Petanque club gets things rolling

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This article was published 03/08/2021 (1494 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The return of smoky skies and a recent string of vandalism didn’t stop the Brandon Petanque Club from holding an open house on Sunday.

Petanque is a French game resembling bocce or lawn bowling where players aim to get their small metal balls (called boules) closest to an even smaller ball called a cochonette (French for “little pig”) acting as a target.

Unlike bocce or lawn bowling, petanque players throw their balls while standing within a designated circle at either end of the playing surface with a backhand toss instead of rolling them. Ideally, the ball will land in front of the cochonette and roll closer. Having a boule land behind the cochonette will just cause it to roll away even further.

Like in the other games, the team that ends a round with one or more of their three boules closest to the cochonette wins that many points for the round. A round ends after one player or team has received 13 points, and players must win the best of three rounds to win a game.

Many, though not all, of the club members are originally from Mauritius and members of the local Mauritius Cultural Association who grew up playing the game. Club member Kerselin Fumier, who is also vice-president of the Mauritius Cultural Association, said he has been playing the game since he moved to Brandon.

His favourite part of the game is using his boules to knock the cochonette away from its starting position to take points away from the other players. He said the best boules come from France and are made for competitions. Those cost about $150 for a set of three, but cheaper boules can be found in the United Kingdom or on the internet.

In Brandon, the headquarters for petanque is Stanley Park, where the club has set up their playing field, called a boulodrome.

Set up two years ago, it’s a rectangular area in the middle of the park near the pickleball courts lined with bricks and filled with a sandy substance that provides a firm yet cushioning playing surface.

“We use to play downtown on Pacific near the railway tracks,” said Fumier. “Before that, we played down on 26th and MacDonald. It was three or four years that we tried to get a field, and finally the city decided to get a field for us so we can enjoy this beautiful game.”

The club proudly notes that it is the first boulodrome in Westman.

“We wanted a field to explain to people how the game is played,” Fumier said.

Dev Lallawooa, president of the club, said the boulodrome had to be fixed Sunday morning after holes were gouged into the playing surface, one of the nearby picnic tables was flipped over, signs asking park visitors to respect the space were smashed and pressed into the dirt and bicycle tracks were seen crisscrossing on top of and around the carnage.

He said it was the third time in the last three weeks that the boulodrome had been vandalized along with frequent clashes with teenagers who play soccer nearby, who frequently send their ball flying at the petanque players and spectators.

However, by the 1 p.m. start time, the bulk of the damage had been cleaned up and all that was left to do was carefully use a push broom to even out the playing surface.

On top of the open house, it was also the semi-finals for an ongoing tournament hosted by the club. Many club members brought their families to watch, play and enjoy a barbecue as reggae music served as the soundtrack for the afternoon.

As members set things up, a few curious passersby came over to ask what was going on. For the club, which aspires to grow its membership, members were only too happy to give pointers on the basics of the game as well as on form, technique and strategy.

One of the people trying petanque for the first time, Carlos Scott, told the Sun that it was really easy to pick up the game. Neither he nor his friend Princeman (a nickname) had ever heard of the game before.

“You have to find the right velocity with the right spin,” Scott said. “It’s almost like bowling, but opposite.”

That’s the kind of reaction organizers with the club are hoping to hear. They’d really like to get the club big enough that they can invite teams from other cities for tournaments. Currently, the club has 16 members.

“It’s a game for (everyone),” Lallawooa said. “You don’t have to run lots, get tired a lot. It’s a game of concentration like bocce, curling.”

Ideally, the tournament final will be played next weekend. However, club members are at the park almost daily at 7 p.m. to get some games in.

They encourage members of the public to drop by to learn more about the game. Information on future events can also be found on the club’s Facebook page.

The field is also available for use by members of the public who have their own boules and want to play petanque or bocce.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @ColinSlark