Jacques Cochonnet Trophy Challenge

Background

Note: The original proposal put to the WPA in 1999 was presented at the 2006 SGM.

The oldest version of the playing rules that I have found are from a WPA website in 2001.

The next version includes the clause about a holder losing the first game of the new challenge being added as the last challenger for the new round. This is from a website archive of early 2004.

At the WPA see meeting of 10 April 2003, under General Business, Gerald Bryan proposed, Peter Dennett seconded:

“If a club retains the trophy by winning all the games in the round then, at the draw for the next round, in addition to the order of the play, a separate draw will be made to determine the venue of play (that is home or away).”

Motion put to the vote: 7 clubs in favour and 1 abstention (Masterton).

Graeme Morris stated that he would abstain from voting because Masterton had not had the opportunity to discuss the motion prior to the meeting. This did not stop other clubs from agreeing on the spot to support the motion. However, it has never been enacted.

Following discussions on the scheduling of Jacques Cochonnet matches at the 19 May 2005 meeting, the below clause was voted on at 18 August 2005 meeting:

“That the Jacques Cochonnet Challenge matches be held on the second Saturday of each month or otherwise by mutual agreement.”

This motion was carried 6-1.

This new clause does not explicitly state what happens with regard to clashes with Easter, international, national or regional championships, or any other WPA sanctioned events. The discussion at the time concerned what to do with Easter. While I believe the intention was to allow matches to be scheduled on a different date during the month, the clause as stated, does not allow this, if both clubs don't agree.

This belief is based on Objectives 3.4 (To promote participation in and support for National events.) and 3.5 (To support the New Zealand Pétanque Association in it's attaining of its objectives within the Wellington Region) of the WPA Constitution.

The new clause was put forward to overcome the problem of the Masterton club not following the WPA Guidelines of having Club championships two weeks prior to the Regional Championship. Since Masterton has agreed to follow the Guidelines in future the raison d'être for the clause no longer exists. It should be removed.

Since the clause was enacted, PNZ has revised the tournament calendar and the National Singles, National Doubles and National Doubles have been scheduled to occur on the second weekend in October, November and December respectively. The 2006 Trans-Tasman match took place on the second weekend in May.

This now brings us back to defaults. There are two recorded on the trophy and two that are not. The first was in February 2002 when Porirua defaulted their challenge to Masterton and the second in April 2005 (which resulted in the Masterton clause) when Masterton defaulted to Khandallah. The two challenges that are not recorded are both by the Levin club when challenging Khandallah.

If we had been following the rules correctly, then Porirua and Masterton should have had their respective matches rescheduled to the end of the round. Note: When Masterton attempted to do this at the 19 May 2005, their request was not taken seriously (see Minutes).

As a consequence, a new set of rules were drawn up (excluding the change agreed on 10 April 2003) to reflect the feeling of the meeting that postponing a match was not acceptable. This proposed set of rules was not voted on at the 17 November 2005, probably due to the discussion about scrapping the Winter Doubles competition.

Important note: In all three sets of rules that have been found, there is a dispute clause All disputes will go to the WPA.

Problems about the Jacques Cochonnet draw are not new (see Minutes 19 October 2006 - Hataitai Club report). The draw for Round 9 (made on 18 August 2005) did not follow correct procedure resulted in a revised draw being sent out on 22 August. This was due to a misunderstanding of the holder losing the first challenge clause.

There are also other examples going back to 1999 (not included here)

Proposal

What I would like to propose is that we go back to the old way of arranging matches:

• The holder offers 2 or 3 dates during the month to the challenger. This avoids the clashes mentioned above.
• A date is agreed to and the match is played.

I would also like to suggest the below changes:

• For the draw, instead of fixed months for each match, the draw is simply an order of play. If a mutually acceptable date cannot be found during the month, then the match takes place the following month.
• If a challenger is unable to play in the second month, then a request must be made to the WPA to allow a challenge to be held at the end of the round, otherwise the challenge is forfeit, but no record is recorded on the trophy.
• If a holder is unable to play a match in a two-month period, then the matter must be referred to the WPA to make a decision.

Note: The reason behind the two month window is to cover unexpected events, such as changes to the Tournament Calendar, unexpected events at a club (e.g., the flood damage at Khandallah in 2004).

The Jacques Cochonnet Cup

(circa 2001)

General Information And Rules

In the manner of the Ranfurly Shield, this is a continuous challenge competition between teams of six players from each club. The holding of the trophy will be the only prize.

To practise all of the disciplines of pétanque, a team will consist of six players who will play as a single, a pair and a triple.

