KL Report - Toviliers H - 1st June - won 4-1

From Phil

On Tuesday evening the petanque piste at Whitstable Cricket Club had been a bit tacky but reasonably playable. By Wednesday evening, however, further heavy rain had rendered parts of it down to a sloppy and unmanageable mess. It was still possible to stage competitive games on the middle and far sections but any game played on the near piste would require the players to be holding a current British Swimming Association certificate of competence.

Thus it was that when the team from Maidstone's Tovil Working Men's Club and Institute, who call themselves The Toviliers, arrived to play their Kent League match against The Natives, they found Alan and Chris valiantly attempting to remove some of the surface water with a giant dustpan and brush. They were successful in finding ground zero to a certain extent but, even after they'd done all that they reasonably could, the playing area was still liberally sprinkled with water hazards. In view of this, it was decided that the triples games would be played first, on the middle and far pistes, in the hope that the near one would have dried out a bit before the doubles. Vain hope!

The Toviliers were well represented at this match, both with players and with friends who came along to support and socialise. Well, they are a Social Club, after all! This sociability, however, did not disguise their sharpness when it came to playing petanque and they were able to field a fair number of top quality pointers and shooters. But, then, The Natives also posses a few of those, who were in fine form, and this made for a close contest all round, with four of the five games being decided by just a few points.

Pete, Duncan and Phil played their triple on the far piste against a trio of swashbuckling Toviliers whose dashing style brought to mind the Cavaliers that their team name resembles. As one of them seemed to be decidedly Gallic, however, "The Musketeers" might also have been an appropriate name for this threesome. They were certainly capable and highly combative but, after many ends of swash, buckle and tussle, it was the Natives who finally carried the day by 13 points to 10. Similarly, on the piste next door, Alan, Robert and Chris fought their way to victory by the same score.

Had this been an EKCPL match the Natives would now have been seeking one further winning game in order to record a victory in the match. However, the Kent League is decided entirely on "games won" and the concept of matches won and lost as a deciding factor does not exist. Thus, a team with two 4-1 wins and a 3-2 loss is placed higher in the Kent League than a team with three 3-2 wins. In the EKCPL it would be the other way round. Whether this is fair or not, it means that every game in the Kent League is significant and every team will be looking to win as many as possible. Perhaps with this in mind, and before the commencement of the doubles games, the captain of the Toviliers then informed the Natives that an amendment to the Kent League rules allowed the away team to nominate the pistes on which each of their opponents would play. Although the existence of this so called rule seemed highly unlikely we did not have the definitive knowledge or access to a copy of the rules to be able to refute it. And the Toviliers seemed genuinely to believe that what they were asserting was correct, saying that this rule could be found on the Kent League website. In view of this, the Natives acquiesced and were forced to play on different pistes from those chosen by their captain.

Thus Alan and Pete, who were due to play on the soggy near piste, were placed instead on the far side, where they played two of the Toviliers who had already experienced it. However, although this was alien territory for Alan, it was far from being outside his comfort zone and, between them, he and the ever dependable Pete, carved out another 13-10 victory. Meanwhile, Phil and Chris, originally nominated to appear on the far piste, were enjoying the character-building experience of playing on the nearside sludge. We scored one point and were as delighted with this achievement as the Moldavians had been on the same surface a few weeks earlier; but we skipped the extravagant celebrations. That this was to be the only moment of joy for the Toviliers was entirely down to Robert and Duncan, who were consigned to the middle piste which, to be fair, was always where they were meant to be.

After they had raced into a 9-0 deficit the writing looked to be completely chiselled into the wall but, in the true never-say-die tradition of the Natives, they gradually clawed their way back into the game and there was nothing insouciant about the way in which they achieved it! There was certainly no let up in the opposition's excellent standard of play. It was just that Robert and Duncan started to find all the right shots at the right time and played them to perfection. Even after several ends of domination, however, they were still underdogs at 12-9 down but, from there, they shocked their opponents with a well-crafted 4 to take the game. It was a pleasure to watch.

So The Natives managed to bag 4 games in the end, which was quite heart-warming after a rather tepid start to the season. I am reluctant to conclude that the Toviliers deliberately tried to discomfort their hosts with a spurious rule but it does seem certain that they were, at least, badly mistaken. This is the rule, as stated on the Kent League website, and it equates to the same rule adopted by the EKCPL: 

The home side will nominate their players for the first round of games either triples or doubles and the pistes they will use, the away side will match up to this. Before the second round of games the home side will again nominate their players and the pistes they will use, the away side will match up to this.

It is difficult to see how anyone can assume from this that the away side chooses which pistes the home side players will use but that appears to be the interpretation that the Toviliers have made. Perhaps this is something that the Kent League Secretary could be asked to look into, with a view to issuing a definitive clarification for those teams that seem to be in doubt as to the meaning of this rule.

Finally, it has come to my attention that the Coggers are bringing their delightful new puppy with them to petanque matches so that she can become accustomed to being in the company of people. With this in mind, I took my own pet with me to Wednesday's game at the Belmont. As you can see, the weather was right up her street and, when she gets a bit stronger, I think she's going to enjoying playing petanque very much. After all, it is her national game!