History of the London Petanque Championship

The London Pétanque Championship was the brainchild of Simon Adamsdale and Nick Goodheart who were founders of the London Pétanque Club and have shared many boule playing experiences throughout their boule career which includes the New York v London matches and playing in France at the Marseillaise and also the Sherston competition in Wiltshire.

The idea behind the London Pétanque Championship came about from a visit to the Crystal Palace Park to look for a suitable terrain which would be challenging and large enough to run a big International event.

Sitting over a cup of tea at the cafeteria at the National Sports Centre looking onto a beach volley ball match being played in the rain, they decided this would be a good venue.

Simon and Nick were inspired by the sheer size and magnificence of the Marseillaise competition with over 4,000 teams and so impressed with the city of Marseille assisting the organisers in bussing teams all over Marseille for the first three rounds.

They both liked the Marseillaise way or playing of a straight knock-out so the winner must win all of their games. However, they considered a compromise was necessary and included a barrage league to at least allow teams to play three games before being knocked out.

They were most impressed by the village of Sherston who closed down their village to run a petanque event and which was organised by non boule players and were struck by their “leader board” which displayed the progress of the event to the general public.

This feature has been incorporated into the London Pétanque Championship with the hope that it will assist the event in gaining prestige.

It is the ambition of the London Pétanque Club for the London Pétanque Championship to grow year on year and progress the participation of pétanque in the capital.