Diss says “bonjour!” to boules

Hidden away on the outskirts of town, there’s a little bit of France. Tucked away discreetly behind Diss Town’s football ground, look carefully and you’ll find a small hut, a shelter with five chairs, an array of unusual wooden objects on a table, and some intriguing red, white and blue stakes with numbers on them marking the edge of a gravel pit. Welcome to the Diss Waveney Petanque Club.

Affiliated to the national petanque association, Petanque England, the Diss club was formed in the late 1990s, and moved to Diss Town Football Club in 2004. Here, they built a 'piste' (the name of the terrain on which petanque is played) and have been playing there ever since. Some of the original players are still in action at the club!

Petanque or boules? Whatever goes Petanque was devised in 1910 in a French town called La Ciotat. It was originally called jeu Provencal and involved players throwing a ball (boule) at a target ball (cochonette). In the original version, a player was allowed to take one or two steps before throwing. In the more recent version, each player must stand and throw from inside a circle scratched in the dirt. There’s no difference between petanque and boules, other than the name. In France, they call it boules. In England, the game is called petanque but it is played using boules.

National champions The club regularly competes against others in the area. “Most other teams are in mid-Norfolk,” says club member Malcom Butcher. “We’re currently in Division 2 of the Norfolk League, but we have previously played in Division 1. We have some very good players, some of them even compete at national level. Les and Di Shilling, for example, won in the 2021 Inter-Regional Championship and Challenge at Melton Mowbray. We’ve also recruited a few more county players to add to the two we already have, so this year we’re hoping for promotion again.”

Diss Petanque Club practices on Monday evenings, Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings at Diss Town FC, Brewers Lane, Diss IP22 4QP. Match nights are on Thursdays. Everyone is welcome. For more information, call Malcolm Butcher on 01379 740494 or email: hbutcherdell@gmail.com