La Marseillaise (Mondial la Marseillaise à Pétanque Marseille), the biggest petanque tournament in the world starts this Sunday. If it is anything like the past few years, you can expect nearly 5,000 triples teams (around 15,000 players). It’s a grueling, single-elimination tournament played in the heat and sun of Marseille.
For decades, French players have sought to model themselves on the physique of that icon of Pétanque – the OBUT Man. OBUT Man’s torso is round, rather like a boule. According to myth, this shape gives players better balance when they point and shoot. It also provides a pleasing aesthetic alliteration: the boule, the round, the OBUT Man – me!
SATURDAY STARTED OFF with a surprise at Bryant Park—giant transformers and heavy machinery all on the path around the lawn, which had been dug out to make way for the ice rink. Suddenly we had lost most our courts. And we had 30 teams scheduled to compete in the 2008 New York Open.
But the club [...]
It’s been one and a half weeks since the conclusion of Marseillaise 2008, which was won by Hernadez, Castano, and Hovaguimian. And it was an exciting few days for our club.
The early morning internet live broadcast from France 3. The anticipation of the day’s result on Boulistenaute. And the hope that our two members survived [...]
THE FRENCH INVENTED PÉTANQUE and they dominate the sport at the international level. The major French tournaments — the Mondial la Marseillaise à Pétanque, the Mondial de Millau, and the French National Championships — are far more difficult to win than is the International Federation’s World Championship, because the density of world class players in [...]