The French Federation of Petanque has had a "no drinking" rule for some years, but it is rarely enforced. The regulation applies to official competitions, but the need for a medically qualified person to carry out the random tests has meant little or no enforcement.
Now some departmental federations have agreed to train certain members to interpret breath tests using approved breathalysers. Players with more than 0.5 mg of alcohol indicated will be given 15 minutes to recover, then if still over the limit will be excluded.
The sport is almost indivisible from the consumption of pastis and beer. Many bars which support boule clubs would suffer badly if the rule was introduced at "amical" competitions, but the Haute Garonne federation is worried at the increase in alcohol fuelled violence at some competitions and wants to crack down. The FFP wants to present a cleaner image in the hope of getting petanque into the 2022 Olympics, to be held in Paris.
