New Zealand not to send team to 2008 World Championships

PNZ has decided not to send a team to the 2008 World Championships in Senegal.

We will also not be sending teams to the Asian or Singapore championships this year.

Instead we will focus our energies and (limited) manpower resources on putting in place a new coaching and national representation structure and process that will put petanque in New Zealand on a firm footing for international representation from 2009 onwards. (An outline of this structure and implementation plans is attached - see PNZ website.

The Council made this decision after considerable debate and by a majority vote. While acknowledging that it will be a disappointment to some players, we believe that it is in the best interests of the majority of petanque players in New Zealand.

We have chosen to "sacrifice" one year of attendance at international events in order to bring a more professional approach to our future international attendance at world venues. We need a coaching and representation process that is fair, objective, transparent and open to all players, and that will ensure our teams are properly prepared through the provision of coaching, training and management support.

Sending teams to international events, even under the current system, requires a considerable amount of organisational time and effort for the National Council and Executive, which we feel is better directed at getting the new system up and running in time for 2009.

We do not believe that petanque in New Zealand will suffer in the short term (many countries, including Australia, do not send teams to the World Championships every year), and see only benefits in the longer term.

PNZ National Council

Lorraine Brock (Chair)
lorbrock(at)ihug.co.nz

Ron Thompson
ronthompson(at)xtra.co.nz

Diane Findlay
diane.findlay(at)inet.net.nz

Fay Doyle
doyles(at)paradise.net.nz