CELTIC CHALLENGE 2020 QUALIFIER

The 2020 Celtic Challenge is being held at Glasgow Petanque Club on 9/10 May 2020.

The Welsh qualifier was held in glorious sunshine at the Monkstone Petanque Club on Sunday 8th September, with 11 teams competing for the 4 available places.

 

CELTIC CHALLENGE 2020 QUALIFIER

Celtic Challenge 2020 

To be held in 

Scotland 

At

Glasgow Bowling Club 

On 

Saturday & Sunday 9^th& 10^thMay 2020 

The 2020 Celtic Challenge qualifier will be held at

 Monkstone Petanque Club

On

Sunday 8^thSeptember 2019

Registration is 9.00 – 9.30

Pre Entry is required

Please email your entry to

dev [at] welshpetanque [dot] org [dot] uk

Cost of entry – £7 per player

Payment can be made on the day

Closing date is 5^thSeptember 2019

The following 11 Teams have entered – ideally we could do with one more to avoid BYEs:

If you think you’ve entered but your Team isn’t showing here, please contact me ASAP.

The 2019 WPA League season was concluded on Wednesday 28 August 2019. The final round of matches did not produce any great surprises as most, if not all, of the top and bottom places had already been decided.

Division 1

Congratulations to Isca Romans who took the Division 1 title. They were hotly pursued by Monkstone Monarchs who just could not maintain their challenge and fell away in the last two weeks to finish second.

At the bottom, you could not have got odds on Monkstone Minotaurs being relegated at the half way point of the season but they staged a remarkable run in July & August with 4 wins and 2 draws propelling them up to fifth place leaving Wenvoe Dragons and Penarth Pendragons in the relegation places.

Division 2

Congratulations to Wenvoe Raiders who took the Division 2 title bouncing straight back to Division 1 at the first time of asking after their relegation last season. The Raiders just pipped Pontyclun Badgers who will be playing alongside them in Division 1. The Badgers have fallen just short of promotion a few times recently but have finally made it.

At the other end of the table Cwins were unfortunate to drop back into Division 3 after being promoted last season taking Creigiau Crusaders with them.

Division 3

Congratulations to Monkstone Marauders who took the Division 3 title again bouncing straight back at the first time of asking after their relegation last season. The Marauders established a lead they never relinquished right at the start of the season and confirmed the top spot with 3 games to spare. Penarth Panthers just pipped Monkstone Inn Youth to grab second spot and a place in Division 2 next  season.

At the other end of the table the two newest teams to the League – Church Inn (2nd season) and Ystradowen Newts (debut season) both managed to avoid the bottom spot – well done to them both – which this year was claimed by Creigiau Casuals.

NOTE:  Depending on the number and spread of entries to the League for the 2020 Season, it is possible that there could be some adjustment to the relegation spots if it is necessary to balance the number of teams in each Division. This will not be resolved until Spring 2020 when all the entries have been received.

The first round of the Welsh Cup for Clubs was held at Abergavenny on Sunday 1st September.

With 6 Clubs taking part, and 2 matches played, these are the latest standings:

Welsh Cup for Clubs

The 2020 Welsh Cup For Clubs

First Round To Be Held At

Abergavenny PC

On

1^st September 2019

Clubs entered at present

Monkstone PC

Wheatsheaf PC

Pontyclun PC

Caerleon PC

Registration is 9.00 – 9.30

The successful Club will be invited to take part in the European Cup for Clubs

(However it is not a requirement to attend if the winning club does not wish to do so

 In this event it will be offered to the 2 ^nd-placed club)

Entry is £60 / Club

Pre Entry is required

Please email your entry to

dev [at] welshpetanque [dot] org [dot] uk

Closing date is

29^thAugust 2019

Please note – all Club Secretaries have previously been advised of this event.

Congratulations to Gemma Foster and Peter Westall on regaining the title they held in 2016 & 2017.

Held in very changeable conditions at Pontyclun RFC Petanque Club, the results were:

Main – Winners: G Foster & P Westall
Main – Runners-up: C Maccaddon & H Morris

Plate – Winners: V Falconer & L Field
Plate – Runners-up: G Brooksbank & D Cannan

Champions again – National Director of Development, Kon Tomczyk presents the National Title Shield to Gemma Foster & Peter Westall

The last national competition of 2019 took place at Pontyclun Petanque Club on Sunday 18/8/19.

This was the last chance for WPA members to win a title for this year and with very challenging piste’s and unsettled weather the scene was set to be a very competitive event.

With the draw and groups completed the event started in reasonable weather and with a little surface water from the deluge of rain during the night.

Group A saw a win for last year’s champions Vaughan / Tomczyk  v Falconer / Field  (13 – 6) and also a convincing win (13 – 1) for Adshead / Griffin v Greenwell /Smith.

Group B saw a convincing win (13 – 2) for Foster / Westall (previous 2 time winners 16/17) against Dunn / Adshead, with McCaddon / Morris notching up a win against Brooksbank / Cannon (13 – 7.

