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Results from 2024 League Singles Competition

Fourteen competitors neatly filled the entire available terrain space at Cobhams, with seven lanes in use through the evening and the weather was kind. Competition was intense and only three players won all three of their games...Richard Taylor, Dave Plaistow and Stu Brown.

But Stu (from Muscliff) and Dave (from Parley) emerged as the finalists with marginally better net points difference, and they keenly contested a final play off described by a fellow competitor as "superb to watch". Stu eventually prevailed to become the 2024 Singles champion with a 13-8 score line. Congratulations to Stu and commiserations to Dave.

Warmest thanks to Adrian Gingell of Flights for organising and hosting (with help on the night from Mario Annicchiarico and his whistle). It was a most enjoyable evening in which players from no less than four of our clubs took part.

The full results table is available here

Singles Champion Stuart Brown being congratulated by League Fixtures Secretary John Nurser

Half-Term Report (Peter Aldersey)

Well, the longest day of the year has come and gone and so has the half way point of the 2024 season.

In Division 1, long unbeaten starts to the season from both Falcons and Marauders had to come to an end when the pair met. They finally did on Thursday 27th June with Marauders emerging 3-2 winners and taking top spot. Beneath that leading pair, the competition is so remarkably tight that points difference has had to come into play to determine the current league placings.

In Division 2 our two new entrants have enjoyed contrasting fortunes. Parley Blues are unbeaten in eight matches (mirroring the fine performance last year by clubmates Parley One). But from the depths of the New Forest, Seahorses are firmly ensconced in second place while 2023 new entrants, Jets, are in clear third place.

Lobsters, meanwhile, have yet to register their first win but the trend is encouraging for they have lost three of their last four matches by narrow 2-3 scorelines. Your correspondent recalls that in the not too distant past it took two sides no less than two whole seasons before they registered their first win! Both Lobsters and the New Milton sides are also successfully generating column inches in their local press for themselves and the league.

So the stage is set for a fascinating second half of the season. Good luck to all our sides as they chase their particular ambitions.

Results from 2024 League Doubles Competition

Thank you to Muscliff Club for hosting the League Doubles competition on 6th June, particularly to Boyd Parker for all his hard work before and on the night.

Doubles Champions for 2024 are Nigel Perrin and Ray Galpin from New Milton Petanque Club. They finished with 4 wins out of 4 and a net score of +34. In second place were Peter Aldersey and Sergio Calcinotto from Flight Refuelling (3 wins, +22) who narrowly beat Steve Bassett and Alan Cannard

The full results table is available here

Nigel Perrin and Ray Galpin with their (temporary) winners trophies

2023 AGM

The League AGM took place on Thursday, 23rd November 2023. Full minutes have been circulated to club captains and club secretaries. As League President, Perry Ellis thanked Nigel Perrin for his hard work and dedication as Fixtures Secretary as he has decided to stand down from the role. John Nurser from Parley Petanque Club has agreed to become Fixtures Secretary. All other committee members have agreed to stay on and were reappointed.

Trophies were presented to the winners of the two divisions and to the winners of the Cup & Plate competition...

John Denis of Marauders receives the Division 1 trophy

Paul Nurser of Parley One receives the Division 2 trophy

John Denis of Marauders receives the Cup trophy

Steve Bassett of Falcons receives the Plate trophy

Obituary - Alain Gastaldi

As 2023 draws to a close, Flight Refuelling mourn the loss of a second much loved character within the last six months.

Born early in the Second World War, Alain Gastaldi was a Monegasque and a true raconteur. Growing up in such a small place as Monte Carlo, he bumped into many famous film actors including the legendary John Wayne in his formative years.

He moved to England with his family in the late 50s with more than one string to his bow. An engineer by profession, he also worked as a waiter in Westbourne. It was there that he served Winston Churchill and proudly recounted being given one of the great wartime leader's famous cigars!

Along the way, of course, and being so nearly French, he had learned to play petanque and was a stylish and accomplished player. In recent years, he fell victim to the cancer that eventually claimed his life. Stoic and cheerful to the end though, he continued to enjoy his petanque and his friends until only a few weeks before his death. He leaves a wife and daughter and will be sorely missed by his friends.

Cup & Plate Finals (21st September 2023)

Congratulations to Marauders who have won the NFPL Cup for 2023, again completing the League and Cupb double. Marauders beat Southampton City 4-1 in the Final. The Plate competitition was won by Falcons who had a convincing 5-0 win over Parley One.

Both finals were played at New Milton on a mainly (but not totally) dry night. Many thanks to them for hosting. Pictures of the winning teams are below. More pictures from the evening are available here.

