2023/2024 SA State Doubles Championship – 29 October 2023

This year’s State Doubles Championships were held at the Prospect Pétanque Club in ideal conditions. The 62 players taking part were all rewarded with some perfect Adelaide spring weather.

In the Women’s competition, the two teams who went undefeated in the preliminary rounds both maintained their form after lunch and progressed to the final.

The result was a victory to Deb Rodda & Selina Dally. These two could be called the ‘golden girls’ of the annual SA State Doubles. This is the fourth time they have played it together as a team and they have won all four. Hard to top that! However, Selina has also won another four playing with other partners, for an awesome tally of eight championships in ten years. Similarly, Deb has another three titles to her name, with the first coming in 2007.

Congrats must also go to the runners up, Sandy Shaw & Tina Stockley. It was a well-deserved personal best result for Sandy in state level competition, whilst Tina, the 2003 champion in this event (and several times runner-up), showed she hasn’t lost her touch.

The Open competition was another where the tried and true rose to the fore. Five of the players competing in the semi-finals were players who already had more than one State Doubles gong in their trophy cabinet, including at least one from ten or more years ago in each case. Three of them progressed to the final. In the end, it came down to a contest pitting last year’s runners-up, Alexi Alexi & Van Nguyen, against one of the reigning champions, Raja Jamaleddine, teamed with another twice former champion, Arwed Turon. The latter pair have played together before and won the title in 2014.

The final was a tense and enthralling contest. Arwed & Raja got the early ascendancy, moving to a commanding 7-0 lead. But then, a dramatic mid-game momentum shift saw Alexi & Van gain control of the cochonnet and from there they never gave it up, for a 13-7 win.

The victory gives Alexi his third State Doubles title in four years and his fourth overall. But, in contrast to all those previous winners we’ve talked about, this was a championship which had so far eluded Van, leaving a glaring hole in his trophy collection. That has now been rectified, and he joins the elite group to have won SA state titles in Singles, Doubles and Triples – a group that also includes Alexi and Raja.

This result also elevates the victors to an even more elite level in the record books. Van is now the concurrent reigning state champion in three different formats – Triples, Mixed Doubles and Open Doubles. The only other player to have matched that previously (twice) is Selina (in Open Triples, Mixed Doubles and Women’s Doubles). Meanwhile, Alexi also becomes a triple reigning champion in Singles, Doubles and Triples. With the singles title being the most elusive, no one has ever achieved that feat before! The only thing that could possibly better it would be to add the Mixed Doubles to the list and make it a perfect four out of four. As it happens, the next state title to be contested is the Mixed Doubles, so we shall await that result with interest.

Congratulations to all the winners, including the consolation divisions. Thanks to Brett Williams and Roland Peik for taking on the umpiring duties and to the Prospect club for doing another excellent job of hosting the day.

Downloads (PDF):

AUSTRALIAN MASTERS GAMES 2023 – RESULTS – DAY 5 – DOUBLES – Mixed

PETANQUE: Day 5 – Mixed Doubles

The fifth and final event in petanque’s 19th Australian Masters Games 2023 calendar was run at Prospect Petanque Club (PPC) on Friday 13th October 2023. 18 Mixed Double teams were hosted in the beautiful grounds of PPC with players commenting on how well they had enjoyed the day. The PPC organised the City of Prospect’s Lord Mayor Matt Larwood to award the medals which added pizzazz to proceedings.

The South Australian Petanque League wishes to thank PPC, players, umpires, the tournament director, PFA and the many crews of PPC volunteers who contributed to this event being a successful, enjoyable 2 days. The catering was superb.

This concludes petanque competition at these games.

Congratulations to the Mixed Doubles Petanque Competition winners.

The results are as follows: Continue reading

AUSTRALIAN MASTERS GAMES 2023 – RESULTS – DAY 4 – DOUBLES – Male & Female

PETANQUE: Day 4 – Male Doubles & Female Doubles

The fourth event in petanque’s 19th Australian Masters Games calendar was run at Prospect Petanque Club (PPC) on Thursday 12th October. 10 Male double teams and 9 female double teams were hosted in the beautiful grounds of PPC. The gardens, food and company resulted in a great day had by all. The medals were awarded by the City of Prospect Councillor Jason Nelson.

