12th August 08
Home Nations
Championship "Juniors"
Unfortunately the SPA are unable to field any
junior teams for this years event and the WPA have only one
junior player available.
Of course we offered to
loan both Associations some of our juniors but this was rejected
by the SPA leaving us no other choice than to cancel the junior
section of the tournament.
The two junior
teams that were selected to play for the EPA will still be
presented with the commemorative EPA Home Championship shirts.
Mike Pegg - National President
29th July 08
Women's top 8
A player's report
on the EPA Women's Triples Championship (top 8)
24th July 08
Luxembourg Warm Up
A
report about our women's team who took part in an invitation
competition in Luxembourg
20th July 08
Colne Angels in
Italy
A
report on the
European Cup for Club Teams match between England and Italy
30 June 08
The Last INSPT (North Sea Tournament)
At this years North Sea (INSPT) the remaining
nations Presidents discussed the withdrawal of Germany, Sweden
and the possible withdrawal of the Netherlands.
It was agreed that there is no "golden boule" to fix all the
problems and that it would be best to bring this tournament to
an end. However, the 5 remaining nations still want a
tournament that will be played over 3 days and involve a mixture
of teams, Adult, Espoirs, Junior male and female. After 2
separate meetings (Thursday/Friday) we have agreed to explore
the possibility of holding a new tournament for 2009 inviting 3
other nations to take part making it an 8 nation event.
The format and structure will not be unlike the INSPT, it is
proposed that each nation squad will consist of 5 teams, 2
adult, 2 espoirs (1 male & 1 female each) and a junior team.
However, we are far from making any decisions, the next step is
for each nation to discuss the idea and report back to Andrew
and Diana Lloyd.
Mike Pegg - National President
4th June 08
Cadet/Minor Come & Try
event
The
EPA is scheduled to hold our first one day competition for Minor
and Cadet Members on the 14th June at Adur Pétanque Club.
However, we have now decided to open the event to
non-EPA minors and cadets making it a “come and try” day with
coaching, demonstrations of skills from top players and of
course a few games for the young people.
Preliminary plans are to start around mid morning
and include a BBQ or perhaps early supper, basically we want
this to be a fun day of pétanque perhaps even making it a
“family day out”.
We need a little extra time to publicise the
event and to make all of the necessary arrangements which
include finding a more central venue.
So we have postponed the planned event on the 14th
June and will instead hold it on Saturday 12th July.
We shall contact all our regions, clubs and of
course Cadets and Minors soon with more details and we trust our
members will do all they can to help us make this event a great
success.
1st June 2008
EPA Website
Recently the EPA website was off line,
unfortunately the problem was with the ISP and out of our
control.
Due to the nature of the problem the ISP was
forced to restore all the websites they host on this particular
server from tape which means that some pages on this site may be
out of date.
Over the next week or so I will continue to
check each page and do my best to get the site fully up to date.
Mike Pegg
29th May 2008
North Sea (INSPT) Final Year?
A recent communication from the INSPT President, Andrew Lloyd
indicates that this could be the last year of the International
North Sea Pétanque Tournament.
Andrew has received two conflicting emails from the Netherlands
Federation (NJBB); one states that they are considering
resigning from the INSPT, the other that they will be resigning.
Although Andrew is waiting for clarification we have to accept
that it does seem likely that the NJBB will resign from future
involvement with the Tournament.
The EPA Management Committee has of course been discussing
England's future involvement with the INSPT since Sweden,
following Germany's lead, announced they were withdrawing their
membership after this year.
If the NJBB are resigning then we can only conclude that the
INSPT has served its purpose and no longer has a place in
the International tournament calendar.
I will be attending the INSPT committee meeting in Denmark held
during this year's tournament and will report back to our
membership on its outcome.
Mike Pegg - National President (EPA)
6th May 2008
Webmaster retires
The EPA management committee has reluctantly accepted the
resignation of its webmaster Colin Philip who after 3 years
dedication has decided to pursue other interests and spend more
time on his other websites.
Most members will be aware of the commitment and sheer hard work
that has been dedicated to the website with which we are all so
familiar, but will be unaware of the person who was working
behind the scenes.
When the EPA was formed the management committee was aware that
a web presence would be very important to keeping in touch with
its membership and so they contacted Colin, who is the creator
and webmaster for the highly regarded Southern Counties and
Crondall PC websites.
Colin accepted the challenge, and within a very short space of
time, he had a working framework and on the 27 February 2005 our
website was launched. It was well received and since that time
has grown and developed into what is now regarded as the first
point of reference for all things EPA related.
The EPA Management Committee would like to thank Colin on behalf
of our members, for all the many hours he has spent on the
website and wish him well with his future projects.
