Older News
Many of the earlier news items can now be found in our archive page.

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 14^th 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:

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 30^th 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