Perhaps you know square boules, the surprising variation of pétanque, practical for hitting irons on sloping grounds. But now there is another alternative to traditional balls: oval balls. It was the Sétois José Llinarès who imagined, two years ago, these funny balls, in the shape of olives. This football enthusiast had a breakthrough while attending, for the first time in his life, a rugby match in Montpellier (Hérault): that day, in the stands, the former head of the Criée de Sète s enthusiasm for this oval ball, which makes these big guys run.
“It really had an impact on me,” José Llinarès told 20 minutes. I said to myself: “What if we did that, too, for pétanque?” » This strange idea did not stay at the refreshment bar. For months, José Llinarès moved heaven and earth to find a manufacturer cheeky enough to make these rugby ball-shaped balls. “It was a bit of a journey of the cross,” admits the Sétois. I had a hard time finding someone…”
Balls made by the Italian company Boulenciel
It was a friend, Alex Biancardini, who pulled José Llinarès out of this impasse. “For my part, I knew Maryan Barthélémy well”, champion and figure of pétanque in France, confides Alex Biancardini. “And he knew Boulenciel very well”, one of the most prominent pétanque boule manufacturers in Europe. And… Square! The Italian company happily agreed to embark on this adventure, and offered the duo the opportunity to design Cuproaluminium balls. “And to make them full,” explains the Sète inventor. Because all pétanque balls are normally hollow. » The oval ball was born.
But for José Llinarès, there is no question of making his innovation a lucrative product. Through the association Les Copains d’abord, this game only serves to raise funds, during tournaments organized here and there, for great causes, in particular for women affected by cancer. of the breast. As for Alex Biancardini, he regularly organizes oval ball competitions to raise funds for victims of multiple sclerosis, with his association, Multiple Sclerosis in Poussan.
The oval ball “requires both skill and luck”
But how do we play the Oval Ball Game, the official name of this astonishing discipline? “It’s completely different from traditional pétanque,” explains José Llinarès, who officially submitted the regulations for this new sport. First, we play with 15 points, a nod to the French XV. Then, the players no longer have their feet planted on the ground, in a precise circle. They can play from wherever they want, as long as they stay on one line, from left to right. And that changes everything. » For the rest, it’s rather similar to pétanque: the objective, for the players, is to get their balls as close as possible to the goal. “But for the Oval Ball Game, it is not a jack, but an olivette, also in the shape of a rugby ball,” explains the Sétois.
You don’t throw an oval ball like a round ball. Not everyone holds it in the same way. Some send it horizontally, others point forward. And once in the air, they are more capricious than their round cousins. “It requires both skill and luck,” continues José Llinarès. With a square ball, it’s just luck. With an oval ball, it’s a mix of both. »
Presentations of the oval ball for the Rugby World Cup
“It’s a very fun discipline,” adds his comrade Alex Biancardini. For shooting, it’s not a problem. As with round or square balls, if you touch a ball, it goes away. To point, on the other hand, it is different. But little by little, we develop techniques. » And with a little experience, you can even turn it around, thanks to its oval shape. But that’s for the cracks.
On the occasion of the Rugby World Cup, José Llinarès’ invention caught Andros’ eye. The French agri-food giant, official partner of the World Cup, offered to Sète to present the Oval Ball Game to spectators of certain matches. The next meeting is on September 21, on the Old Port, in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), on the occasion of France-Namibia. “But what we especially want is to show that the interest of the oval ball is to raise funds for associations,” notes José Llinarès. However, he would be happy if the discipline he imagined became, one day, as popular as traditional pétanque. Or even football. “There is FIFA, so why FIBO, the International Federation of Oval Ball? », he laughs.