The South Australian Petanque League wishes to thank PPC, players, umpires, the tournament director, PFA and the many crews of PPC volunteers who contributed to this event being a successful, enjoyable day.

The results are as follows: Continue reading

AUSTRALIAN MASTERS GAMES 2023 – RESULTS – DAY 3 – SINGLES

PETANQUE: Day 3 – Singles

The third event in petanque’s 19th Australian Masters Games calendar was run at the Novar Gardens Petanque Club (NGPC) on Tuesday 10th October 2023. This singles competition comprising 19 male players and 16 female players were hosted in the beautiful grounds of NGPC. The club catered for the players, from breakfast through lunch to post competition nibbles, which was greatly appreciated.

The South Australian Petanque League wishes to thank NGPC, players, umpires, the tournament director, PFA and the many crews of NGPC volunteers who contributed to this event being a successful, enjoyable day.

Congratulations to the Singles Competition winners.

The results are as follows: Continue reading

AUSTRALIAN MASTERS GAMES 2023 – RESULTS – DAY 2 – DOUBLES

PETANQUE: Day 2 – Doubles

The second event in petanque’s 19th Australian Masters Games 2023 calendar was run at Eastern Suburbs Petanque (ESP) on Monday 9th October 2023.  Five Male Triple teams and six female teams were hosted in the historic grounds of ESP within the Unley Park Sports Club.

The South Australian Petanque League wishes to thank ESP, players, umpires, the tournament director, PFA and the amazing ESP volunteers who contributed to this event being a successful, enjoyable day.

Following completion of competition ESP hosted the social function with a sumptuous gourmet barbeque.

Congratulations to all. The results are as follows:Continue reading

AUSTRALIAN MASTERS GAMES 2023 – RESULTS – DAY 1 – MIXED TRIPLES

PETANQUE: Day 1 – Mixed Triples

 The first event in petanque’s 19th Australian Masters Games 2023 calendar was run at Club De Petanque D’Adelaide (CPDA) on Sunday 8th October 2023. Nine Mixed Triples teams were hosted in the grounds of CDPDA which is located in Adelaide’s beautiful south parkland with players commenting on how they had enjoyed the day.

The South Australian Petanque League wishes to thank CDPDA, players, umpires, the tournament director, PFA and the many crews of volunteers who contributed to this event being a successful, opening day.

Thank you to those who came to the opening- a bit of fun!

Congratulations to the Mixed Triples Petanque Competition winners.

The results are as follows;Continue reading

2023-2024 InterClub Competition Round 2 – Gawler Petanque Club – 24th September 2023

Round 2 was held at Gawler in fine and sunny conditions. There were a lot of close games and no team escaped without at least one loss. But it was also notable for a couple of other reasons…

Historically, the Gawler venue has not been a happy hunting ground for the usually formidable Eastern Suburbs club. In July 2008, an ESP team1 took home Interclub gold as joint winners with an Adelaide team2. That was 15 years ago. ESP were the premier club at the time and they won every round that season.3 Subsequently, they have won 9 more pennants and they have taken the gold medals at 45 of the 88 rounds played since that date. That’s a pretty good record, to put it mildly. But at Gawler, it’s been a different story.Continue reading

SAPL CALENDAR 2023-2024 – UPDATE

The South Australian Petanque League Calendar for 2023-2024 has been updated to version 1.4 to accommodate the following change:

Due to a previous commitment made by Novar Gardens Petanque Club which makes the club unavailable, the Jonny’s Popcorn round 3 scheduled for August 13th 2023 will have to move to the long weekend in January (28th January 2024 where there are no other club events scheduled), making December 10th Round 3, 28th January Round 4 and 26th May remains as Round 5.

These changes have been incorporated into the  South Australian Petanque League Calendar for 2023-2024 (version 1.4) which has been uploaded to the Calendar page.