Pre-tournament favourites Mokhtar Benarab, Hakim Dahmani, Sofiane Lachani and Matt Blyton gave a faultless display over two days at the Whitnash Pétanque Club to be the first winners of prized England shirts in 2025.
The four, all of whom having represented England in the past at European or World level were the only players present at the competition to have done so in recent times.
Mokhtar and Matt were part of the England Veterans team that played two years ago (the tournament is organised biennialy) in Albertville where England achieved a creditable Quarter Final place only losing 8-13 to the eventual winners, France following a battle on the pitch that lasted over two hours.
Hakim was part of England’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles squad who competed in the CEP’s multi-format European Championships in Martigny, Switzerland last year. Sofiane has multiple England caps (or should that be shirts!) and is by far the most experienced international level player in the team. He competes in this category for the first time, having recently met the age criteria of being 55 years old or more in the year of the tournament.
Pétanque England (PE) had decided earlier in the year that it would use a two-day qualification process to find the England team for the CEP’s European Veterans (+55 years old) Triples Championships which are scheduled for Santa Susanna, Spain between 12th and 15th July 2025.
PE held the qualification very early on due to the summer date chosen by the CEP, meaning that the team had to be found early in the season. Luckily despite heavy and prolonged overnight rain on the Saturday, the two qualifying days were pretty much dry with the pitches playable throughout.
There were only 10 entries, which fell to 9 as one team turned up late for registration after play had started.
Clearly not everyone aspires to represent their country but given that England’s team is decided purely by a competitive process and not by selection (unless a team enters as a three and the fourth has to be chosen by PE), there have to be some questions as to why players are reluctant to enter. Representation is entirely in their hands. There could be some value in PE conducting some research into the reasons for this to see if anything can be learnt.
Due to the limited entries, it was decided by PE’s Competitions Lead, John Edmondson to run a round robin although the drop to 9 teams meant that there would be a bye. This meant that every team would face each other over the two days and would certainly test consistency and exert a degree of pressure where teams knew that even losing a single game could be fatal for their chances.
All games were timed using the international format of one hour 15 minutes plus two ends (with a third sudden death where the jack is marked and cannot go dead). This is what applies at the qualification stage (Swiss system) of the international tournament so it was good to recreate those conditions which generally are not applied to tournaments in England, meaning players are not used to the way that timed games often have to be managed from a tactical perspective.
Gareth Sullivan was the umpire and he applied his usual professional approach, not without brandishing a yellow card or two for travelling and not having feet entirely within the circle. It’s important that the rules are applied in the same way that players would experience at the international tournament.
The winners did not lose a single game while the best placed opponents all lost three games over the weekend, leaving three teams on equal wins and only separated in the final rankings by points difference. The process clearly revealed the best team
The runners up were the team of Lee Herring, Mark Gay, Allan McInnes and Jacqui Anderson on 6 wins + 24 points. In third place was Graham Elcome, Sandra Goodwin and Grant Goodwin (6 wins + 15) while Clive de Silva, Ivan Russell, Stone Williams and Martin Hughes were placed 4th (6 wins – 6).
The full results from PE are shown below.
The Whitnash club were great hosts as always and members were on hand to make sure everything went smoothly. The pitches are also harder than they look although they are not as technical as Worthing or Leicester, being generally flatter and with less large stones, although the more recently added pitches offer a more challenging surface.
All the best to the England team in what is likely to be a roasting hot Santa Susanna (tournaments there are played outside). The announcement of the team coach is awaited.
P365 live-streamers will be looking at covering England’s teams in action during 2025, but this is dependent on our volunteers being available to travel and dedicate the time. In the case of the Veterans, the tournament immediately precedes the Men’s Triples and it’s the best part of a week to cover both.
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