Pétanque England has today set out the process it will follow to find English national representation in 2025 for Senior and Veterans players.
It’s a busy year on the international circuit with four key championships taking place:
- European Veterans Triples Championships – Santa Suzanna, Spain 12-15 July 2025:
- Men’s European Triples Championships – Santa Suzanna, Spain 17-20 July 2025;
- World Women’s/Men’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles Championship – Rome, 18-21 September 2025; and
- World Women’s Triples Championship – Sin-le-Noble, France, 9-12 October 2025.
Women’s & Men’s Triples
For both Men and Women, a three-round process will be followed which is diarised for the weekend of 5thand 6th April (Worthing PC), the qualifying rounds and the 26th April (Leicester PC), a Top 8
The playing format is stated as being dependent on entries and will be either a four-game Swiss or a league followed by a knockout involving eight teams.
Points will be awarded for each of the initial two qualifying days (SSE 1 & SSE 2, both on the same weekend) and teams will be seeded in the draw for the second day depending on their performance on the first. The Top 8 teams will advance to SSE3 which will be a final knockout day.
The format for SSE3 is not specified, but when this approach was followed up until 2016, the system used was a seeded barrage to find four semi-finalists. Two four-team leagues are possible which on a seeding basis would imply teams ranked 1st, 8th, 4th and 5th in one league and teams ranked 2nd, 7th, 3rd and 6th in the other, the same as would apply for barrage.
One of the key reasons why the Top 8 was dropped from 2017 onwards was related to the number of teams that were entering both the Women’s and Men’s qualifiers. This led to a situation where all the teams entered qualified for the Top 8 regardless of their performance in the initial rounds.
In one instance, the Men’s qualifier, in the same process which is to be followed now, a team qualified for the Top 8 having only attended one of the qualification rounds.
This leads to a situation where teams that have not performed well in the qualification are given a chance on the ‘all or nothing’ final Top 8 day. In short, the system’s weakness is that it does not reward consistency except for a seeding which would separate the 1st and 2nd placed teams in the qualification.
In fact, you can afford to lose in a small entry and get serial ‘second chances’. The proposed approach for 2025 could be far more robust if there were perhaps a minimum of 32 teams entering, meaning that only a quarter would make it through to the final showdown.
Whilst it is possible that more than eight teams will enter SSE1 and SSE2 in the Men’s, there must be considerable doubt that this will be the case in the Women’s. It’s too early to say what the final entries will be, but experience suggests that there are not many players who seriously seek international representation in England.
There is a further important factor relating to consistency which applies to the composition of the teams. Both three-player entries and four-player entries are permitted.
To address the criticism that allowing four-player teams will lead to the potential of ‘passenger’ players who barely compete yet can win the highest representation PE offers, a minimum participation level per player is stipulated.
This is based on every player in the four being mandated to play at least three ends (6 boules) on each competition day. Whilst serious teams are not likely to want to carry any ‘passengers’, the ‘three end rule’ seems hardly serious and opens the possibility that a player who has thrown 18 boules throughout the whole process could win a cherished England shirt.
Even if a fourth player competes in a whole game or even two per day, there surely must be a stronger argument for the considered selection of a fourth player from the runner-up team and a situation where all players compete in every single match by limiting the entries to three player teams only.
Men’s and Women’s Doubles
Selection/qualification for the same gender Singles and Doubles along with the Mixed Doubles has always posed a problem for a pure qualification process.
This results from the fact that only two women and two men can compete in the international championship and if an attempt is made to use domestic qualifiers for Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles, then the process could find too many players.
PE’s solution to this problem is to confine the process purely to Doubles, with the winners of a two-round qualification in each gender on the 10th and 11th May at Gravesend (no Top 8 playoff, just decided on the allocation of points).
As mentioned below in relation to the Veterans process, this may end up being more robust as it will place emphasis on consistency and make every game important, lessening second chances.
If you favour a simple solution by using a quick qualification process, this works, but it still leaves a situation where a selection would have to be made for the Singles and Mixed Doubles (which take place concurrently at the international championship).
The weakness of the system is that it runs the risk of precluding any consideration of those players which excel at the Singles format. Over the years, it has been shown that there are individual players that not only thrive in Singles but possess the versatility and mindset required. It’s almost a specialist discipline.
Veterans’ Triples
The Vets (+55’s) will seek to qualify for the biennial European Championships at Whitnash PC, the weekend after next.
With entries closing next Monday 17th March at 10pm, PE’s Sport80 system currently shows six entries and if that doesn’t get much larger, then there is a case for a round robin.
There is no Top 8 here, so the winners will be found through points accumulation only over the two scheduled days. Ironically, although it’s only a two-round process, where there could be the possibility of all teams playing each other twice over the weekend, this has the potential to reward consistency more than the Men’s and Women’s Triples process.
The same three or four player entry is allowed, so the same issue arises of the potential passenger. The Vets in the not-too-distant past had a team of four where a player did not throw a single boule throughout the process yet won an England shirt (and financial support from PE). Whilst the ‘three-end’ rule prevents this embarrassing situation, the minimal participation requirement feels hardly robust.
No format is perfect
Whatever process is followed, there is no perfect system. The judgement is probably about “what is the least worst approach that gives us the best competitive chance at the international tournament?”
At the highest level, consistency is king, and second chances are very limited. In the Women’s and Men’s Triples It’s hard to enforce consistency and limit second chances when there is a small entry based on a final Top 8.
A team could win very few matches over two days and still be in with a shout. Apart from playing to avoid a major rival on in Triples SS3, the two qualifying rounds may not exert any real pressure on teams. it can come down to just a single game on a final day where any team can pull off a result.
Even weather conditions can come into play, heightening the chance of a rogue outcome based on a single day.
While there is an argument that players are best placed to select their fourth, the system is set up to allow the potential for a very limited testing of that fourth.
It does have the benefit of or removing a selection decision for PE officials if teams are limited to play as a three, but the three-player only approach means that there is nowhere to hide and offers the international opportunity to a player who may have performed brilliantly throughout the process yet finds himself or herself in a runner-up team. It may also allow the plugging of a weakness in the England team.
In competitive sport no outcome is guaranteed, and despite potential weaknesses, the system PE has chosen for 2025 can find great English representation. If teams win all their games, the system is irrelevant! Hypothetical outcomes associated with a system may not happen at all. Good luck to everyone who is about to take to the pitch and battle it out!
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