Insults and punches are flying in the world of pétanque, the French pastime that conjures up images of elderly men, pastis and afternoons under the plane trees of Provence.

As the sport celebrates its centenary this month, the authorities in south and central France are clamping down on physical and verbal abuse among players that is said to be caused by prize money, alcohol and the decline of civil behaviour in France.

Club games have been banned for the past month in the Nièvre département in east-central France after a rash of incidents in which police were called to break up brawling players and fans.

These culminated in an attack on Patrice Joliveau, the president of a club at the village of Pouguès-les-Eaux. A group of men refused to pay for their drinks at the club bar.

“Things got out of hand and I found myself pinned to the wall with a sickle at my throat,” Mr Joliveau told Le Parisien newspaper yesterday.

The rise of what is known as le bouliganisme has alarmed the national body that regulates a sport that is played occasionally by 20 million French people and which has 380,000 regular contestants in 7,000 clubs.

At its annual congress in Corsica in January, the French Pétanque Federation called for moderation in the consumption of alcohol during matches and imposed measures to protect referees. They are now covered by a law that designates them as “holders of a public service mission”.

“Pétanque is no longer a convivial sport,” complained le Midi Libre, a leading Mediterranean region newspaper. “It is being undermined by constant incivility, verbal threats and gross insults.” The non-respect of sporting rules by some players is driving others away, as well as referees who feel endangered,” it said.

Hervé Basset, editor of Boulisme, the sport’s magazine, said yesterday that abuses were growing in local tournaments and the high-level leagues, where sponsorship and media coverage had raised the financial stakes.

“The aggression is usually verbal and aimed at unsettling a rival. Before you would wind him up. Now there’s no joking. We have gone from joshing to slapping,” he told Le Parisien.

“This unhealthy atmosphere is damaging the sport. Some pétanque players end up handing in their sporting licences.”

Some say le bouliganisme is caused by the travelling community, whose members turn up in groups at tournaments and cause trouble at the bar. “It is too easy to accuse the gypsies,” a federation official countered. “The problem is alcohol and money.”

Defenders of the sport said that the trouble was being exaggerated. Pierre Fieux, author of The Pétanque Dictionary, said: “Pétanque is based on self-mastery. So obviously people are shocked at the slightest misbehaviour.”

Pétanque has been trying for years to shed its reputation as the boozy pastime of paunchy men. The guardians of the sport, which is seeking entry to the Olympic Games, emphasised the discipline and fitness required for international competition when they celebrated their centenary at La Ciotat, near Marseilles, last week.

The sport has been hampered by a less-than-energetic image from the outset because its main distinction compared with traditional boules or bowling is that the player must keep his feet together and not move.

The name pétanque comes from pieds tanqués, or stuck feet.

Its inventor, Jules le Noir, suffered from arthritis and was unable to play the more energetic game of boules.

A weighty Gallic ball game

— A boule must weigh between 650g (1lb 7oz) and 800g, with a diameter of 70.5mm (2.78in) to 80.0mm

— The object of the game is to throw boules so that they land close to the small wooden cochonnet, made from beechwood

— The International Federation of Pétanque and Provençal Games was created in 1958 and has about 600,000 licensed players

— 71 countries play the game, including the US, Canada, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand

Source: International Federation of Pétanque and Provençal Games

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