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Boogle? Where does this story come from?
Boogle is defined as “a booster of friendship”. Thanks to its pétanque courts dreamt up in Belgium and designed to suit all environments, Patrick Neuville has been able to redefine pétanque as a friendly, intercultural and intergenerational sport.
Pétanque as a passion, as a tool, as a vocation
Boogle is a 100% Belgian creation, coming directly from the imagination of its founder, Patrick Neuville. A petanque lover for years, psychologist by training and director of a recruitment company, he quickly saw that this sport could become a powerful communication tool, a creator of a social bond for his customers. So, at once, the story began! A little step backwards, to 1991, to understand Boogle’s history…
A lovely idea
After his holiday in Provence, where he was able to test his talents as a pétanque player with the inhabitants of the village, Patrick Neuville returned to Belgium with an observation: pétanque allowed people from all cultures and of all ages to come together during one same moment of friendship. And what if, here in Belgium, we could do the same thing?
You’ve got to admit, pétanque was not really our national sport and even had, for some, a bit of an old-fashioned connotation. But, Patrick wasn’t scared of the challenge, he launched himself into his first project…
The beginnings of the adventure
The aim: to reintegrate pétanque into what we do, and especially give it back its place of honour among our national sports. So, this is from where the 1st Intercompany Pétanque Challenge was born, followed by the Celebrity and Decision-maker Pétanque Trophy, which has now been running for more than 20 years in Belgium. Quickly, everything came together: Patrick created the Pétanque Petite Marseillaise, a general public branch of the greatest pétanque competition in the world, the Global Pétanque Marseillaise. The Boogle creator has not stopped there, since he then decided to pit amateurs and professionals against one another around a new concept: The Pétanque Ace Trophy which has run for 10 years, every year, in several countries throughout the world.
The creation of Boogle
In 2018, a new idea started to come about… And if we created a concept which allowed everyone to play pétanque, outside of competition, anywhere and at any time during the year? While keeping this starting guideline which was making playing pétanque “nicer” and “sexier”.
And it was with Jean-Luc Minette, his carpenter brother-in-law, that Patrick created his first Boogle prototype, a multi-purpose, designer, indoor and outdoor court.
The success was immediate. The Belgian Football Center purchased a court to make available to our national football teams, including the Red Devils, then there were Walloon rest homes which were interested in the concept for its psychomotor qualities. Very quickly, there were no less than 130 courts which were installed in different establishments, thanks to the support of a sponsor. And since 2020, Boogle has not ceased developing and improving its concept.
An important role in society
If conventional pétanque was already an incredible activity from a social standpoint, which brought people together, without distinction of age, gender, nationality or level, at Boogle, our desire is to go even further and position our concept as a real societal tool. That is why we are calling upon people in Adapted Companies in the region to manufacture all our courts and that we are today planning, to ensure that the different care facilities for disabled people in Belgium benefit from these.
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Do not hesitate to contact us for any information on our products and services.