The second round was again successful for Foster / Westall with a win in a tough game over McCaddon / Morris, Vaughan / Tomczyk also recorded a win against

Greenwell / Smith (13 – 6)

Adshead / Griffin gained their second win in a very tight game against Falconer / Field (13 – 11)

Brooksbank / Cannon got off the mark with a win against Dunn / Adshead (13 – 7)

Round 3 saw Foster / Westall and Vaughan / Tomczyk both take wins making it three in a row for both teams and a place in the main semi – final.

Other wins in the round came from

Falconer / Field v Greenwell / Smith (12 – 11)

McCaddon / Morris v Adshead / Dunn (13 – 2)

With lunch over, the semi- finals commenced in the main it was poised for a possible rematch of last year’s final with Foster / Westall progressing to the final with a win over Adshead / Griffin

The other Semi saw McCaddon / Morris take a 6 -1 lead over Vaughan / Tomczyk only to be pegged back to 6 – 6 a point each in the next couple of ends 7 – 7 a

Foster / Westall v Vaughan / Tomczyk was still possible, however not to be as McCaddon / Morris took the next few ends to win 13 – 7 and make the final.

In the plate wins from Falconer / Field and Brooksbank / Cannon set up the plate final.

The final of Foster / Westall v McCaddon / Morris was expected to be another tight game as it was when they met in the earlier rounds.

Unfortunately for McCaddon / Morris, who had played well throughout the day, this was not to be when Foster / Westall went up a gear with some excellent pointing and shooting to win the game convincingly 13-1 and take the welsh National Triples 2019 title.

The Plate final Falconer / Field v Brooksbank / Cannon was a closer affair with enthusiastic applause for both sides when points were won.

However as always someone has to win and the victors, much to the delight of Falconer, they were the winners 13 – 8

Congratulations too both winning teams and commiserations to the runners up, well played everyone and thanks to all players who made it a very enjoyable day of boules.

Also thank you to Pontyclun Petanque Club for their hospitality and for hosting the event, all participants for their support and last but by no means least to Graham Attfield for Umpiring and time keeping throughout the day, well done

Kon Tomczyk
Director of Development

Congratulations to the 4 teams that topped their Pools in the League Cup/Plate competition.

Pool A   –   Maesteg

Pool B   –   Monkstone Monarchs

Pool C   –   Monkstone Minotaurs

Pool D   –   Penarth Panthers

The tightest finish was in Pool D where 3 teams finished on 7 match points, each with 9 games won and Penarth Panthers clinching by a mere 3 game points.

The Semi-Finals and Finals will take place on Sunday 29 September 2019 – venue to be decided. The Semi Finals will be:

Maesteg  v  Monkstone Minotaurs

Monkstone Monarchs  v  Penarth Panthers

The two winners will than meet in the Final of the Cup and the two losers will meet in the Final of the Plate,

Vickie

League Secretary

Another Home Nations  is done and dusted – though the weather meant there wasn’t much dust in the air – and I’ve had a couple of days to reflect on the event and felt I should share my thoughts with the members.

Firstly, some thanks – I think I covered everyone on the weekend at the Presentation and there are too many people who’ve given their time and effort to make this event run well to name individually, with a few notable exceptions.
I think I spoke to most of the volunteers during the weekend and expressed my thanks on behalf of the Association  for their efforts, but just to reiterate my sincere thanks to the Executive Committee and members of the Monkstone Petanque Club, the Penylan Club and the members of the other Clubs, including Pontyclun and Caerleon, who came and helped with lunches, teas, coffees, refreshments, piste preparation and maintenance and generally supporting the event. Anyone who has been involved in the organising and running of any competition knows only too well that these can’t go ahead without volunteers. Thank you all.

Secondly, I would like to thank the visitors who came along and lent their support to all Teams – I know it makes a difference to the players and especially so given the inclement weather throughout much of the weekend.

Thirdly, I know I said the volunteers were too-many to name, but I must call-out and thank a few people without whom the event simply wouldn’t have been as successful:
Our sponsors – Telent, CMS Teamwear, Ken Aston’s Catch and Despatch, Bailey’s DIY, Pen-y-Coed Petanque.
My colleagues on the WPA Executive Committee – Derek Jones, Kon Tomczyk and Tony Smith who worked tirelessly to get everything ready for the weekend. Food, gifts, awards, brochure-production to name a few tasks.
An additional thank you to Derek Jones for taking on the role of Umpire and making sure the event ran as smoothly as possible.
Michelle Spencer for being a fantastic Team Manager for Wales. We’ve been lucky to have some great Team Managers in the past and Michelle fitted in really well and kept everyone in line – it’s a huge help to the players.
Andrew Howard for supplying us with a portable PA system, which turned out to be not needed, and also for loaning us waterproof jackets, which absolutely WERE needed!
Steve Snudden deserves a special mention for developing and sharing the software we used for scoring the event. Not only were we able to keep everyone on-site up to date, but also allowed us to post results to the WPA Website as each game finished to let everyone at home keep as up to date as possible. It’s impossible to grasp the effort Steve has put into this and the other countries Heads of Delegation were very impressed and are hoping to use it for as many future competitions as possible. Already lined-up for the PE Inter-Regionals in September, Steve is also developing it for next-year’s Celtic Challenge.

