To say that pétanque is serious business in Marseille is an understatement. After the “infamous” study by Insee published last week which ranked Marseille in third position (behind Toulouse and Reims) of the cities with the largest number of pétanque courts, the municipality has redone the accounts, reports Provence.
And it is Sébastien Jibrayel, the elected sportsman, who stuck to it. All in all, the city has 144 bowling greens, and not 77, as INSEE had listed. An imbroglio explained by the lack of attention that the former municipality would have paid to the declaration of its heritage. The census of sports equipment is indeed the business of the Ministry of Sports, which compiles the data transmitted by the municipalities, specifies the daily.
Declarations of dilettante land in Marseille which therefore resulted in this surprising statistic. With 144 bowling alleys, Marseille is well ahead of Toulouse and its 101 pitches and Reims (89 facilities). Let’s be teasing, and note however that reduced in number of inhabitants, Marseille seems to be well established in third position, with land for 5,900 inhabitants (compared to one for 4,500 in Toulouse and one for 2,100 in Reims).