North Basque--FFPP 2018 Annual Report--a Hidden Result Archive Treasure Chest

On March 30, 2019, the Federation Francaise de Pelote Basque (FFPB) released its 2018 ASSEMBLEE GENERALE ORDINAIRE EXERCICE (.PDF FORMAT, 145P.) It is the standard "annual report" of the Federation, the oldest Basque Pelota Federation in the world (1921). For more on the Federation's history click here. Among its many responsibilities is the organization of the North Basque Country's many national competitions in various modalities (Main Nue, various forms of Paleta Pelote and Pala, Cesta Punta/Grand Chistera, Joko Garbi, Pasaka, Rebote, Frontenis, and Frontball). These sports are played on Trinquets; 30, 36, and 54 meter Frontons Mur a Gauche  (1) (2); and outside on Frontons Place Libre. The non-crash helmet Paleta sports and Frontenis are played by men and women). Most of the sports are amateur but FFPB also organizes Cesta Punta and Main Nue competitions that are played by professionals. 

Most of these competitions are split into age groups from "Poussins" (the youngest) to National A and B. It is a large responsibility to organize all these things and the AGOE is the annual summary of FFPB's activities.

Within this report is a hidden treasure for fans of the sports who want to keep up with the results. This can be done by consulting the FFPB's competition databases, which track back to 2016-17 and have complete results of the competitions. But it takes a little work and it is easy to retrieve much more information than needed.

On P. 8-24 of the 2018 Exercice is a simple listing of the championship final results in the national competitions the FFPB sponsors. I wish I would have found out about this sooner. It would have saved me hours of research. 

The 2018 Exercice was published in 2019. The FFPB, on a single page (scroll to "Assemblee Generale" for any of the years 2018-2012--covering the years 2017-2011), click on the "Assemblee Generale" links, and presto, you have an archive (all .pdf format) of championship results for the past 7 years. It is a magnificent, easily accessible archive. And one I plan on using, constantly, from now on. 

BASQUE PELOTA BREAKING NEWS--FEBRUARY 24, 2019

BIXINTO BILBAO HAS BEEN SANCTIONED BY THE FIPV (FEDERACION INTERNATONAL DE PELOTA VASCA) FOR WAVING A BASQUE FLAG AT THE FRANCE MAIN NUE GOLD MEDAL CEREMONY IN THE RECENTLY CONCLUDED (OCTOBER 2018) BASQUE PELOTA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN BARCELONA. THE FIPV HAS BANNED HIM FROM INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR 1 YEAR (WHICH WILL EXCLUDE HIM FROM PLAYING IN THE 2019 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING FOR 2022 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS). THE FIPV SAYS IT IS A "SERIOUS OFFENSE." BILBAO SAYS (GOOGLE TRANSLATE:)

I FEEL IT SAD THAT THEY GIVE ME A PENALTY LIKE THAT. I DID NOT KNOW THIS REGULATION. FOR ME THE IKURRINA (BASQUE FLAG) IS NOT A FORBIDDEN FLAG, IT REPRESENTS OUR LANGUAGE AND OUR CULTURE AND THERE IS NO HARM IN SHOWING THE BASQUE FLAG.

BILBAO, ALONG WITH THE FFPB (FEDERATION FRANCAIS DE PELOTE BASQUE) WILL APPEAL THE SUSPENSION.

"THE INCIDENT" (EITB VIDEO)

RELATED ARTICLE (PILOTA TTIKI)

Multiple Modalities--Federation Francaise de Pelote Basque (FFPB) Championnat de France--4 National A Finals in two weekends

FFPB completed its CdF National A Finals in Pasaka, Women's Paleta Gomme Pleine (Trinquet), Paleta Cuir (Trinquet), and Xare on the March 11, 17, and 18. The wonderful thing about these finals is that three of them were covered live via Facebook (and later on demand via Facebook and Youtube), and the other was covered with a match article. All were accompanied by a large number of photos.

The Paleta and Xare finals were covered extensively by pelotelive.free.fr, which provided full linescores, match charts, selected match statistics, and links to videos and photos. The Pasaka match was covered by Pilota Ttiki. FFPB also covered all of the events and contributed the photos.

