American Petanque Soapbox is a forum dedicated to rants,
raves, criticism of the FPUSA, and - yes - even constructive proposals! Everyone is welcome.
Nice one!
Posted by: John Prince (
) at 2008-04-10 22:02:51 Posting has been displayed 307 times
With the season finally turning, thoughts of Petanque events for the sunny days ahead abound. It was therefore no surprise to see a local call for volunteers for such an event as part of the Annual Bastille Day Celebrations held here in sunny (ahem) Portland.
But, as you may have guessed, nothing is ever quite what it seems. The event in question will be held on the same spot as the previous 3 years (Jamison Square in Downtown Portland), which happens to be the playing area of a local Petanque Club (La Boule Rose).
So far so good, considering that the local club in question successfully organized the event for the past 3 years.
And now for the spanner in the works.
Imagine La Boule Rose President's (Schaughn Mcclurg) complete surprise to learn that a Petanque event would occur, on Bastille Day, on his Club's ground, but without his knowledge. Imagine further his bewilderment upon learning that this event would be organized by a club official of another Club in the area, again without any knowledge or consideration.
No permission, no notice, not even a courtesy call.
Sure that a simple communication error had been made, contact with the head of the Organizing Committee for the Bastille Day Event was established. But to no avail, it was apparently a done deal, it was even further hinted that the PPC was the only Club in the area, and in any case, the official in question (also a new appointee to the Bastille Day Committee) was also the President of the FPUSA (Mr. Joe Martin) and therefore had full authority. The Bastille Day Committee even went so far as offering La Boule Rose a token role provided they did so through the office of Mr. Joe Martin.
So to recap, the President of the FPUSA, the USA's official body of the Sport, (whose purpose and agenda is the promotion, advancement, regulatory, exemplary good conduct etc.. etc..) has made an arbitrary decision about a Club's playing venue, with complete lack of respect or courtesy to a local club. How absolutely insulting!
What to do? No idea! It seems that nothing much can be done as there is not even any higher authority to appeal to, short of another law suit, and that never did any good for Petanque anyway.
It just seems extremely sad that the head of the FPUSA has set such a good example of respect towards other Petanque players. Three cheers for exemplary good conduct!!!
(It should be noted that the previous President of La Boule Rose, John Prince, had indicated he would withdraw from Petanque due to extensive business commitments but that should not prevent anyone from contacting the club).
