

2024


2023

Inter-Regional tournament
East Midlands Petanque (EMP) competes in the Petanque England's annual Inter-Regional tournament. This is arguably the biggest and most prestigious petanque tournament for club players in the UK, with around 800 competitors representing most of the UK's regions. In 2025, the Inter-Regional tournament will be held in Weston-super-Mare from Friday 12th to Monday 15th September.
A brief history of the Inter-Regionals
The Inter-Regional tournament was started back in the 1980's at Poole in Dorset. Initially, there were only a few regions contesting, but gradually over the years the numbers have increased to over 20 regions. The event consists of 2 leagues; the Championship and Challenge. Both leagues have 2 divisions (see diagram). The Championship comprises 8 teams from each region and the Challenge comprises 4 teams from each regions. Accordingly, there are 200 teams playing during the two day tournament. The level of play is very tough as many regions have players who have represented their country at a national level. While the ultimate achievements are to be crowned overall best-performing region or best team. There is also the jeopardy of being relegated from Division 1. After the whole event has finished, the top 2 regions in division 2 are promoted to division 1, replacing the bottom 2 teams who are relegated to division 2.
Regional Qualifiers
Petanque England specify that participating regions must hold qualifying competitions to select their teams. Players who haven't participated in the qualifiers will not be able to play in the Inter-Regionals.
The Regional Qualifiers are played over several weekends (see dates and venues below). The format is on a round robin basis, as it ensures that every team entered plays each other once. The objective of the qualifiers is to determine the ranking of the teams within the region squad. When competing at the Inter-Regional tournament, teams will be playing the equivalent ranked teams in the other regions.
At the end of the final qualifying round, the results, achievements and outcome of the qualifiers are published. The teams and their ranking are then submitted to Petanque England.
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Teams Finishing 1 - 8 automatically qualify to represent the region in the Championship at the Inter-Regionals.
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Teams finishing 9 - 12 automatically qualify to represent the region in the Challenge at the Inter-Regionals.
Importantly, individuals who did not qualify with their chosen team can be seconded to play in any qualified team as a 4th player to either, help bolster a team or be on hand should any form of emergency arise.
Following on from the qualifiers:
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The top two Regional Qualifying Teams will automatically become Regional Representatives at the National Champion of Champion Triples.
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Regional Qualifying Teams finishing in 3 - 7 places will automatically qualify to represent the region at the annual Tri Way event between East Midlands, Chiltern and Anglia Region.
Finally, by entering the Regional Qualifiers you are obliged to abide by the East Midlands Code of Conduct for the duration of the Regional Qualifiers and any future occasion when representing the EMP region.
How to enter the EMP Region Qualifiers
The EMP region invites you to participate in their regional qualifying events.
Dates for the Regional Qualifiers.
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Round 1 : Sunday 1st June at Wycliffe Bowls Club
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Round 2 : Sunday 22nd June at Lincoln Branleys Pétanque Club
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Round 3 : Sunday 6th July at Wycliffe Bowls Club
Entry administration
Entry fee for the qualifiers is £20 per person.
At the time of the Regional Qualifiers, entrants must hold a valid and current Petanque England licence
Entry deadline is 18th May.
Entry form
To enter a team into the Regional Qualifiers, please complete the entry form using the following link << Link here>>
Note. You can enter a team consisting of 3 or 4 players, or you can enter as a single-player. The EMP committee will endeavour to place single-players in a suitable team.
Next step
Once you have submitted an entry form, the EMP committee will send the team leader or single-player more information via email.