All in all, it was a wonderful example of what can be done to provide full coverage of BP on a small budget. Canal+ and EITB are incomparable in their commercial coverage, but it is limited, for the most part, to important professional matches (although EITB does cover many amateur events in the South Basque country). With the improvement in computer, photo, and Internet technology, many more of these matches that are slightly "below" the radar of the commercial or large public networks can be enjoyed by BP fans around the globe.

For the purposes of this post, we will link to all of these finals (and their competition contexts) through pelotelive.free.fr. All of the videos are also avalable via Facebook and/or Youtube outlets that you can link to directly from the PFF sites. However, if you wish to watch the matches directly via PFF, make sure to click on "desactiver" below the videos to disable PFF's auto-refresh function, which is used for live coverage, but which is always "on." Otherwise the videos will stop.
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March 11, 2017

Pasaka

Saint Andre, Bayonne (1)(2)

Azcaindarrak Bat (Ascain) (Albistur-Mascotena) defeated Zaharrer-Segi (Saint Etienne de Baigorry) (Izoco (substituting for Ospital)-Dutaret-) 13-8.

Competition context

Match page with link to match article and photos

Preview article

Direct link to match article (which includes non-FPP photos)

FFPB photos:

If you research the FFPP competition results and archives and the results archive of the Ligue de Pelote du Pays Basque, you will see that these two teams have been the best in the North Basque country for several years. They have met (with changing personnel) in many finals in both competitions. Ascain has won most of them, and most have been very competitive, This final was also very competitive until Ascain dominated at the end.
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The other three finals were all played at Chiquito, Paris (1)(2)

March 17,2017

A. Paleta Gomme Pleine (Trinquet) (Women)

Saint Pee Union Club (Saint Pee Sur Nivelle) (Halsouet-Comet--blue) defeated Zaharrer-Segi (Saint Etienne de Baigorry) (Leiza-Serre--red) 40-31

Competition context

Match page--includes full linescore, match chart, match commentary, multiple match videos (Youtube and Facebook) and photos (FFPB)

Match article--also links to photos (FFPB)

B. Paleta Cuir (Trinquet)

Biarritz Athletic Club (Biarritz) (Thibault-Cambos-red) defeated Urrunarak (Urrugne) (Larretche-Bourrus--blue) 2-1 (14-15, 15-9, 10-5)

Competition context

Match page--includes full linescore, match chart, match statistics, match commentary, multiple match videos (Youtube and Facebook), and photos (FFPB)

Match article--also links to photos (FFPB)

March 18, 2017

Xare

Hardoytarrak (Anglet) (Driolet-Sistiague--blue) defeated Nozbait (Hasparren) (Lopetegui-Funosas) 40-30

Competition context

Match page--includes final score, match chart, match statistics, match commentary, multiple match videos (Youtube and Facebook), and photos (FFPB)

Match article--also links to photos (FFPB)

For more 2017 FFPB CDF National A and B videos including videos from poule to final stage, arranged by modality, see the FFPB CDF 2016-2017 National A and B match videos page on the right side of the blog.

Multiple Modalities: South Basque: One Major Amateur Competition Ends as Another Begins

The EEPF Euskal Herriko Kluben/CPTO. de EH. de Clubes competition, featuring 25 tournaments in 8 modalities (Eskuz indivdual and pairs, Pala Motza,  Pala Goma, Paleta Goma, Larruzko Paleta, Zesta Punta, and Frontenis) began on January 28, 2017 and ended the weekend of March 10-12, 2017. The premiere South Basque amateur competition, the Gravni Competition, began on March 11, and will end with finals on April 30.

EITB televised the finals of two EHK competitions, the Ezkuz Individual Juvenile and Pairs Senior Division.

Source for all scores and match articles: EEPF

Preview finals article

Final results article 2017 EHK/CPTO.de EH. with links to finals results (Spreadsheet format)

Photo Gallery for finals. (Added March 15, 2017).

March 10, 2017

Lakua, Vitoria-Gasteiz (1)(2)

Individual Juvenile Final:

Ultzama (Gascue--red) defeated Zabala (Zazpi Iturri--blue) 22-9

Senior Division Pairs Final:

Pagazpe (Santxo-Altuna--blue) defeated Ilunpe (Alberdi-Uzkudun--red) 22-21

Match article for both matches

Full match video (EITB). Individual match is the first match, Senior final begins at 39:44 on the video

The senior final was a 71 minute struggle that had 4 lead changes from 18-18, a terrific way to finish the night.

