French boules contest halted over 'intimidation and threats'
By Alex Duval Smith in Paris
13 May 2004


Hooliganism has arrived among the clunking boules in the shade of the chestnut trees of the Place du Marché.

Yesterday, an official at the city hall in Montpellier confirmed that crowd trouble had forced the cancellation of one of the leading tournaments in the annual boules calendar, the three-day Comédie de la Pétanque, which attracts 4,000 players and had been held, traditionally, each July.

A spokeswoman for the mayor blamed a worsening climate of "intimidation and threats" in the game.

She said competitors in the Comédie - which offers prize money totalling £30,000 - would have to take to take their boules elsewhere.

"We have decided on a cooling-off period, so there will be no 14th Annual Comédie," she said, suggesting that tourists might instead be interested in this weekend's book fair at Montpellier, the main city of Languedoc, in southern France.

She said the atmosphere at the annual tournament had got worse in recent years as supporters of local teams heckled supporters of the away teams and disrupted their game.

Calling for a players' charter of good behaviour to be drawn up by the sport's governing body, she admitted that excessive pastis drinking among players was a problem.

"It's true that you don't have an aperitif before running a marathon but it is almost obligatory before boules."

The move was welcomed yesterday by Jacques Théron, vice president of the Fédération Française de Boules - Jeux Provençal. "We have had increasing trouble in Montpellier from travellers who are very good at the game but get rather high-spirited," he said. "At one of the other main tournament of the year, the Marseillaise, there are fewer travellers and things pass off calmly."

Asked what type of intimidation boules players were having to endure, he said: "It's all in the look and the stare. If your opponent comes up to you and says, 'I'm going to win this game', it may sound innocuous but it's not.

"We're all playing to win and someone who says that to you, with a particular look in his eye, is being threatening."

He denied reports that knives were drawn between spectators and players at last year's Comédie.

"We are just giving Montpellier a rest, so people realise we will not put up with trouble," he added. "This move won't mean that the world will stop turning, nor that the boules will stop rolling."


news.independent.co.uk . . .

Du hooliganisme chez les fans de pétanques !

On a bien les boules !

they were the only ones left to have "balls" in flance anyway ...

putain con ! c'est les boules !

WTF is "boules"?

WTF is "boules"?

It's similar to lawn bowling! There's a lawn bowling club near my house and on nice summer days there are always a bunch of nonagenarians playing. I'm ROFLMAO here. I just can't get the image out of my mind of these folks, in crisp whites and who take 15 minutes to walk two feet, trying to intimidate each other by staring an opponent down. Oooooohhhh! Scary!

It's similar to lawn bowling!

Holy shit! Do the frogs play any real sports?

"Holy shit! Do the frogs play any real sports?"

Yes, they just won the 2004 rugby european cup! and they were soccer world champions in 1998!!

And they won the latest Davs Cup edition.

And you should try to play "la pétanque", which is quite a nice game to play with friends by the end of hot summer days...

What the fuck is boules? Another gay fRinch "sport?"



fuck frANch!

We're all playing to win and someone who says that to you, with a particular look in his eye, is being threatening."

Headlines:

"frog TOWN SURRENDERS TO DIRTY LOOKS"

Oh the humiliation; the torture. I would DEMAND a Human Rights investigation if any humans were actually involved.

And you should try to play "la pétanque", which is quite a nice game to play with friends by the end of hot summer days...

Play while you can.....the islamofascists play a mean game of boules:




fuck franch!

Asked what type of intimidation boules players were having to endure, he said: "It's all in the look and the stare. If your opponent comes up to you and says, 'I'm going to win this game', it may sound innocuous but it's not.

"We're all playing to win and someone who says that to you, with a particular look in his eye, is being threatening."

ROFLMAO!!!!

You've got to be kidding me!!! We have more trashing talking and intimidation in our neighborhood basketball games.

I understand the Flanch have learned a 'new sport' while serving time in afghanistan. Its called cock licking. Wait is that something new to the french?