Happy New Year to one and all, and all the best for 2009.

Remember, the AGM will take place on Sunday 11th January.

It was a gloriously sunny day in Perth where the annual Perth Petanque Club’s Waverley Vintners trophy competition was to be held. This is an “open doubles” competition, but alas the invitations to the associated club’s members failed to attract them to this event. However, Harvey from the Culbokie club made the trip down to Perth. We rustled up a playing partner for Harvey in the form of one of our junior’s dad who had brought Finlay up from Edinburgh to participate in our event with his granny, Mabel.

In all we had six doubles teams and we played a round robin event. The sun shone all day and we played in the dappled shade of the North Inch Piste, without even a breath of wind. This made a pleasant change from the cold club nights that have been in evidence recently as we move towards the winter months. As usual this was a very competitive event with Frank and Stuart on excellent form as they won all three of their morning ties. Hot on their heels were Ed & Alice and Steve & Jean with two wins each going into the lunch break.

Lunch passed quickly and we were soon back on the Piste. One of the big matches of the day was Finley and Mabel against Neil (Finlay’s dad) and Harvey, the winner of which would have the bragging rights in the Ross family for at least a week. This honour went to Finlay and Mabel, which left a rather large grin on Finlay’s face for the rest of the day.

As the dust settled on the final two games of the afternoon it was Jean and Steve who managed to claim third place with 3 wins plus 7 points. However, in a very close finish it was Frank and Stuart who settled for 2^nd place with 4 wins plus 9 points. The winners of the 2008 Waverley Vintners trophy were Ed & Alice with 4 wins plus 22 points.

Our thanks go to all those who attended and made this a very enjoyable event, played as usual, in a very competitive and friendly atmosphere. This was Perth’s last organised event for this year, although members and visitors will be welcome to come down to our piste on a Sunday where we will be playing from about 11am to about 1pm (ish), weather permitting of course.

Article by Ed Strachan

Waverley Vintners 2008 - Winners Ed Strachan & Alice Sheach

Waverley Vinters 2008 - Runners Up Stuart & Frank Malcolm

Waverley Vintners 2008 - 3rd Jean & Steve

On another “summers day” the Finlay Morrison Memorial Tay Doubles was held at the Perth Petanque Club. With other events taking place around Scotland there was a small turnout for this event with five doubles and one triple making up the teams. This included two visiting teams Dani & Marina and John & Chantelle from Inverleith, who made the trip to support our competition. The forecast for the day was rain and this may have contributed to the low turnout. However, a great time was had by those who took part as they splashed around in the puddles.

A new “fanny” had been brought back from Millau by the intrepid foursome and within the first round two of the Perth teams decided that it needed to be “christened” as soon as possible. The “glory” of this went to Jean, Stuart & Steve who were disposed of by John & Chantelle and was quickly followed by Ed & Alice who were beaten by Dani and Marina.

The competition was becoming quite close with four out of the six teams sitting on two wins each, when we broke for lunch. As we were getting ready for an al fresco lunch the heavens decided to open and a mad rush was made for the comfort of the clubhouse. An extended lunch was agreed, but with no sign of the rain stopping, out came the waterproofs and we all headed back to the Piste to complete the final two games in the round robin format. The sleeping giant of the triples team suddenly awoke and won their last two games, but the teams of Margaret & Mabel and Douglas and Findlay stumbled in the afternoon session.

Our thanks go to the visitors who managed to make it to our event and to Mabel and her team for organising the sausage rolls and coffee. As the Finlay Morrison Quaich is still missing there was no presentation of this trophy, but the winning teams were presented with their prize money and the act of kissing the “Fanny” was dutifully completed by all those concerned. The weather failed to dampen an excellent day of Petanque and all agreed it had been a most enjoyable day.

Report by Ed Strachan

As some may be aware, the Four Musketeers (Ed, Douglas, Mabel and Alice) went to Millau, France in August with plans for domination in the internationally renowned tournament.  I will leave the report (or should that be autopsy) for one of the participants to submit at a later date.  They did not however return empty handed.

We now have our very own ’Fanny’ in the clubhouse, and we are inviting a select few to plant a smacker on it. 

A Cheeky Fridge Magnet Awaits It's Next Victim

Kissing the Fanny is no reward. Kissing Fanny is a punishment for losing a game without scoring a single point!

It would appear that this tradition started in France’s Savoy region, far from the sunny South! The first Fanny was a waitress at the café de Grand-Lemps, just after World War I. As legend would have it, she was so kindhearted that she would allow customers who had lost a game of petanque without scoring a single point to kiss her… on the cheek.

This went on until one day the village mayor lost a game and came to collect his “prize”. No one knows whether Fanny had a grudge against hime and wanted to humiliate him, but we do know that she stepped up onto a chair, lifted her skirt and offered him… her fanny! The mayor was up to the challenge though, and less than a second later, two loud kisses resounded through the café. This was the beginning of a longstanding tradition.

See our ‘Fanny Gallery’ for a list of victims (some with pictures) and watch out as you could be next.

The SPA SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP and SHOOTING COMPETITION were held on a very wet but luckily warm and windless Sunday at Inverleith Petanque Club Edinburgh. Twenty four hardy players turned up from Fochabers, Perth, Ayr, Troon and Edinburgh – most taking part in both Competitions.
In the morning the Singles Championship was played in leagues to qualify three groups of eight. The afternoon was a straight knock out format for the Cup, Plate and Spoon.

