looked as though Monkstone were building an early lead which they managed to maintain, winning 7 out of the 9 singles for a lead of 14 points to 4. Special mention should be made of Gill Greenwell who won her first ever singles game 13-9.

So it was onto the doubles with Roger Grif & Vickie Adshead forming the mixed pair with Sean Smith & Amanda Jenkins, Peter Kensett & Gill and Gareth & Jane McGirr forming the open pairs. It soon became obvious that this round was likely to be a lot closer than the singles with Monkstone up in 2 and down in 2. Roger & Vickie won quite convincingly by 13 -3 but the next 2 results went against Monkstone. The round was saved when the whistle blew with Gareth and Jane leading 8-4 for a second round draw of 6 points each and an overall score of 20 points to 10.

Being lunch time, this was an excellent time to have a break in play for hot soup, bread, cakes, mince pies etc which was very welcome as, despite the glorious sunshine, there was still a bit of a nip in the air. At the end of the break, President, Mike Jones, thanked everyone for coming to play and he also thanked Joy Griffin & Vickie for the hot soup and all those, including some from Caerleon, who had provided cakes and mince pies.

Resuming the match with triples, in which each encounter was worth 5 points, Monkstone only needed 1 win out of the 3 to reach the 23 points required for victory. Roger Green, Phil & Jayne formed the mixed triple whist the open triples were Bernard Adshead, Jane & Michelle and Peter, Amanda and Vickie. Could Monkstone secure the one win they needed. Things were looking good when the mixed team and B, J & M opened up leads over their opponents although they were behind in the other open triple.  As we approached the 60 minute time limit P, A & V had gone down 13-4 and just before the time was up R, P & J recorded a 13-9 win. B, J and M had lead 10-3 at one point against Tansy Mayfield, Gemma  & Sue Foster. A change in playing order by the Caerleon triple saw them come back to 10-8. Points went to both sides when, with Monkstone leading 12-10 and Caerleon holding 1 with a boule to come, the final whistle sounded – the last boule was thrown to try to secure a draw but it fell short and Monkstone held on for a 12-11 win.

So after this nail biting finish, Monkstone had won the 1st leg by 11 games to 5 and 30 points to 15, Well done to Monkstone especially our “new” ladies, Gill, Amanda & Jane  – but it’s not over yet. It’s on to the 2nd leg at Caerleon scheduled for 12 January 2020.