At La Marseillaise, enjoy, watch and appreciate the match.

Hat on your head, glasses on your nose, a slice of pizza, but definitely not three balls in your hands. Joel admits it himself. “ I'm so bad at iron ball! I was going to make my team lose ! “, There are many who come just for the eye candy, and it's a real exhibition around the games, a kind of Roland Garros in Marseille,” says the sixty-year-old, who came simply to enjoy the show and the atmosphere of La Marseillaise à pétanque.

Joel sits in his chair and watches the games. “ I've been coming for five or six years just to watch, I have a few friends who play, it's our meeting of the year. We're betting on Foyot being crowned this year, we really hope he goes all the way, he's a legend for us, we've followed him for years “, The enthusiast explains. The same goes for Giselle, who watches her husband every year at La Marseillaise à Pétanque. “ It's the same every year, I take the cooler, umbrella, sunglasses and a little blanket for a nap and let him live his life! I'm up there, like that! The garden air is nice and perfect for relaxing “, This grandmother laughs as she plans to bring her 10-year-old granddaughter back on Tuesday.

Jean-Marie and his colleagues Remi, Guy, Jean-Pierre and Emile sit on the berm, as they have for 45 years. “ You can't miss La Marseillaise à pétanque ! “, They declare. Registration is done like every year, if they are eliminated on Sunday within 3^H The party, this group of friends still come to support their teammates from Doria Ball. Jean-Marie remembers his beginnings when he was thirteen years old. “ At that time, there was no junior competition, I was among the youngest players to play, it must have been in 1981. »“Says a Marseille citizen. “ We were eliminated in 3^H A tour, but it remains a very beautiful memory, since then, we have never stopped coming, for the atmosphere, the friendship, the familiarity, here, we see all nationalities, even the Swedes come, it's strong! ».

His fondest memory? When his teammate Gérard Garagnon won La Marseillaise à Pétanque twice, just like Lucien Journo, in '94. “ It was these great gentlemen who got me started! I've won quite a few competitions with them! ” Memories build loyalty, and make the event year after year more amazing than the previous edition.