In the Singles, the Cup was keenly contested and saw Ed Strachan from Perth come out on top, winning his four morning games and in the afternoon defeating two of Scotland’s top players – Robbie Stronach in the semi-final and John Wilson in the final – to become the SPA 2008 Scottish Singles Champion.

Ed Strachan SPA Singles Winner 2008

John Porter from Inverleith won the Plate defeating Dani Cassini, Inverleith, in the final. Stuart Malcolm from Perth defeated Howard Tipton, Inverleith, to lift the Spoon.

The Shooting Competition was also keenly fought with John Wilson from Fochabers defeating Dani Cassini, Inverleith, in the final by one point to lift the Shooting Trophy.

Thanks go to Derek Adam for the smooth running of both Competitions and to the ladies of the Inverleith Club for providing sustenance both in the morning and at lunch time.

Report by Douglas Hamilton.

The second day of the SPA’s Coaching Weekend was held on Perth Petanque’s piste at the North Inch Perth.Spring had sprung! The weather was fine, warm and sunny – conducive to a good day for a coaching session.

Ten members from Perth were ‘on parade‘, perhaps the potential petrol shortage put off people from further a field attending, and the session was conducted by Colin and Mags Montgomery, Colin Stewart and Ben Burnhill. We had hoped that Mike Dow would have been with us to hone our shooting skills.
With an 11am start the session progressed in a relaxed atmosphere, good company, good crack, a break for a pie and a pint – no “back for 2pm or else !” – and continued until about 4 o’clock.

Few people realised how tiring a coaching session can be but when you think about it one throws many more boules when practising than in a five or six game competition!

The unanimous consensus was that the session was most helpful to newcomers to the sport and seasoned campaigners alike and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Thanks to the coaches and all who attended for a ‘grand day out’.

Article by Douglas

On Sunday 20^th April two teams plus a Perth Renegade and his ladies represented the Perth Petanque Club in the first of three rounds of the Grand Prix series. The Hill Billies (Jean Hutcheson, Stuart Malcolm & Steve Wallace) and the Pointirs (Alice Sheach, Eileen Moonie & Ed Strachan) were the two full Perth team representatives. Maboule (Douglas Hamilton (the Perth Renegade)) was partnered with Dani Cassini {Inverleith} & Zandra Boyle (Birds & Bees)) and they made up the final team with a Perth interest, which gave us seven members participating in this event.

Although the weather stayed reasonably good with dry conditions and broken cloud which gave way to the welcome sunshine, it still remained a rather chilly day in the cold northerly wind. This however didn’t spoil the day for the 14 teams that participated in this event.

Relative newcomers to the Grand Prix competition, the Hill Billies gave a very commendable account of themselves gaining three wins out of six. At the end of the day they did better than the other two Perth teams due to a better points difference. However bragging rights at the Perth Club are still in doubt because the Pointirs beat the Hill Billies in a very intense and extremely close game, the Pointirs running out 13-11 winners. The Pointirs also won three of their games and are breathing down the necks of the Hillbillies. As for Maboule, they suffered a horrendous start to their campaign losing the first four of their games. However, fortified by some wine from the Troon Club at lunchtime, they picked up their game in the late afternoon and they rallied to win their final two games.

All three teams are now looking forward to the next two Grand Prix rounds, which are to be held at Perth on the 18^th May and the 22^nd June. So if you happen to be out for a walk in the North Inch, Perth then come visit the Petanque Piste and give us a bit of encouragement.

The second Club Competition of the 2008 Season was the FENTON QUAICH run by the Perth Petanque Club at the North Inch Perth.The weather forecast for Sunday 13th was all doom – snow, hail and rain so it was nice to wake up to spring sunshine which decided to continue throughout the day – so much for weather forecasts!

Ten teams turned up so a five games round robin was the order of the day.

Although there was a clear winner it went to the wire for third place – young Mr Findlay Ross throwing the winning boule in a 13 -12 thriller against uncle Bob and aunty Zandra to hand third place to his granny Mabel!

The result was as follows -

  1st – Robbie Stronach and John Wilson – 5 wins + 37  

2nd – Stephane Maurage and Byron Milton – 4 wins + 14 

  3rd – Mabel Danraj and Margaret Mauchline – 3 wins + 17

The other seven teams were -

Alice Sheach and Ed Strachan; Jean Hutcheson and Steve Wallace; Sheila Anderson and Stuart Malcolm; Eileen Moonie and Elsie Watt; Findlay Ross and Douglas Hamilton; Zandra and Bobby Boyle; Fiona Ross and Derek Adam.

Thanks to all for coming to support Perth Petanque and making it a friendly but also a competitive day.

Article by Douglas

That’s right, before they have even went on sale the prices of the Perth Petanque Club kit have been slashed in a budget busting bonanza.

Polo Shirts are down to an incredible £12.50

All Sweatshirts are now just £14.50

 Take that Alistair Darling !

As well as club competitions throughout the year, we are also please to host 3 open doubles tournaments.  These are:

Sunday 13th April – Fenton Quaich

Sunday 31st August – Tay Doubles

Sunday 5th October - The Waverley Vintners

Entries welcome from all non Perth club members, and we look forward to the same spirit of competion as enjoyed in previous years.