The Federation Francaise de Pelote Basque (FFPB) held its Amateur Main Nue Individuel Final at Trinquet Moderne, Bayonne (1)(2) on April 23, 2017.
A. S. Eskulari-Lahonce (Dufourcq) (blue) defeated Aïretik-Mendionde (Bonetbelche) (red) 40-33.
Match article (Pilota Ttiki)
17 photos (FFPB) Scroll to "National A" near the bottom of the page.
For Dufourq this match evened his record against Bonetbelche in amateur finals held in the last two months, as Bonetbelche had won the Ligue de Pelote du Pays Basque Championship on March 26, 40-26.
But there was another interesting aspect to the FFPB final. Look closely at the FFPB photos. One in particular. It is the "Juge Arbitre" for this match, none other than Baptiste Ducassou, the premier back court player in Main Nue at present. It seems that Ducassou, in the heat of the moment in an FFPB Championnat de France Poule match in March, lost his temper at what he thought was a poor call and let the Juge Arbitre know it in no uncertain terms. He apologized later.
Instead of a punitive reaction such as a suspension, which is invoked regularly in other "major league" sports, the FFPB required him to be Juge Arbitre for this match.
Now that is a sports story we don't hear about very often :)
