Australia has a population of 20 million of which there are literally tens of thousands of social boules players with a set of boules in their shed ready to play at the next BBQ or visit to the beach.
‘Pétanque Australia’ is the peak administrative body of pétanque in Australia representing 1,200 registered pétanque players in 47 individual clubs.
By David Ward
Pétanque in Australia has been developing slowly with very little media exposure. Although there are many people with a set of boules there is very little understanding about the ‘game’ … let alone the ‘sport’.
Hopefully this may change with the recent launch of ‘PÉTANQUE-Boules Down Under’.
This 80 page well written, well illustrated (with over 100 photographs and illustrations) soft-cover book provides a wealth of information covering: ‘How to play’ – ‘History’ – ‘Tips’ – ‘Techniques’ – ‘Strategy’ – ‘Boule manufacture’ - ‘Boule Diameter Measure’ –‘Glossary’ – ‘Australian Clubs’ and much, much more including the famous ‘Peanuts’ cartoon by Schulz and ‘The Official International Rules of Pétanque’. It is organised in 18 easily understood chapters which can be read from the beginning or selected at random.
The author is Egon Pozniak who discovered the pleasure of playing pétanque in the lovely parklands of Adelaide, South Australia in the early 1990s. Their playing field was a reclaimed pond filled with compacted gravel – an island of hard ground amongst the trees and greenery of the parklands. Every Sunday morning a group of enthusiasts would gather to play a few leisurely games then finish with lunch and drinks at the local pub. Since those halcyon days he has built 2 pistes in his backyard, realised a dream by playing in the South of France and even interested his basketball and netball-playing children.
It is his hope “that this book will help the beginner understand the game and improve their technique while promoting one of the most delightful games ever invented.”
Australia now has a comprehensive introductory text for this and the next generation of pétanque players. Hopefully this will be a valuable addition to school and public libraries throughout Australia and public demand through local bookshops will make this a bestseller (that would be a bonus for pétanque).
Self-published, this book is a tribute to Egon Pozniak who has to be complimented for his time, labour, commitment, research and personal financial investment.
Congratulations for producing this timely and highly professional book.
The book information from our book database.
Publisher: Egon Pozniak, 29 Brownhill Creek Road, Mitcham, South Australia 5062.
Phone/fax: +61 (0)8 82 72 55 30.
Email address: empozniak@iprimus.com.au.
Many years ago there was no way of getting your pictures online unless you knew someone with a homepage. Or you mailed them to petanque.org, and we'd put it on the web for you. But nowadays nobody does this thing anymore, there are thousands of ways to get your images online, and our pictures-section is about as dry as the sahara. So we have had to make some changes
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