A little history
The game of boule dates back to ancient times. Initially made of clay, boules were replaced over time by stone, wood and then steel.
In the 19th century, the first official society appeared, which later became the Fédération Française de Boules. Each French region has its own rules and its own game. The people of the Méridionaux region were fascinated by the Longue or Jeu Provençal game, in which the shooters run three paces to gain momentum and throw the ball.
This variant gave birth to the game of Pétanque in 1907. It all started with a historic game played in La Ciotat by a Provençal champion, Jules Hugues, known as ‘Lenoir’. Unable to play or with difficulty because of his rheumatism, he began one day to draw a circle and to send the goal 5 – 6 metres, the ‘pieds tanqués’ (which means feet together on the ground). He then played his boules to get as close as possible to the jack (target smaller wooden ball), and it was from this day on that Pétanque as we know it today was born.
Today, Pétanque has over 300,000 licensed players worldwide.
