P.E. Membership

No experience is needed at all. Pétanque England welcomes complete beginners through to experienced competitive players.
Many of our members joined having never played before and learned the game through relaxed club sessions, coaching, and friendly competitions. Local clubs are very welcoming and will happily help you learn the basics at your own pace.

Whether you’re looking for a social outdoor activity or a new sport to develop competitively, there’s a place for you in pétanque.

No — you don’t need your own boules to get started.
Most clubs have boules available for beginners to borrow during their first few sessions. This gives you a chance to try the sport and see what suits you before deciding whether to buy your own set.

If you do decide to purchase boules later, club members and coaches are usually very happy to offer advice on the right type for you.

Four Membership types are available for Individuals, and one for Clubs:

• Competitor – For people who want to compete in regional leagues and regional, national or international competitions. Includes a playing licence.
• Club Player – For people who play mostly at their local club (currently available to new members only).
• Junior – for under-18s
• Honorary Life Member – awarded by the board
• Club Affiliation – available to petanque clubs who have at least 6 individual members of Petanque England, including their Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer

All membership types include our comprehensive insurance cover.

Four Membership types are available for Individuals, and one for Clubs:

• Competitor – membership is £25, plus a Regional Fee that is set by each region. This fee is used by your region mainly to run regional events.
• Club Player – membership is just £10, and includes a Regional fee of £6. The regional fee is used by your region to promote and support grass-roots petanque in your local area.
• Junior – membership is £5
• Honorary Life Member – awarded by the board
• Club Affiliation – affiliation fee is £35

To join Pétanque England, simply visit Become a Member.

You’ll be guided through our secure Sport:80 membership system, where you will:

• Create an online account

• Choose the membership type that’s right for you

• Select your region and club (if applicable)

• Complete payment by credit or debit card

Once payment is confirmed, your digital membership card will be emailed to you — usually within 10 minutes.

To affiliate a club with Pétanque England, you’ll first need to be registered as an individual member.
Once that’s done, you can complete the process by selecting Join as a Club.

You can request transfer of your membership to another club by using the ‘Transfers’ feature in the Sport:80 platform. Contact your Regional Membership Secretary if you need help with this.

Where the change of club also involves a change of region then please contact the National Membership Secretary.

You can find more information by clicking the red CONTACT SUPPORT button that is shown at the bottom of each Sport:80 page. This takes you to information about Accounts, Events (coming soon), Membership, Administrators and more. It also includes a form to message us if you have any queries or problems with the system.

Please note that your support message goes to a PE volunteer, who will be happy to help you.

If you can’t find the answer to your questions here you can contact us directly for help.

• Email admin@petanque-england.uk

The Competitor, Junior and Life Member categories all come complete with a licence.

You need a competitor licence to enter most regional, national and international events, though some regional events may be open to non licensed players at the discretion of the Regional committee.

A Club Player wishing to enter a licensed event will need to upgrade to Competitor Membership.

Yes, a club can affiliate with any mix of Club and Competitor Licence players, subject to at least three of them being over the age of 18.

Clubs that are affiliating for the first time can start with as few as 3 individual PE members of Petanque England. These must include the club’s Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer.

By the time of their first renewal (i.e. the following March) the club must have at least 6 PE members and maintain that number to retain their affiliated status.

Unless stated otherwise, wherever there is reference to just ‘PE Member’ in existing PE, Region, League or Club rules, it should be taken to mean “Licensed PE Member”, particularly where this is in reference to event entry criteria.

This is because when Regional and Club rules were produced there was no concept of ‘unlicensed’ PE Members.

Rules may be updated over time to consider how they apply to licensed and unlicensed members, but if not specified it should be taken that “PE Member” means “Licensed PE Member”.

Membership types that include a licence are:

• Competitor
• Junior Member
• Honorary Life Member

No, it is an annual membership so the fee does not reduce if you join later in the year.

However, if you join after 1st October your membership will be valid for the whole of the following year.

This is in recognition of the fact that there are less playing opportunities during the winter period.

e.g. If you joined in October 2026, your membership would expire end March 2027 so you would get 18 months membership.

Your virtual membership card has either a blue or green background, depending on your membership type:

• Blue card: Competitor, Junior and Honorary Life Memberships (indicates licensed player)
• Green card: Club Player (indicates unlicensed player)

Printed pdf membership cards are not coloured, but include the membership type in text.

Yes. Like other regional and national competitions, these are open only to players holding Competitor licences.

Club Player members would need to upgrade to Competitor membership to enter these events.

Yes you can upgrade your Club Player membership to Competitor any time.

You may wish to do this if you decide part-way through the playing year that you want to enter a licensed Regional or National event.

To upgrade your membership to Competitor, please email support@petanque-england.uk and a volunteer administrator will do this for you, ready for you to pay.

Club Player membership was introduced in July 2023 for new members only.

If you are already a Competitor member you can only renew at the same level, you cannot ‘downgrade’ to Club Player membership.

No, Club Player members are not eligible to vote at AGM or EGMs.