The winning Marauders team with the Cup

The victorious Falcons team with the Plate

Final League Positions for 2023

Marauders have won Division 1 for this year, finishing just ahead of Maniacs and Southampton City in a tight-fought contest that went right through to the last round of matches. Division 2 was won by Parley One who will be promoted along with Magic. Harriers and Seahorses finished bottom of Division 2 and are relegated.

NFPL Shooting Competition (14th September 2023)

The first ever NFPL Shooting Competition was held at Parley Petanque Club. The winner was Clifton Gonsalves from Muscliff with Peter Aldersey from Flights in second place. It was great to see a decent turnout for this inaugural competition and also good to see some juniors taking part. Many thanks to Tom Wilson for organising the event and to Parley for hosting.

Winner Clifton Gonsalves being presented with his prize

Terrain set up for the shooting competition

One of Muscliff's junior entrants taking aim

NFPL Triples(24th August 2023)

The NFPL Triples tournament for 2023 was held at Parley. The winners of the Gold competition were Hilary Annicchiarico, Adrian Gingell and Alan Cannard from Flight Refuelling Petanque Club. The winners of the Silver competition were also from Flight Refuelling - Sergio Calcinotto, Mike Gillingham and Anne Hand.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to Lynn Wilson and the Parley team for their organisation and hosting skills.

View of both Parley terrains as the tournament was in progress

NFPL Doubles(10th August 2023)

On a perfect summer's evening for petanque at Muscliff Park the winners of the NFPL Doubles title for 2023 were Leo Black & Mike Gillingham from Flight Refuelling Petanque Club who beat Neil Ryder & Graham Ashworth from Muscliff in the final. The full list of winners is as follows:

Gold Winners & NFPL Doubles Champions 2023	Leo Black & Mike Gillingham
Gold Consolage Winners	Stuart Brown & Ray Stanton
Silver Winners	Jean-Pierre Elena & Gilles Martin
Silver Consolage Winners	Hilary Annicchiarico & Adrian Gingell

Full results are available from the evening are in the attached sheet

Huge thanks to Muscliff for hosting and to Boyd Parker for his hard work organising the evening.

Champions Leo Black & Mike Gillingham with their winners prize

NFPL Singles (13th July 2023)

Congratulations to Steve Bassett from Flight Refuelling Petanque Club who won the League Singles competition held on Thursday 13th July. The runner-up was Ray Stanton from Muscliff Park. The beaten semi-finalists were Leo Black (Flight Refuelling) and Matthew Butcher (Muscliff Park).

Thank you to Flight Refuelling for hosting the evening and, in particular, to Adrian Gingell for keeping the event on track.

Phil Winfield

It was only three years ago that Phil Winfield joined Flight Refuelling, by that time already suffering from the leukemia that eventually claimed his life on 27th May. A keen sportsman, Phil had been involved in many different activities over the years, from tennis to cycling to badminton to table tennis. Swimming never really worked for Phil, though. In fact, he is probably one of very few ever to swim the Pier-to-Pier doing only the breast-stroke the entire way!

Phil’s love of joining in and trying something new had made it all the more frustrating for him as his health and strength deteriorated. So, along with his best mates, Rob and Jon, he set about finding a sport in which he could continue to pursue his love of sport in a more sedate fashion. He hit upon Flights on Tuesday evenings, and decided to give it a go.

The rest, they say, is history. Phil joined the Club really just to try a new sport, but what he also found was the most wonderful community of eclectic and lovely people, who gave him the chat and banter he craved. And they loved him back. Phil genuinely enjoyed his petanque evenings at Flights, particularly looking forward to the melee evenings despite winning the wooden boule, not only once, but TWICE! He took it all in his stride with the self deprecating wit and humour that were his trademark. He will be sadly missed.

Shape of the 2023 Season

At the pre-season meeting held on 2nd March it was agreed that there would be two divisions in 2023, each consisting of 6 teams. The League is pleased to welcome two new teams, Jets (from Flight Refuelling) and Parley Players (from Parley) who will join in Division 2.

It was also agreed that there will be an expanded Cup and Plate competition this year with the 12 teams split into 4 groups of 3 teams. Each team will play 4 matches home and away against other members of their group. The 4 group winners will compete in semi-finals and a final for the Cup and the 4 runners-up will similarly compete for the Plate.

The Fixtures Secretary has been hard at work setting up the fixture list and it is now available on the relevant tabs on this website.

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Results from the 2022 Season

Congratulations to the Marauders team, winner of both the 2022 League title and the League Cup. Across the whole season Marauders had a total of 14 wins out of 18, beating the Harriers (13 wins) into second place. It was the same first and second place in the League Cup.

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