30th April 2008
Inter-Regional Championship Draw
The EPA MC carried out the draw for the 2008
Inter-Regional Championship at their meeting on Saturday, the
draw is as follows:
| Division One |
Division Two |
|
Kent |
Anglia |
|
Eastern |
Kernow |
|
London |
Wales PA |
|
Isle of Wight |
West Midlands |
|
Chiltern |
Thames Valley |
|
East Midlands |
Sussex |
|
Southern |
Combined |
|
Northern |
Great Western |
29th April 2008
Highest Award
The highest award the EPA can give is "Honorary
Life Membership" of the Association.
This important award is given at the discretion of the EPA Management
Committee in recognition of services to the game of pétanque.
A maximum of three awards may be given in a year.
To give this award the full recognition it
deserves and to ensure all candidate proposals are fairly
reviewed the EPA MC have appointed a "Life Membership" panel
consisting of Ex Presidents who are "Life Members" in their own
right.
We have, in consultation with the panel,
introduced a new protocol which will be applied when proposing
and considering candidates for this award.
The
details are as follows:
-
Life members are appointed by the Management Committee with
each nomination being reviewed by an appointed panel of
“Life Members”.
-
These awards will be presented at The Inter Regional
Competition or AGM.
-
Members and non-members of the Association can be proposed
by any EPA Member, County Region and the EPA Management
Committee itself.
-
Member’s nominations must be made via their Registered Club
or County Region.
-
In
all instances a signed copy of the minutes supporting
nominations must be enclosed with each proposal.
-
There is no time bar or restriction regarding the number of
times a person can be proposed.
-
In
reviewing nominations the panel’s main consideration will be
the evaluation of the service, involvement and/or
contribution made by the nominated person to the game and/or
Association.
-
All nominations must be submitted to the EPA Secretary by 30th
June to ensure consideration in that year.
-
Neither the EPA nor the review panel will enter into any
correspondence with regard to decisions made.
Mike Pegg - National President
29th April 2008
Sweden withdraw from the North Sea
Last night I received a letter from the Swedish
Federation informing the International North Sea Committee that
they would be withdrawing their membership from the INSPT after
this year's tournament.
Loosing a strong opponent such as Germany when
they withdrew their membership last year was a concern and
forced a change in the format of the tournament, but with Sweden
now withdrawing the tournament is greatly diminished.
We are all mindful of the cost of entering
tournaments and international representation, the INSPT is a
very expensive event for our Association and we deliberated for
many months before deciding to join.
In view of the Swedish Federations action,
coupled with that of Germany, the future of the INSPT is looking
very doubtful and I am sure that we will not be alone is
reconsidering continued involvement.
The North Sea is not just a tournament or place
to meet new and old friends; it has been a training ground for
players, umpires and organisers alike.
For me it is a very sad time, in 1996 I umpired
my first international tournament and yes, it was the North Sea.
I eventually umpired a total of 5 of these tournaments and had
the privilege to be team manager at a further 3. The INSPT
Committee led by Leo and Maria van Craeyvelt were very
supportive and it was with their encouragement that I took and
passed the International Umpires Exam.
If we loose this event it will be hard to
replace, there will be lots to discuss when the INSPT Committee
meets in June at Denmark
Mike Pegg - National President
29th April 2008
Pétanque Promotions Ltd, new Director
The English Pétanque Association, as the
share holder of Pétanque Promotions Ltd, have approved and
welcomed the appointment by the existing Directors of Richard
Baker as a new and additional Director of our company.
We wish Richard every success in this role
and have every confidence that his participation will contribute
to the continued success of our company.
28th April 2008
European Cup for Clubs update
Colne Angel PC consisting of David Mark, Daphne Barrow,
Simon Bird, Vanessa Webb, Chris Allen, Vivien Middleton-Sams, Kim
and Sofiane Lachani have been drawn (full
details here) to play away in a preliminary
round against ASD Circolo San Giuliano Lido from Italy.
The winners
of this preliminary round will go on to play in the 1st round match
against Hvidovre Petanque Klub of Denmark in May/June.
As a matter of interest Scotland have been drawn to play a prelim
game at home against BC Sandhofen Mannheim of Germany whilst Wales
who also play at home but in a 1st Round match have been drawn to
against Léman Pétanque of Switzerland.
The EPA wishes Colne Angel the very best of luck.
17th March 2008
European Cup for Clubs
The winning team in the ECC knockout finals held at Whittlesey
on 16th March, was Colne Angel, comprising Chris, Vanessa,
Simon, Viv, Sofiane, Kim and Dave. They will represent
the EPA in the European Cup for Clubs and will be put into
the draw for the CEP’s European Cup for Club Teams
which takes place at their spring meeting in April.
The
EPA MC with to thank every club team for taking part in this
very successful series.
See the full results and photos of
the competing teams.
Mike Pegg - National President