Timsbury Boules Club Rules 2025

A Preamble

1. These rules shall apply for the whole season. Amendments must be passed at an AGM. Any disagreement on rules during the season must be referred to the committee
2. Members must pay their subscription before participating. By taking part every member accepts these rules and agrees to treat every other member with respect
3. By entering a team, the team captain agrees to play if two players are available for any scheduled match
4. In these rules “team captain” refers to the formal team leader – see clause B.4 – and “captain” refers to the leader of a team during a match. When a team captain is not present at a match another member in the team shall act as pro-tem captain
5. Where there is any question about how play is to continue then captains must confer. If they cannot agree then the end is deemed dead
6. The schedule of matches and results shall be published & maintained on the Timsbury Pétanque website which shall be the master record

B Management

1. The club AGM shall be held at the beginning of each season before the first match
2. Chairman, treasurer & secretary shall be elected at the AGM:
   1. The chairman is responsible for ensuring team captains are aware of these rules, arranging & chairing the AGM and preparing awards
   2. The treasurer is responsible for collecting subscriptions from team captains and managing the finances of the club
   3. The secretary is responsible for maintaining the schedule and publishing results
3. The season’s subscription for members shall be set at the AGM
4. Team captains are responsible for:
   1. ensuring members in their team are aware of the rules
   2. collecting subscriptions from members in their team and paying to the Treasurer at the start of each season
5. When necessary a committee comprising chairman, treasurer, secretary and team captains shall convene to resolve issues. Each person on the committee shall have only one vote

C Schedule Of Matches

1. There are two pistes at The Seven Stars pub. The Seven Stars permits the club to use these for matches scheduled on Monday to Friday afternoons and evenings during the season. The Seven Stars may reserve the pistes for other events
2. The season shall end on 30th September
3. A schedule of matches shall be published at the start of the season by the secretary; team captains may express preferences for the days their team plays
4. Matches shall be scheduled for weekday evenings, excluding bank holidays, at 19:30. For individual matches captains may agree a different starting time
5. Individual matches may be re-scheduled before the end of season with the agreement of both team captains and the secretary
   1. All re-scheduled matches must be notified to the secretary so that the master record can be updated

D Choosing Pistes

1. If there is only one match the home team chooses the piste
2. When two matches are to take place at the same, or overlapping, time the captain, or a player, from each of the home teams shall choose the piste by the toss of a coin or other agreed means

E Playing & Scoring

1. A match shall consist of three games with the best of three games winning the match
2. A game comprises a number of ends where points are scored according to Pétanque England rules unless varied by these rules. The first team to reach 13 points wins the game
3. Each team may field two players each with three boules or three players each with two boules for a game
   1. If one team fields two players the other team is free to field two or three players
   2. players may not be changed during a game
4. The coche & boules must be thrown from a 35-50cm circle the centre of which is no more than 1 metre from the near end of the piste and at least 25cm from the side of the piste Captains may accept the position of the circle without measurement
5. When throwing a boule a player must have both feet touching the ground within the circle
6. The team winning the toss at the start of a game or winning the previous end throws the coche for the next end
   1. A coche is invalid if it falls:
      • less than 6 metres from the circle
      • less than 1 metre from the far end of the piste
      • less than 50cm from the side of the piste
      Captains may accept a coche position without measurement
   2. The team throwing the coche shall have three attempts for a valid throw. If they fail the opposing team shall have three attempts for a valid throw. Thereafter throwing the coche will alternate between teams until the coche is valid
   3. Regardless of which team is successful the first team shall play the first boule
7. If the coche is knocked off the piste and only one team has boules still to play they get one point for each boule in hand; otherwise it is a dead end
8. When it cannot be decided which team has the nearest boule to the coche:
   • If all boules have been played it is a dead end
   • If there are boules still to play, the second team has not improved the position so must play again
9. If the state of the piste is interfered with while an end is in play it is a dead end
10. If an end is deemed dead it is replayed from the same end with the same team starting
11. Captains may agree to suspend a match due to adverse circumstances and schedule the completion before the end of season:
    1. Failure to agree must be referred to the committee who shall rule on the result
    2. Scores of finished game(s) shall be noted for the completion of the match; points from an unfinished game shall be scratched
12. The result of the match, games and points must be recorded by each captain and reported to the secretary as soon as possible after the match.
    E-mailing a result by one captain will provide confirmation of the result
13. Lights may only be switched on/off with the agreement of all teams playing at the time
14. Where the committee decides on the result of a match they must, within a week of the appeal, choose to:
    • Reschedule the match provided there is time before the end of season
    • award games & points as played, and award the match if two games have been won by one team
    • Award the complete match to one team – one match, three games & 39 points
    • declare the match void with no score to either team

F League Positions

League positions are determined as follows:

• By the number of matches won
• by the number of games difference
• by the number of points difference

Jem Moore, chairman 2024