Welcome to VOMPC

Pétanque is a fun game that brings together people of all ages and both sexes. It is played with metal balls (boules in French, bocce in Italian).  Playing with balls started during the Roman conquest of Gaule. The balls were made out of clay, then wood, and finally steel. The first official club was in the "Clos Jouve" in Lyon around 1850. The Pétanque derivative was created by Jules Lenoir in La Ciotat, near Marseilles, France in 1907. Jules, who suffered from rheumatisms, drew a circle and played with "pé tanca", which means feet anchored to the ground in the occitan language. Petanque now has over 10 million players worldwide in 160 countries; over 2000 players are licensed in the USA.

VOMPC

June 2025

Curated by Ted Rickets

Responses to your pétanque rule questions are sourced from umpire information provided by a

combination of USA national umpires and European Confederation of Pétanque international umpires.

I’m trying to be as careful as I can to provide the most current and correct rule information available.

Here are today’s questions and answers for your consideration:

Question 1: I understand the circle must be marked. When is a player allowed to clean an “old” circle

marking?

Answer 1: Article 6 of the offical rules says “The team that is going to throw the jack must erase all

throwing circles near the one it is going to use.” The best habit would be to erase the previously drawn

circle, or markings of the circle, at the conclusion of every end. If, however, there are multiple drawn

circles remaining on the terrain I would recommend erasing those only between ends of play.

Question 2: What are the rules regarding “cleaning or filling” a hole on the terrain left by a previously

thrown boule?

Answer 2: It is forbidden to “press down, crush, or displace” anything on the terrain. It is not allowed to

sweep a landing area prior to throwing. It is allowed to gently “fill in” one hole (or divot) made

previously on the terrain each 0me a player plays, including a landing area or in front of a boule to be

shot. It is not allowed to sweep in front of a boule to be shot.

Please send any rule questions to Ted RickeTs at tedricketts@sbcglobal.net and I’ll try to include those

questions in the next installment of The Umpires Corner…

Thank you and see you at the courts!

VOMPC

July 2025

Curated by Ted Ricket's

VOMPC Club Umpire

Responses to your pétanque rule questions are sourced from umpire information provided by a

combination of USA national umpires and European Confederation of Pétanque International umpires.

I’m trying to be as careful as I can to provide the most current and correct rule information available.

Here is today’s question and answer for your consideration:

Question 1: I have heard claims on our courts that when a team agreed that the opponent had the

point and then threw, it conceded the point and could not then claim it by measurement. For instance,

Team A plays their first boule and comes to a stop approximately 30cm from the jack and then team B

throws their first boule and stops a similar distance from the jack. At this point team B, without

measuring, agrees team A has the point and plays their second ball. Play then progresses until both

teams have played all of their boules without any change in the position of the first two thrown boules.

At this point team B decides to measure. Can they claim the point if their boule proves to be closer

than the closest team A boule?

Answer 1: Mike Pegg, a well-known International umpire based in the UK, says “The simple answer is it

doesn’t matter what was agreed earlier; only the measurements taken at the completion of the end

determine who wins the points.” It is for this reason I always recommend measuring the point if there

is any doubt about who holds the point.

Please send any rule questions to Ted RickeUs at tedricketts@sbcglobal.net and I’ll try to include those

questions in the next installment of The Umpires Corner…

Thank you and see you at the courts!

V O M P C

The Umpire's Corner ...

August 2025

Curated by Ted Ricketts - VOMPC Club Umpire

Responses to your pétanque rule questions are sourced from umpire information provided by a

combination of USA national umpires and European Confederation of Pétanque international umpires.

I'm trying to be as careful as I can to provide the most current and correct rule information available.

Here is today's question and answer for your consideration:

Question 1: Why aren't umpires calling foot faults that are obvious to all onlookers? Will we ever see

actual yellow cards or red cards in regional play?

Answer 1: I certainly expect we will see more yellow cards, and perhaps even red cards issued during

upcoming tournament play. I talked with multiple umpires about this question and each of them said

they had issued warnings regarding foot faults, and a few had issued yellow cards. All of the umpires I

spoke with said that foot faults usually stopped after a warning had been delivered so it didn't become

necessary to issue a yellow card. It should be noted that an umpire warning about foot faults is not

required before issuing a yellow card; the rules are very clear regarding foot faults and a yellow card

can be issued without any prior warning.

Here's the official rule regarding foot faults for your reference: "The player's feet must be entirely on

the inside of the circle and not encroach on its perimeter and they must not leave it or be lifted

completely off the ground until the thrown boule has touched the ground. No part of the body may

touch the ground outside the circle." This rule applies to pointing and shooting.

My recommendation is that umpires include a foot fault warning in their pre-tournament a n n o u n c e m e n t s .

Please send any rule questions to Ted Ricketts at tedricketts@sbcglobal.net and I'll try to include those

questions in the next installment of The Umpires Corner...

Thank you and see you at the courts!

VOMPC

September 2025 CLARIFICATION

Curated by Ted Rickets

VOMPC Club Umpire

Responses to your pétanque rule questions are sourced from umpire information provided by a

combination of USA national umpires and European Confederation of Pétanque international umpires.

I’m trying to be as careful as I can to provide the most current and correct rule information available.

After receiving several questions last night regarding this question, it seems apparent that my answer

below requires a more detailed explanation. Hope this helps!

Here is today’s question and answer for your consideration:

Question 1: Last month we were playing in a timed game. All timed games in this tournament were

sixty minutes plus one extra end. With no more boules to play and while we were measuring for the

final point count the tournament director announced “finish this end and then play one more”. Do we

have one or two more ends to play?

Answer 1: Because an end is over when the final boule to be played stops (see article 33 of the rules),

you will finish the new end that had already started before you began measuring and then play an

additional end after that.

CLARIFICATION: The end is over when the final played boule stops, therefore, in the scenario above the

next end had already started when the tournament director announced “finish this end and then play

one more”. You would now go on to finish that end and then continue to play one more end after that.

So, the answer to the question above would be you play two more ends. However, if the “finish this end

and then play one more” announcement was made before the last boule played stopped, you would

then only play one more end because the current end wasn’t over before the announcement was

made. By the way, measuring for the final point count isn’t considered when determining when the end

is over . The one-minute time limit for throwing out the jack for the following end begins after the final

point count has been agreed.

Please send any rule questions to Ted Rickett's at tedricketts@sbcglobal.net and I’ll try to include those

questions in the next installment of The Umpires Corner…Thank you and see you at the courts!