Monkstone Pétanque Club

The Super League went into Week 2 last week but due to an unfortunate misunderstanding the final game was not played until last evening alongside the first match of Round 3.

The opening match last Tuesday saw league leaders Mustangs take on Mammoths. It was a hard fought contest with Mammoths recording their second draw in a row 2[50]-2[40]. Was the 1 point Mustangs gained enough to keep them at the top?

On Wednesday, Mercenaries came up against Marlins and, whilst Marlins had a large points superiority, the match ended in the second draw of the round 2[34]-2[47]

The final match in Round 2 took place last night when Mavericks played Meerkats and after a hard fought match the third draw of the round was recorded 2[39]-2[29]

With the number of draws being played out, it looks that the seeded draw for team squads has worked out rather well.

The 2023 edition of the Monkstone Club Doubles took place yesterday. A record 36 members took part on a bright sunny and warm October day.

As usual the games were played in a competitive but friendly spirit. Surprisingly after Round 2 there were only 5 teams on 2 wins and the final round saw this cut to only 3 teams with 3 wins.

Sharon Paynter & John Maroney came a very creditable 3rd with 3 wins [+7] and were just pipped by Bernard Adshead & Len Christian on [+11] but the runaway winners were Sean Smith & newcomer Spencer Bartlett on [+34].

It was alleged that Sean had been down at the club practicing since 6am so perhaps practice does pay off!

THE WINNERS

Sean & Spencer with President, Mike Jones

THE RESULTS IN FULL

The annual Club Doubles will take place on Sunday 15 October 2023 at the club. This event is open only to Club Members.

Registration IS REQUIRED by following the link below. Registration will close at 12 noon on Saturday 14 October 2023.

The format will be a doubles melee where you stay with the same partner for all 3 rounds. You only register your own name as the doubles teams will be selected by a seeded draw on the day.

Registration for Club Doubles

Play will start at 11am so please be there by 10:45am at the very latest to ensure that we can draw the teams and get started by 11am. Failure to arrive by 10:45am may mean that you are unable to play. Play should finish between 2pm and 2:30pm.

This is a great competition for our newer and less experienced players to enter as playing with more experienced players is the best way to improve your own game.

The draw for the 2023/24 Super League was made at the Club today. As previously advertised, this year the teams are not based on the WPA League teams but on six new teams drawn at random with some seeding taking place. The object was to try to create more balanced teams (whether or not we succeeded remains to be seen) to give our non-League players the opportunity to play in competitive matches. As there were 39 entries it was decided before the draw took place that teams 1, 3 & 5 would have 7 players in their squad.

Matches will commence on Tuesday 3 October 2023 for 5 weeks and then, after a mid-winter break, will recommence on Tuesday 20 February 2024 for a further 5 weeks.

Full details of the basis of the draw, the full fixture list, and rules will be on the Super League page as soon as it can all be put together. Contact details for the team members will be sent to team captains.

In the meantime, team Captains are required for Mavericks, Mustangs, Mercenaries and Meerkats (see below for the teams). Without a captain the team cannot function. It is not a very onerous task. Please could someone from each of these teams volunteer to captain the team as soon as possible. Let us know if you are willing volunteer via the club WhatsApp group or by email to treasurer [at] monkstonepetanque [dot] org.

The full fixture list will be published in the next few days but the fixtures for the first week are (there is some flexibility to rearrange fixtures within the rules):