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The Gravni competition, which runs from March 11 - April 30, 2017, is a provincial tournament involving players from Gipuzkoa, La Rioja, Araba, Bizkaia, Nafarroa and Iparralde (North Basque Country).The competition includes 15 modalities on mur a gauche and trinquet for men and women.

Preview article. See the reglamento document (.pdf format, 14p.) for details on the modalities and competition.

Preview article (pilota-ttiki.com). This article discusses aspects of North Basque Country participation in the Gravni competition.

To follow the competitions as they happen (or to recap the EHK results) go to the EEPF competition page. Click on competitions of interest and a drop down menu will appear. Click on any of the competitions and any phase from "Liga" to "Final". "Calendarios and "Calendarios de Resultados" are available in HTML and spreadsheet format. Gravni competitions will appear in the blog when there is match video.

Mutiple Modalities--The amateur scene regional and national scene in the North Basque at the end of 2016.

Several regional tournaments in various modalities were completed before the end of 2016. The easiest way to find them is a specialized lookup at pelotelive.free.fr.

Click on "Voir" to look at any of the competitions. Cut and paste the Organization name or abbreviation along with "pelota" and do a google search in order to link to the regional organizations that sponsor these tournaments. The Federation Francais de Pelote Basque (FFPB) also has a listing (unfortunately not live linked at present) of the major regional organizations.

For regional competitions with match videos another specialized search of PFF will retrive most of them. Click on "voir" and search for matches with the film icon.

With the beginning of the new year the FPPB National Championnat de France competitions begin in earnest. The easiest way to follow them is the Calendar at FPPB.

Check results at FFPB or at PFF.  As these tournaments come on line, there are likely to be match videos. Watch the media box for a film icon.

Following any of the amateur competitions in the North Basque Country may seem daunting, but a little creative use of PPF or FFPB results pages will go a long way toward enjoying the feast of North Basque amateur competition that takes place through the winter and spring months.

Multiple Modalities--North Basque amateur competitions begin.

Amateur competitions for the 2016-17 season began in the North Basque Country in late September. I will check in with selected competitions when match videos are available. Most of the beginning tournaments are regional in nature. Later in the season the Federation Francais de Pelote Basque (FFPB) national (Championnat de France) and other specialty competitions will begin. The seaon will climax with the  FPPB Grand Semaine, a week of multiple tournament finals for all age and talent groups, held mostly outdoors on fronton place libres.

The best place to follow all of these competitions is pelotelive.free.fr. Nowhere else that I know of consolidates the ongoing results of as many competitions. No other BP website I know of is as well organized with so much information. PFF has a very powerful query database that allows interested users to query a competition database for any or all of eight different variables. For those of you just getting started with North Basque pelote sports, the best way to start is to query the entire database  by "medias". Select "Videos" and "recherche". You will retrieve competitions in 11 different sports, played on three different kinds of courts, by men and women of different age and talent levels, sponsored by multiple agencies. Click on any "voir" to get to a competition and then look for the film icon. MAKE SURE TO "DESACTIVER" the PFF auto-refresh feature (which is used for keeping up with match point by point scoring) when viewing a match. Otherwise the video will stop. In many cases there are links to Youtube sites of origin for these matches, which you may want to investigate, as the Youtube site may have more exhaustive video coverage of the sport than PFF does. In most, but not all PFF cases where video is available, it is available for finals or semi-finals (at the bottom of each competition list). This is the best way to learn these sports.

For those of you who are familiar with these sports, the best way to find out what is going on is to query the same database by saison (2016-2017). Click on "voir" to see the progress of any competition you are interested in. To obtain more information about an individual competition, simply cut and paste the acronym for the organizer into a search engine. If you don't get what you are looking for, search with the acronym plus "pelote" or "voir" the competition in PFF for the full name of the organizer and query that. The organizer will often have results more quickly than they are available at PFF and you will become familiar with the various organizations.

You will also want to bookmark the national organizing agency for Basque Pelote in the North, FFPB, for information about national competitions. At the site you will find a calendar of national competitions that run from January through June, 2017. Most of these competitions will be covered by PFF but this calendar is essential for those who are interested in staying "ahead of the curve". Results for these competitions will be avialable at the FFPB results database, as well as PFF.