Format

• A team will consist of six players selected by the club.
• A match involves playing one game each of triples, doubles and singles.
• At the beginning of each match both teams will draw names to decide who plays in the triples, doubles and singles.
• Games will be to the best of three. One point for each win with a possible top score of nine. ThIs means, for example that even if a club loses the doubles 2-1 that one point can still help the club to win the challenge.
• Matches may be played at any reasonable date and time convenient to both holder and challenger
• All games are played at the holder's home terrain or at a terrain designated at the start of the competition as a club's home terrain. Should the holder be unable or not wish to play at home the challenger must be given first refusal to host the match before other arrangements are made.
• The order of challenges remains for one year.
• Each holder of the trophy is required to play at least one challenge a month. In the first case the month is reckoned from the first draw, and then from the date of each challenged played thereafter.
• Should the challenger fail to play, that club goes to the end of the challenge list and the next club becomes the challenger.
• The draws for each challenge will be made with marked cochonnets, one for each club in the competition. These will be handed over with the trophy.
• Notification of the results to the WPA are the responsibility of the trophy holder.
• All disputes will go to the WPA. All games will be played to NZPA Rules but allowance should be made for local conditions eg. smaller pistes etc.

The Jacques Cochonnet Cup

(circa 2004)

General Information And Rules

In the manner of the Ranfurly Shield, this is a continuous challenge competition between teams of six players from each club. The holding of the trophy will be the only prize

To practise all of the disciplines of petanque, a team will consist of six players who will play as a single, a pair and a triple.

The competition is open to any club affiliated to the Wellington Pétanque Association.

Format

• A team will consist of six players selected by the club.
• A match involves playing one game each of triples, doubles and singles.
• At the beginning of each match both teams will draw names to decide who plays in the triples, doubles and singles.
• Games will be to the best of three. One point for each win with a possible top score of nine. ThIs means, for example that even if a club loses the doubles 2-1 that one point can still help the club to win the challenge.
• Matches may be played at any reasonable date and time convenient to both holder and challenger
• All games are played at the holder's home terrain or at a terrain designated at the start of the competition as a club's home terrain. Should the holder be unable or not wish to play at home the challenger must be given first refusal to host the match before other arrangements are made.
• The order of challenges remains for one year.
• Each holder of the trophy is required to play at least one challenge a month. In the first case the month is reckoned from the first draw, and then from the date of each challenged played thereafter.
• Should the challenger fail to play, that club goes to the end of the challenge list and the next club becomes the challenger.
• The draws for each challenge will be made with marked cochonnets, one for each club in the competition. These will be handed over with the trophy.
• If the club holding the trophy loses the first match of a new challenge round, that club becomes the last challenger in that round.
• Notification of the results to the WPA are the responsibility of the trophy holder.
• All disputes will go to the WPA. All games will be played to NZPA Rules but allowance should be made for local conditions eg. smaller pistes etc.

The Jacques Cochonnet Trophy

(Proposed 2005, Not Ratified)

General Information

In the manner of the Ranfurly Shield, this is a continuous challenge competition between the member clubs of the Wellington Pétanque Association (WPA). The holding of the trophy will be the only prize.

The competition is open to any club affiliated to the WPA.

To practise all of the disciplines of pétanque, a team will consist of six players who will be randomly drawn to play singles, doubles or triples.

Rules

The Challenge Match

• A team will consist of six players selected by the club.
• A match involves playing three games of triples, doubles and singles. (Nine games in total).
• At the beginning of each match both teams will draw names to decide who plays in the triples, doubles and singles. The players so drawn will play three games in their respective discipline. There is no redraw after each round of games.
• The club recording the most number of wins will win the match. This means, for example, that even if a club loses the doubles 2-1 that one point can still help the club to win the challenge.

The Challenge Draw

• The draw for each round of the challenge will be made with marked cochonnets, one for each club in the competition, at the WPA Committee meeting. The holder will not be included in the draw.
• The order of challenges is for that round only.
• Each holder of the trophy will be required to play one challenge a month, except for the months of December and January which will be treated as a single month.
• Matches will be scheduled for the second Saturday of each month, or otherwise by mutual agreement.
• If the holder of the trophy loses the first challenge of the new round, then it will become the last challenger of that round. If the holder wins the first challenge match but loses a subsequent challenge in the round, it will not be added to the list of challengers.
• Should a challenger fail to play, the result will be recorded as a default (9-0) win by the holder. The challenger will not be allowed another challenge in the current round.
• Should a holder fail to play, the result will be recorded as a default (9-0) win by the challenger. The trophy will be handed over to the challenger. The former holder will not be allowed another challenge in the current round.

Results

• Notification of the result to the WPA is the responsibility of the trophy holder.

Disputes

• All disputes will go to the WPA. All games will be played to PNZ Rules but allowance will be made for local conditions e.g., smaller pistes etc.