“A simple and fun game for everyone”
Petanque
Sidcup Recreation Club has an active petanque section with teams competing in the Kent Petanque League. The petanque club was started in 2014 and became an official section of the SRC in 2018.
Playing petanque
If you are interested in playing petanque, either socially or in competitions, you will be very welcome. The rules are simple to follow, similar to lawn bowls and the game was specifically created to be accessible and allow everyone to play. When the weather is kind, we have fun practice sessions at the club on Sunday afternoons from around midday and in the summer on Tuesday evenings from around 7.00pm. We also hold several internal one day competitions through the summer, usually on Sundays. We have spare boules so you can try out the game so why not come and join one of our practice sessions and say bonjour.
Competitions
We have two teams in the Kent Summer League and Cup. The Sidcup Reckers are in Division One and the Sidcup Rollers are in Division Three. We also enter a combined team in the Winter League and Cup, as the Sidcup Sleighers. The summer competitions run from March to October and the winter competitions from October to March. League matches are on Wednesday evenings starting at 8.00pm. We normally finish around 10.00pm with time for a drink, some food and a chat. Al lthe other clubs we play against are based in Kent, either at a pub, or at sports or social club.
Find out more
To find out more, give us a call, or have a look at the Kent Petanque Association Website – click here
Martin
Chairperson – Pétanque Section
The Basic Rules
The main objective of the game is to throw small metal balls (boule) as close as possible to a wooden ball – known as cochonnet or jack – from the player’s fixed position in a circle. Petanque loosely translates to ‘feet together’ and refers to the player having both his legs together firmly on the ground while making a throw.
Played by two teams either consisting of up to three players (triples), two players (Doubles) or Singles, the game is played on either open space or marked terrain. For sporting events, it is played on marked terrain, traditionally marked using strings that are wound around nails that have been driven into the ground.
The game begins with both teams tossing a coin to decide who goes first. The team that wins the coin toss will then place the circle, before throwing the jack, and the first boule to start the game. A boule is considered the act of throwing a ball towards the jack. The first player has to ensure that the jack is thrown between six to 10 meters away from the circle.
Once the first boule is thrown, the opposing team will then throw a boule. After which, the team with the ball further away from the jack will be given a turn to throw another boule. This continues until the team that has the turn gains a point by having a ball closest to the jack, or until they run out of boules. Once a team has run out of boules, the opposing team will then continue throwing the boules until they have also run out.
Each game consists of several rounds (which is also known as ends). Each round ends when both teams have finished their boules. If the ball completely crosses the boundary line in a marked terrain, then it is considered a dead ball and will not be counted.
At the end of the round, the team with the ball closest to the jack scores a point for every ball that is closer than the opposing team’s balls. The winner of each round will begin the next, and rounds proceed until one of the team reaches 13 points in total, whereby they are considered the winner of the game.