As another spin off to the recent discussion on clearing the circle which led to artificial circles and whether they too should be "marked" when playing, I have some questions for the group. Regardless of whether it's Sport Petanque (which I've only seen in videos) or Leisure Petanque, I don't believe I have ever seen anyone mark either the jack or the boules (never mind the new artificial circles!) during play.

For those of you who may have been lucky enough to see the first rank players of Sport Petanque play, do they really ever take the time and effort to mark positions? The official rules mention this about a dozen times, but does anyone do it? And in Leisure Petanque, assuming no one marks positions (do they?), do you ever replace jack or boule to approximate positions via gentlemens' agreement, or is everything ultimately reduced to "play it as it lies"? And finally, if it is "play it as it lies," should the official rules be changed?

I would especially be interested to hear from any of you who have offical capacites within the game, such as umpires or club officials and rules committee members.

If you play in competition with nearby games where the risk of boules interfering with your game, it's quite common to mark the position of the jack and boules.

If players are sensible and can agree, boules can always be put back without marking. If players aren't sensible or you can't agree the positions - not always easy if the positions weren't marked - then it's very difficult to replace the boules.

The prudent thing is to mark them, only takes a second.

Regards,

Ray

I've just seen this thread so sorry for the late reply.

In addition to what's already been said, it's always a good idea to mark coche and boules if they're near the far boundary. Then if a shot boule misses the target and rebounds on to the head, anything which has been moved can be replaced. If they haven't been marked, it can be difficult to know where to replace them and can lead to arguments.

Hi, just to confirm Ray last message.
only this morning I played in a league game and without to much thinking about the game, I know that the jack and the boules in the head where marked in at least 6 ends over three games.
Regards

Jeff