By Gregor McMurtrie
If Bennachie is the Mount Olympus of the North, then the Greek Gods gathered there last Saturday to look down on the village of Monymusk and watch their heroes battle it out in the annual Monymusk Boules Masters tournament – featuring the Stonehaven Fireboules.
The day started in sunshine as forty teams arrived to play upon the grit-filled pistes at Place de la Petanque (or the village square, as it’s more commonly called); but ominous clouds began to gather as the teams progressed through the group phase to the knockout rounds of the afternoon.
Stonehaven Fireboules were an early casualty, followed by the Disco Boules, Cereal Boules and Incrediboules. More teams fell by the wayside of the High Road and Low Road leagues until only two remained: the banana-footed Boulie Connolly and our own Stonehaven UneBoulance.
A roll of thunder from the tor of Bennachie announced the start of the high road final and the atmosphere literally became electric.
In a 44 minute epic, the two teams lobbed, rolled and cannoned their way to hard won points. Tournament umpire Derek Adam was repeatedly called to measure who lay closest to la cochonnet (the jack) and make critical scoring judgements. In the tensest of games every millimetre mattered. Someone in the audience muttered that the Scottish Cup Final had gone to penalties and were immediately hushed.
It was a brave performance, but the sagacity of team Connolly ultimately proved too much for the Stonehaven pups, and the Big Yins triumphed in a 9-6 win.
It seemed like the gods were angered and let loose a terrible deluge that sent the crowd scurrying, but it was only a brief downpour and their mighty beneficence shone through when the winning team mounted the podium in glorious sunshine to collect their medals and trophy.
Earlier in the day Del Boy of Only Boules and Horses received the congratulations of Lady Grant for their victory over the Roosters in the Low Road final, and “Knit 1 Boule 1” were judged best-dressed team in their multi-coloured crocheted costumes.
In the closing speech, event organiser Rick McTaggart thanked everyone for attending and declared the day “a great success” and another “fundraising bonanza” for worthy causes.
Interested to learn more about boules?
Stonehaven will soon be opening its own petanque piste and would like to welcome you along. For more information, see http://stonehavenpetanque.online.
Feature image – tournament finalists, teams Boulie Connolly and Stonehaven UneBouleance.