The French pastime of pétanque, or boules, normally conjures up visions of a gentle sport played by pastis-sipping retirees in Provence, reports The Telegraph.
Not so, it seems, when it comes to the world boules championship, an annual international event held in Marseille this week.
A team of three shaken players from northern France has pulled out of the much-coveted tournament after claiming to have received death threats from local rivals who promised to “rip off their heads” unless they let them win.
The ugly incident has raised fears of a fresh rise in “bouliganism” - players coming to blows over a game - after a spate of boules-related violence in recent years.
After winning three matches on Sunday, the team from Marchiennes near Lille, northern France, was just two points from victory against a “triplet” of local players from Vitrolles and Marignane, with a 11-6 lead.
But their dream of clinching the tournament – the high point of the boules calendar – was brutally interrupted when their rivals cried: “Even if you reach 13, you’re going to lose.”
According to Guillaume Duez, one of the northern players, a rival “bouliste” then grabbed the “cochonnet”, the small wooden ball used as a target, snatched his cap and hurled it on the floor, exclaiming: “I’m going to write that we won. If any of you snitch, you’re dead.”
In a further flurry of threats, he allegedly said: “If you say anything, I’ll rip your head off.”
Read more of this report from The Telegraph.