Social events > Pétanque party

PETANQUE GAME : Tuesday 30th May from 18.00 to 22.00

This sport (yes, Pétanque is a sport, which may have been an olympic sport ... ) is an intrinsic part of life in Marseille and has been from generation to generation! It is now played in more than 48 countries around the world (with world champions coming from Italy, Spain, Madagascar, Malaysia, Thaïland, ... among others).

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A touch of history

Pétanque as we know it today was born in 1907 in La Ciotat, very close to Marseille
Jules Hugues, a champion of 'jeu provençal' (an ancient version of Pétanque where people took a run-up before throwing the ball, rather like our friends from Lyon), could no longer enjoy his favourite game due to rheumatism. Instead, he came up with the idea of changing the rules a bit: he drew a circle, threw the jack 5 or 6 metres away and, with his feet planted in the circle, started throwing the balls to try and get as near as possible to the jack. Pétanque was born and Jules Hugues had earned his claim to fame in the local school textbooks and bars alike.

Three years later, at the first official tournament in La Ciotat in 1910, the name 'Pétanque' became official: Pétanque = 'pe' (foot in Provencal dialect) and 'tanca' (stake), i.e.: playing with your feet anchored to the ground.

But now that Pétanque is here, the feet are anchored and the players don't even need to take a run-up, can we legitimately ask ourselves is this really a sport? The answer is yes, Pétanque is a sport! Admittedly less tiring than a rugby match, but it is a sport in its own right with an international federation founded in Marseille in 1958. And in 2005, it was even declared a 'high-level sport' by the French Ministry of Youth and Sport!

Beyond the sporting nature of Pétanque in terms of concentration, field analysis and team decisions, it is considered as a sport for many more reasons – and here's why:

  • Playing for one or two hours in the blazing sunshine while trying to steal one or two points per round is a sport in itself! You joke with the opponents, nudge a ball when they have their back turned, distract them when they're about to throw and, especially, have a huge row at the end of the game when it's time to count up the points! A good game of Pétanque means one hour of play and one hour of debate.

  • It's a sport because you have to stay concentrated while drinking the aperitif! Yes, the aperitif is very important and even more so when you're playing Pétanque! The loser traditionally pays for a round, especially if the score is 13 – 0 (or 13 to nothing as my uncle would say).
    2 hours of Pétanque and a litre of pastis – now that requires form!

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What's good about Pétanque is that everyone can play: youngsters, elders... every generation wants a go and you can easily find yourself in a team with Jacky, 83 years, who will teach you how to play while telling you how he went out with his neighbour for 15 years without anyone noticing. 

Yes, we often talk and play at the same time – Pétanque is also made for pleasant chit-chat. And if you manage a few strikes and win the game that's not so bad either eh?

The organizing committtee is sure that, after this petanque training, you will decide to enter a team during the major tounament of the world : the Mondial tournament of Petanque which be held in Marseille.

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