History and Information on Pétanque

Who is Fanny?

Australian Pétanque Federation: for rules

Go to Umpires Commission then rules

The Birth of Pétanque

If the jeu de boules (game of bowls) dates back to the times of the Pharaohs, the game of pétanque is only 90 years old.

The anecdote which follows has had its authenticity confirmed; this is to let you know the circumstances which contributed to its creation in 1907.

At La Ciotat in the south of France, an important shipping port, players of la longue (bocce), a provincial game of the area, used to meet on a ground in the vicinity of the town to play their favourite game.

Jules Le Noir, a former champion of la longue (bocce), who suffered from chronic rheumatism, was the only player to be allowed to sit on a chair to watch the game when he was not playing.

One Sunday, the game took too long to finish. Jules Le Noir, with a few boules in his hand, was pointing and shooting at a distance of two to three metres.

"What are you doing? "Ernest Pitiot (one of the players) asked.
"I am just killing time."
"It looks fun. What about drawing a circle? We will set a limit of three metres and play within the circle."
"Does this suit you?"
"Let’s try", Jules said.

Providing Jules Le Noir didn’t have to balance on one leg to throw the boule or move three steps forward to aim, he retained the excellent skills he always had.

The match between Pitiot and Le Noir attracted a lot of people, amongst them Father Aubrey, a champion of la longue (bocce), who decided to try this new pastime.

Over the next few months, this new game was played, with the rules constantly changing, till one day Ernest Pitiot’s brother organised a competition in 1910. Eight teams, of two players each, took part. The success of that first competition was so great that other competitions took place with more and more players.

LA PÉTANQUE WAS BORN!

The game of pétanque was promoted from town to town very rapidly by the navigators and fishermen of the region. You know the rest.

One plate commemorating the creation of this game is on a wall surrounding the ground and is dated 1910. The ground has actually been renamed the Ground of Pieds Tanqués (joined feet).

Back to Homepage

Who is Fanny?

Fanny is a legendary lady (a nice and simple girl) who is supposed to console the loser who does not score a single point during a match (13-0)

It is usually hard to accept such a defeat and the loser has to kiss an icon or a statue representing the bottom of a young and "voluptuous" lady.

Nobody knows if she really existed. Most winners will tell you that she did. The losers will tell you that she did not of course. She became a sort of "semi goddess" and if someone tells you that you have to "kiss Fanny", don’t be offended - it is a tradition.

It is a way to express a great loss rather than a great victory. It is also a way to gently tease your opponent.

"Tu vas biser Fanny!!! You will kiss Fanny"

"Tu vas prendre une Fanny!!! You will get a Fanny – I will thrash you"

Back to Homepage

Pétanque

Favorite French Pastime

Has Colourful History

It is more French, perhaps, than the baguette or de Gaulle: such a fixed feature of the landscape as to be nearly invisible to native eyes. But occupying nearly every dusty clearing in Paris and province is an array of gleaming silver balls and an assortment of characters engrossed in what to the unknowing passerby looks about us exciting as croquet. So just what is this favorite of French pastimes all about?

The game is pétanque, or boules, of course, and like most things French it, too, has a colourful history. To begin with, a pétanque partie can take a variety of forms, players can go single, ("tête-à-tête"), or compete in doubles, ("doublette") or triples, ("triplette"). There is the boules Lyonnaise form, played with a bigger ball: the jeu provençal; a British version battled on grass and a Spanish one waged on marble tiles. But throughout France, it’s pétanque, a descendant of the jeu provençal, that is king.

Born in its present form in 1910 in the small Mediterranean fishing port of La Ciotat (Provence), pétanque traces its origins to the Greeks who, on advice of their doctors, took up "spherique" tossing stone balls for improved strength, flexibility and - the Greeks’ uppermost concern - the regular exercise of though and calculation.

The Romans amused themselves with iron-covered wooden balls, and it was in their colosseums that the game became a spectator sport. Writings from the Middle Ages include tales of bouliers, although King Charles V was less celebratory of the practice, issuing a royal ordinance in 1369 which subjected players to severe reprimand, their time being better appreciated in defence of the crown.

As with most cultural institutions, pétanque underwent a resurgence during the Renaissance, but the game was harshly criticised as public debauchery by jealous promoters of other, less popular games. After a short-lived revival, pétanque was banned a second time in 1629. But honorable defenders, the clergy, soon came to the rescue and the game was again legal, though relegated to the privacy of homes and monasteries.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, pétanque was fully integrated into the daily ritual, evolving into more of a competitive sport than a simple diversion. As its popularity spread throughout Europe, artists immortalised the game; Goya and Brueghel, among others, painted scenes of this new social phenomenon.

Today the game is organised much the way any modern sport is. Hundreds of thousands of players are licensed by the Fédération Française de Pétanque et jeu Provençal, and leagues are widespread, extending to French departments and territories abroad. Lexiques, or specialised pétanque dictionaries, are sold to explain the odd, often incomprehensible jargon which unites players in fraternal rapport.

Across the country, robust paysans and Gitane-smoking urban youth alike toil to perfect a winning point or tir. The object of pétanque is to place your boule closest to the cochonnet (piglet) , or small wooden ball thrown to begin a partie (game). But it isn’t that easy. Before ambling to circle’s edge, there are a few basics you ought to know:

1 - A pétanque partie consists of two phases, the point and the tir. Both require a certain finesse - no stiff-armed throwing! (Players claim to caress the boule while sending it off.)

2 - To begin, a small, wooden ball is tossed onto the field, becoming the goal to attain or to prevent the opposition from attaining.

3 - The point: Carefully examine the terrain before you, as experts can use a nearly invisible slant in the soil to their advantage. Squatting or standing, either roll or archingly toss the boule toward the cochonnet or bouchon.

4 - The tir: The object is to eliminate the boules of the adversary. Ready, aim... but DON’T roll the ball!

5 - At the end of each partie, the player or team with the boule nearest the cochonnet is awarded a point. Should the same team also possess the next boule, another point is won. The first to reach 13 points is the victor.

Bonne chance!

Rebecca Chastenet de Géry is a free-lance writer living in Paris.

Back to Homepage