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News, tips and information Archive

08/01 This is to let you know the draw for the second round of the Wellington region summer interclub competition to be held on Saturday 27 January. -Margret.

08/01 It is great that The non-renewal of Dawn Gardner's membership incident has now been resolved. You can read the conclusion on this PAGE. Lets hope we can all learn from it. Anyway, a positive start to 2007. Fantastic work by Dave Bosley. It's fortunate the Hawke's Bay has a player like Dave Bosley! I hope he is not alone out there. -Tom.

06/01 To save a page (any page) on this Wiki as a PDF, look for a "Save page as PDF" link in the footer (bottom) of a page. This link generates a PDF page, and should work pretty well for most purposes. It's an easy way to get a standard print-out or a simple way to share over email, etc. -Tom.

PS. I think you need to be logged in for this to work.

28/12 This New Zealand Petanque Wiki (NZPW) has played a vital part during 2006 in giving the membership a platform to communicate, and a way of permanently recording issues and opinions. This ability to record issues and interlink them with "hyperlinks" (internal and external) is in my view its greatest asset (it is simple to connect a number of related documents together). You can see a good example HERE. The ease of use and virtually unlimited space (pages) is another great feature of our Wiki "wiki" (Hawaiian for "quickly"). I am convinced that this Wiki project has played an important part in steering our game and its administrators towards a more cooperative and inclusive direction.

Predictions for 2007?. Well, I do believe that 2007 will not nearly see the same level of turmoil within our game - due in part to our Wiki, and this is a good thing.

Finaly, I would like to thank our sponsor Boules to You

for funding this NZPW project. I wish all of you a great 2007, and may you always Carreau! -Tom.

20/12 We have a new CEO for our PNZ. Bryan Wells has been appointed by the PNZ executive (this was an internal appointment - not an election). I hope Bryan has taken the time to read through this Wiki, to familiarise himself with the many issues raised by the grassroots membership. I also hope he will curtail inappropriate behaviour by some PNZ executive members, and move our game into a positive and inclusive direction. I wish him all the best in this demanding job. -Tom.

PS. see my proposal for a CEO Newsletter.

(Photo courtesy of PNZ website)

11/12 Results of the Wellington Vs Hawkes Bay match which was played over the weekend in Palmerston North are now up on this PAGE. -Tom

10/12 More information from PNZ regarding the evaluation of the 2006 Selection Process, and the process for 2007 - 2009, is now available on the PNZ website. -Tom.

06/12 Wairarapa Building Society Open Triples. This event is organised by the Masterton Pétanque Club, and will take place on 24 & 25 February 2007 (8am for 8.30 start). Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Masterton Building Society, we will have a first prize of $450.00. This tournament is limited to 16 teams. Go to Entry Form. -Tom.

05/12 It looks like PNZ is staying with the selection process we used during the last couple of years (see below). The level of debate on this issue has in my view been uncoordinated and extremely low. Apart from some showing of hands at two small meetings (one in Wellington and one in Auckland), only a handful of people have taken an active part in the debate. We also had a number of written proposals with none of these mentioning or even acknowledging the other/s (individuals and groups working in isolation of each other). I personally have to conclude that this is the democratic process, and for me this is the end of the matter. -Tom.

04/12 SELECTION FOR INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION 2007

See also SELECTION PROCESS 2006 - Evaluation

Reminder - Closing dates

A reminder that those players wishing to put their names forward for consideration to be included in New Zealand representative teams in 2007 must do so by 31st December 2006.

For those wishing to go into the Senior selection squad, the closing date is 8th December 2006.

If you have not yet applied for selection, please indicate on your form if you are available, and wish to be considered for, the Trans Tasman Challenge.

Trans Tasman Challenge The team for the Trans Tasman Challenge will be announced on 14th February 2007 (both Open and Senior teams).

The selected players will be advised by telephone, prior to an email to all those in the selection squad announcing the team. The announcement of the team will then be publicly placed on the PNZ website.

Due to the limited opportunities for national-level tournament play prior to the team announcement date, players should provide as much information as possible to the selectors regarding their recent performances, for example in Club and regional competitions.

-Barbara Whittington Secretary Petanque NZ 1/12/06

See also SELECTION PROCESS 2006 - Evaluation

30/11 Tom, Can you put this on the Top Shot page? I ran a comp on Waiheke last week and it is from that. Although, it might make a better caption comp........... -Dave C.

27/11 This morning I picked up my pre-ordered copy of Nicky Hager's book "The Hollow Men - A study in the politics of deception" from our Masterton bookshop.

What has this got to do with our game of Petanque you may well ask. Well, Graeme Burnard went to school with Nicky Hager!.

Secondly, and I don't want to brag, but I did make a connection between PNZ and the Exclusive Brethren - admittedly without hard evidence (see item 02/10 on this page. All in all not quite the big scoop I had hoped for, but not bad for a beginner either. Nicky Hager would be proud of me.

I look forward to reading this book and hopefully learn a thing or two. How did he steal all those emails from Dr Don Brash, publish them in his book and get away with it?. This makes me look like small fry. (see Angry Email from Fay Doyle) -Tom.

PS. It's true about Graeme Burnard in same classroom with Nicky Hager.

