Holmfirth Web

By Local Writer David Walker
It looks like a rugby result, but it’s actually Petanque. A French game, originally from Marseilles, where people throw one and half pound balls of metal (the boules) at a small one inch wooden jack(the piglet) about 20 feet away. Presumably we acquired the game from all those French holidays and second homes.

Honley play outside the village hall every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning throughout the year, weather permitting. They were recently visited by Didier, a petanque champion, friend and neighbour of a Honley resident who partly lives in France. Despite the arctic conditions, he gave a masterclass. Our subsection comes from an outpost in Netherton, courtesy of Ann and David Tallboys, who own property in France. We meet alternate Friday afternoons when the hosts are in the UK. David is also  the U3A petanque tutor. Many of us haven’t played since Autumn 2012. Heckmondwike practice regularly and have a fixture list which includes venues such as Lightwater Valley.

The pitch can have a big say in match outcomes. Waste ground is all that’s required. Exposed rocks and tree roots can be quite sporty. Most boulodromes are level at least, covered by your choice of dirt and gravel. The smaller the particulate matter, the more predictable the game, except for the odd swampy bit in which your boule simply sinks and dies. Reminiscent of beach cricket and sandy games of plastic petanque. Bigger stones and your accurately thrown boule can do a leg-break.

A sunny windy day over at Heckmondwike’s boulodrome. A couple of pitches that comfortably fit ten or so matches. Our first throws were pretty good. But the nearer we got, the more skilled they seemed to get, not with dramatic aerial bombs, but gently knocking us aside. They never let you off. They’d been there and done it regularly and it makes a big difference. In addition, they didn’t seem to get as many bad ‘kicks’ as we did. The closeness meant neither of the teams scored more than one per end, which lead to a long encounter. Quite tiring after 4 matches in 3 hours, pushing us beyond the comfortable traffic zone and into the rush hour drive home.

When we played a daft shot, like knocking one of their boules nearer the piglet, a couple of them said ‘Thank you’. It may sound polite, but it is irritating and can be interpreted if your losing and that way out, as condescending and gamesmanship. They didn’t do it again. It’s all about where you learned your sportsmanship and how you react to losing. Games are great ways of sussing people out.

Incidentally, I thought boulodrome was a made-up word. It isn’t. It’s in the French version of Wikipedia.