Lastly I want to thank all the teams who came from England, Jersey and Scotland, along with their Heads of Delegation, Captains, Managers and supporters. Conditions were extremely difficult at times but everyone just got on with the play and did their best.

My congratulations to England on retaining the trophy again. I think this was the closest competition I’ve ben involved with – up to the end of Round 8, any of Wales, Jersey or England could’ve taken the lead.

As such, I need to finally thank all the players who represented Wales so well. You all contributed to a superb performance and should be very proud of your achievement. Particular congratulations to the top Welsh team; Wales 1 – Jeremy Clare, Len Field & Peter Westall.

Thinking ahead to next season, I think the EC need to look more closely at the order we play teams in these kinds of competitions. The WPA’s Competition Rules of Entry give the EC the authority to rank teams as they see-fit, and this year’s Celtic Challenge and Home Nations statistics show that we need to think much more about this. After the PE Inter-Regionals we will have a full-season’s statistics to review and look at the best way to move forward.

It only remains for me to thank everyone once again and say roll-on Troon, 8/9 August 2020.

Bob Pugh
National President

WELSH NATIONAL TRIPLES CHAMPIONSHIPS 

2019

The annual National Welsh Triples Championships 2019 was held at Maesteg Petanque Club on Sunday 4th August with the weather starting a bit grey in the morning but changing to bright sunshine for the afternoon and into the evening.

Maesteg being a relatively new club to the association was chosen to hold the event and a due to the enormous effort of their club members and Jean Yvse Robic transformed the playing area into a challenging 12 piste venue, one which I am sure the association will choose again for future events.

With two teams seeded which included players who will be representing Wales at this year’s European Triples and Veteran Championships in Bulgaria it was set to be a very competitive day of petanque.

The first round saw one of the seeded teams Smith –Howells – Robic – Spencer narrowly losing to local Maesteg Club triple of Edwards – Stevenson – Lewis  9 -7 which was a closely fought match throughout.

The other seeded team of Jones-Westall-Beresford and Field also had a hard fought first round game but managed to gain a win by 2 points (11-9) against a strong Monkstone Trio of Griffin-Adshead and Kensett 

Other first round results Tomczyk – Murray – Spencer – just gaining the winning point in the last end (10 – 9) over Smith – Mills – Howard 

Adshead – Dunn – Spencer gaining a win over Foster –Foster and Vaughan 

(11 – 8) in another closely competitive game.

As the day progressed to the semi – finals saw Tomczyk –Murray and Spencer top the table with 4 wins just edging out Jones – Westall –Beresford and Field also on 4 wins but slightly less points difference.

Smith – Robic –Howells and Spencer redeemed themselves after their shaky start winning their next 3 games to secure the 3rd semi-final spot with Griffin – Adshead and Kensett taking the 4th position.

Semi Finals 

Tomczyk – Murray – Spencer v Griffin – Adshead – Kensett 

The early part of the game saw some very good pointing and shooting from both teams which kept the game tight with each team only winning one point an end 

Jones – Westall – Beresford – Field v Smith – Robic – Howells – Spencer 

The two seeded teams meeting in the semi – final was not expected and had it not been for the loss in the first round by the Smith team  then this may well have been the final.

As imagined this again was a really competitive game with the Smith team going ahead albeit 1 point per end eventually the Jones team found their form and pegged back the deficit then forging ahead and winning (13 – 7 ).  

Final

Tomczyk – Murray – Spencer v Jones – Westall – Beresford – Field 

This was poised to be an exciting close match and the two seeded teams meeting in the semi – final could not have been more favourable for the team of Tomczyk – Murray and Spencer 

However it was plain to see from the first end that the Jones team was not about to give anything away taking 5 points.

They did not put a foot wrong throughout the game with some excellent pointing from Jones shooting from Westall, backed up by Beresford.

The form from the opposition which they had displayed throughout the day to get them to the final had seem to have eluded them and no matter how hard they tried the Jones team got the point in every end bar one making it a 13 – 1 win a disappointing result for the final but as said the Jones team made no mistakes and played to a very high standard throughout the match and not giving any opportunity to their opposition.

Well done to all members of the team and good luck in the European Championships 

Lastly the plate final saw Foster – Foster and Vaughan v Smith – Mills – Howard. 

Again another close match with good pointing and shooting from both sides however it was to be a Smith – Mills and Howard victory.(13 – 8)

Once again thanks to all the members who entered and made it a really enjoyable and competitive day of boules.

Also once again on behalf of WPA executive and its members thanks to Maesteg PC for the effort and hard work of their members to enable us to hold this event at their club.

Well Done. 

Kon Tomczyk
WPA Director of Development