At this time there are match videos available for one sport, Xare. They are provided by the  Urrunarrak Pelote Youtube site. Urrunarrak is one of the clubs that plays in the Ligue de Pelote du Pays Basque  Championnat du Pays Basque 2017 - Xare - 1ère série (or  LPPB Resultats and Classements). Search either for "Trinquete / Xare" and Categorie "1ere Serie - 1.Maila".

MY ARTICLE: My first Xare match.

Multiple Modalities--The 2016-17 season begins.

At the end of September/beginning of October the sometimes official, sometimes unofficial 2016-17 season began. In the South Basque professional Mano began its Pilota eskuz: Profesionalak 2016: Lau eta erdiko Txapelketa 2016/Campeonato del 4 1/2 de 1a categoría 2016 LEP. M, which opened competition on October 7-10, 2016. This is followed by the major doubles and singles tournaments, which run consecutively, from December to next May.

Professional Pala has a lull in its schedule at the moment, with independent matches scheduled for Toulouse on October 14 and Armintza on October 15, as it finishes its Summer Pala Tour 2016. Last year the major competition during Autumn was the liga BBK 2015 from late October - end of the year, a short court doubles tournament that involved the entire Innpala roster in a double round robin followed by a semi-final and final, all at Bizkaia. There has been no announcement of this year's tournament as yet.That should be followed a major short court singles tournament, which is in turn followed  by a major long court doubles tournament and then next year's short court Bizkaia open.

In Remonte, along with the usual Thursday-Saturday Galarreta schedule there is a major doubles and singles tournament, followed by next year's Sagardoaren (Cider) doubles tournament. Euskal Jai features an end of the year winter tournament. The Jai Alai scene is relatively quiet during the fall-winter season.

On the amateur front the place to follow the comings and goings of South Basque pelota is the EEPF  for various competitions in several modalities. It can be a bit complicated (especially for the newcomer) to understand the sequence of competitions. The best way to follow the site is by reading the noticias, which will give chronological context to the various competitions. Once you understand the noticias stories, you can use the competition pages to follow the competitions. Another way to follow the amateur scene in the South Basque is through EITB On Demand. Go to "Catagorias", "deportes", "Pilota afizionatuak". EITB covers major amateur finals that are sponsored by EEPF and also by GMGZ Events and other regional organizations. Use it as your guide to major competitions until you become comfortable with how EEPF works. The major South Basque amateur competition is the Gravni competition which covers many modalities and takes place in early Spring. For regional competitions, use the EEPF links page. An exciting new development is Xistera Kluba's sponsorship of amateur Jai Alai, with tournaments being provided live and on demand at both X K's youtube site and EITB (search under "deportes" "Zesta Punta.")

The North Basque has a vibrant Basque Pelota scene in the fall and winter months. Esku Pilota follows the Elite Pro Main Nue scene exhaustively. Follow that site and you won't miss any Pro tournament. They provide much on demand video coverage through their Youtube site.

For the amateur North Basque pelota scene the best place to follow everything is pelotelive.free.fr. Search for competitions by going here and searching on "saisons"2016-2017" to follow competitions in 15 modalities. Since September 8 Paleta gomme pleine competitions and 1 Xare competition have started. Click on "voir" next to any competition and you will be taken to a main competition page that lists the organizer. Cut and paste the organizer into a google search and you will find regional associations that have information about regional tournaments. The main national North Basque pelota organization is the FFPB. You can follow their tournaments from their site or from pelotelive.free.fr. In late winter-early spring their Championnat de France competitions begin.

As far as the Cesta Punta goes, there are CdF matches, as well selected matches at Biarritz Athletic Club and Donibane Lohizune (Saint-Jean-de-Luz). Internationaux Cesta Punta and its Youtube site  have information and videos. ICP sponsors an autumn and Christmas tournament. B.A.C. sponsors several fall and winter tournaments. Another good way to follow the cesta-punta scene all over is through the Jai Alai news Facebook page. The Jai Alive Facebook page also has excellent coverage.

All in all, there is a lot of great Basque Pelota in the North and South Basque Country to follow in the 2016-17 season. I will try to cover as much as possible, concentrating, as always, on sports for which there are match videos.