Video: Chairman of the Nottingham City Petanque Club on how they won
Nottingham city’s boules team is set to represent England in an international tournament after winning a UK competition in which they were the underdogs.
The team saw off a number of clubs from around the country to earn the honour of representing England in a tournament against teams from the other home nations.
The club only started six years ago and has soared since in popularity and success ever since.
Boules is also known as petanque in French.
Speaking on Sports Week, chairman of the Nottingham City Petanque Club Brian Forbes said: “It’s still a target sport and we play it on gravel and our pitch is down on Valley Road.
“We play by throwing the jack out and then aim to follow it with a boules and the team that gets closest to it gets the point.
Secretary for the club Zena Forbes said: “We were hopeful that we would qualify, and I was there cheering the guys on; we’ve tried in previous seasons to qualify and that was the hope.
“We have had a very good year leading up to this and we had been planning and hoping for it but we did not expect to win.
“When the guys stepped out onto the terrain and won their first game, then the second, by lunchtime we were getting quite excited.
“It was just awesome that they won all five games, not only qualifying but qualifying in first place.”
For more from Brian and Zena, watch the May 17 episode of Sports Week on our Notts TV catch up service.
