Even on a public holiday evening like November 1, 2024, the “javelot players” meet at the André Quillé gymnasium in Beuzeville (Eure). They are the very first members of the town's new sports club, which opened on July 14. Their discipline, javelin target shooting, is sometimes referred to as “pétanque du Nord”. But be careful, this is not a new sport. It is even one of the oldest still practiced in France, having appeared in the 12th century in Champagne, where it gained popularity following a royal decree banning ball games, balloons and dice… in 1337 .
A few centuries later, the launch of this club far from the discipline's original lands is due to Picard Kevin Cornet, three-time French champion (in 2015, 2016 and 2017), and his partner, Coline Pray from Normandy. “It’s a traditional sport that developed during the Hundred Years’ War to preserve the warrior instinct between battles,” says the champion, “and it’s the only one that survived the ban on war games during the Revolution. It is established mainly in the north of France, in Moselle, but also in Belgium and Hungary. The miners liked to play it in the courtyards of the estaminets after work, until it became an official sport, with real bell tower battles. » The French Javelin Target Shooting Federation was created in 1983, and to date has 1,000 members and 10,000 recreational players. It organizes the French championship for individuals and doubles, as well as the French Cup for individuals and triples.
The rules are simple, and the equipment used has survived the ages with few modernizations. The javelin is thus composed of a steel point weighing between 250 to 400 grams depending on the category, and a fletching of goose or turkey feathers. The thrower must send it at a distance of 8 m at a square target with a side of 40 cm, marked by two concentric circles, and whose center is placed 85 cm from the ground. The player scores 1 point if his javelin enters the circle of 21 cm in diameter, and 2 points if it lands in the central circle of 6 cm in diameter. “It requires concentration, precision that we acquire gradually, even if, afterwards, everyone does their part,” explains Kevin Cornet, who specifies that the sport is accessible to people in wheelchairs. The only condition for victory: “You must score the most points in 12 rounds of two throws in a row. »
Thus, since July, every Friday evening, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., javelinists of all ages from Beuzeville meet “to have fun, but, quickly, we want to enter the competitions”, specifies Kevin Cornet, who does not plan to not to stop there: “We are currently attached to the district of Doullens (Somme) for the qualifying events for the French championship. I hope to be able to launch the Normandy district, and a competition is in preparation. »
