A disappointing result for the team on a glorious sunny evening. My triple were already on our second end when one of the players from the opposition (in the other game) refused to play using the official Obut circles. This caused a delay in both games. I resolved it by allowing the player to play on (drawing the circle instead of using one) as I deemed this to be more in the spirit of the game. It was either that, or the away team would have had to play with only five players making it a mismatch. However, this didn't go down too well with one or two of my team mates. Please leave a comment to explain what you might have done in this situation.
Not only that but in my pairs game, the dreaded equidistant rule came into being. This is the rule where you play bowls halfway through a pétanque match. All this does is confuse everybody and where you have to stop players throwing in mid swing because it isn't their turn. My view is - if you don't beat your opponents boule (being level with it is no good) the same team should throw again until they do (the fundamental rule of pétanque). Ray Ager agreed with me on this so it must be right :).
On a much sadder note, we send our condolences to the Eccles club on the passing away of Chris Golding.
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ReplyDeleteMy opinion is that you were wrong in giving in to the player who was refusing to use the circles, you were the home team and if you provide circles they should be used, there are no legitimate reasons for not using them. The English Pétanque Association use them at their National competition with no problems. If the player had still refused then it would up to their Captain to either resolve it with his player or play with 5 players. He can't have been much of a team player if he was prepared to let his team down by refusing to play.
ReplyDeleteI cannot see the problem with the 'equidistant' rule it's not rocket science the boules are equal so you take it in turns until one or other team holds the point, its the rule so like it or not we live with it until the Rule Setters decide to change it but don't hold your breath. To me it also adds another tactical dimension to the game in depending on how many boules you have in hand and how many your opponents have as whether you try to block or beat it etc.