Forget the level playing field - the winners of a sports trophy contested in Alexandra this week get to dictate the rules for the next challenge.
The Alexandra Petanque Club decided to add "a bit of fun" in 2007 and started a social competition with the Fruitlands Challenge trophy, donated by the club, at stake.
President Marilyn Bunce said the competition was open to any club and the defending champion was allowed to set the rules for any challenge.
Alexandra retained the trophy after a close match against the Waikouaiti club during the week.
"It's lots of fun having the club that wins setting the rules. In actual fact, if we wanted to, we could say we'd meet the opposing team on a cricket pitch at Duntroon and play there."As well as "traditional" games, a few extra competitions were added which tested petanque skills, and the points for those were added to the total.
"We had a pointing contest, where you draw a circle with a target at 7m and at 9m and see who gets closest to the target or shoots the boule out. Other times we've added in a game like throwing the boule with your left hand instead of your right, or vice-versa, and throwing the boule backwards over your shoulder," she said.
Waikouaiti players won the "extra" games, even though they lost overall.
Alexandra won the trophy for the third successive year.
Caversham and Timaru Petanque Clubs have won it in the past.