PPS. "The Hollow Men - A study in the politics of deception". What an incredible title don't you think? ;-)

25/11 Hi Everyone. First, thank you to the clubs that responded with feedback on playing the Interclub Competition on Sat 16 December. Unfortunately two clubs are not able to field teams on this date, so playing rescheduling the first round is not possible for 16 December, as the competition requires all clubs to be present.

Masterton came back with a second alternative date of Sat 2 December, the day before the WPA Open Triples. I checked with the clubs who were unable to play on 16 December, and one of them was unable again to play, So in the interests of having a nice quiet December, this round of the interclub will be re-scheduled for the lay-over day in May.

Thanks for all your input and if I don't see you before Christmas and/or New Year, have a good holiday. -Margret.

24/11 Special WPA meeting. The Jacques Cochonnet challenges which were thrown into chaos by the Khandallah club and the subsequent moves by WPA (see permanent record on this page) was discussed and resolved at a special meeting in Wellington last night. The JC cup is a little "fun" tournament which runs in the Wellington region.

With regards to the Minutes of Special Meeting The folowing is interesting:

"Fay said she took full responsibility for putting the challenges on hold as she felt it would give clubs "time out" but this had not happened – hence the special meeting. Fay also apologised if she made a wrong decision but she had had the best interests of the WPA at heart."

"Fay also apologised if she made a wrong decision" (should this read: "Fay also apologised for making the wrong decision").

No one doubts that Fay meant well, but what does she mean by:

"she felt it would give clubs time out".

Time out from what? Clubs were still negotiating. What is in question here is whether Fay acted by herself, with others or under instruction from others. If she acted by herself, she clearly misused her position. My feeling is that Fay was under instruction, and now feels that she should take the blame out of misplaced loyalty, and to protect others. All very sad.

In my view, members of Khandallah got off lightly. Their spokesperson did give an apology of sorts for their unsporting behaviour: "He apologized for any disharmony and would like the matter to be resolved." (taken from Minutes of Special Meeting). All in all, last night's meeting has left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I hope the JC competitions will one day be played in accordance with the original spirit - which has been so badly damaged by the Khandallah club. Our game of Petanque is for me no longer the game it once was. I am going to write a book: "Hey dude, where's my game of Petanque?" after the book \"Hey dude, where's my country?\" by Michael Moore. My personal feeling is that the people who purport to work for our game, are unwittingly doing a lot of damage. -Tom.

22/11 With regards to the JC competition, I have emailed the WPA executive (this includes Brian Smith) five times with these questions:

The WPA executive has so far ignored these requests for information. -Tom.

Update 27/11/06: It is hard to believe that Fay and the Khandallah/WPA people object to me publishing a general (not private) email which was sent out to all clubs in the Wellington region. WPA, Khandallah and Fay are now conveniently using this as a feeble excuse for not answering the questions I and Graeme B have asked in numerous emails to them. Going underground when things get difficult is a sign of guilt and only serves to make matters worse. Just to put things into perspective: here we have Nicky Hager stealing emails from the leader of the opposition and publishing these in a book without any problems! Can we all see the absurdity of the logic employed: objecting to me publishing Fay's email which was meant for general publication anyway. -Tom.

21/11 Interclub Competition. In light of last weekend's cancellation, I'm concerned that although we have spare day scheduled for May, we could end up in a situation whereby we do not have enough time to complete all rounds of the competition. This could especially come about if there is another cancellation due to poor weather, particularly as this was only the first round.

What I would like to propose to clubs is that we re-schedule the first round for Saturday 16 December. I am aware this is the week before Xmas and things may be busy. However, due to the timing of this year's interclub, if we do not play in December, the second round is not until the end of January. Also if we play this round in December, it means we still will have a day spare in May, in case we face another weather cancellation. What I am trying to do here is to prevent the competition running on past May - which it has the potential to do.

If you could do a quick check with your interclub team-mates and get feedback to me by this Friday, as to whether you would be prepared to play in a re-scheduled first round in December. I'll then confirm the decision with Fay Doyle and let everyone know what the outcome is. -Margret.

15/11 It is great NZ Petanque players are beginning to find ways of using our Wiki. A recent example are these four pages: Regional Competitions Player Selection. Remember, this is a sponsored site - this means no one has ownership. This Wiki is a self-help and self-regulating project, and is for any club or individual to use for whatever Petanque project. I know, it sounds weird, but it works!. -Tom.

12/11 Chris Priestley and Friends Last evening Lorraine and I saw and heard Chris Priestley play in Petone (Wellington). For those that do not know, Chris is a Petanque identity in NZ, and an outstanding musician. The venue was great with bar and coffee, etc. We were lucky to get in without a booking - the space was filled with a large and enthusiastic audience. It was an unforgettable concert with a variety of musicians joining the main group of four throughout the show. During the interval I bought his latest CD "Uncovered". Have not listened to it yet, but if it is only half as good as his previous CD "Argentina to Invercargill" (Chris gave this CD to me during a tournament in Rotorua a couple of years ago), it will be fantastic.

One thing Chris told us was that he recently got a piano into his café. This is now part of the music sessions that take place there every Thursday evening. He told us "that in order to fit the piano I had to let a table go". If I was living around those parts, I know where I would be on Thursday evenings. Thanks for a great evening.

10/11 Got latest magazine. Fantastic article and photos of Singapore. Sadly, apart from some small photos on back cover, nothing about Grenoble. Oh cool, something to look forward to in the next issue. -Tom.

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