The origins — who was Fanny really?
The story of the Fanny is to pétanque what the story of William Tell is to Switzerland: a founding legend, partially documented, abundantly embellished, and whose core nobody really wants to question because it's just too good.
🏺 THE OFFICIAL LEGEND Fanny from Grenoble — the café waitress The most widespread version places the story in a Grenoble café at the start of the 20th century. A young waitress named Fanny would have, by tradition or mockery, offered her cheek to be kissed by players who lost 13-0. The cheek in question — and this is where versions diverge — was not always the one on her face. In some variants of the legend, it was a painting representing Fanny's buttocks that adorned the café wall, and it was this painting that the losers had to kiss.What is certain: the practice existed in cafés and indoor boulodromes in the Rhône-Alpes region before spreading throughout the South of France, then across the whole territory over the decades. Early 20th century Birth of the tradition in Grenoble cafés Local practice linked to the culture of indoor café-boulodromes in the region. The public shame de perdre sans marquer un seul point est formalisée par un rituel d'humiliation douce — et très photographiée. Années 1930–1950 Diffusion dans tout le Sud de la France La tradition se propage avec le développement de la pétanque comme sport populaire. Chaque région s'approprie le rituel et lui ajoute ses variantes locales. Le tableau représentant Fanny — les fesses peintes ou sculptées — devient un objet incontournable des clubs. Années 1970–1980 La Fanny devient un objet de collection Les représentations de Fanny se multiplient : tableaux, sculptures, plaques de bois découpées, céramiques peintes... Les brocanteurs commencent à vendre ces objets. Certains clubs commandent des versions personnalisées. La tradition s'institutionnalise. Aujourd'hui Patrimoine immatériel de la pétanque française La Fanny est aujourd'hui reconnue comme une tradition culturelle majeure de la pétanque. Les clubs qui n'ont pas leur tableau ou leur rituel font figure d'exception. Des variantes régionales font la fierté locale. Et chaque génération de joueurs connaît au moins un premier Fanny qui l'a marqué à vie. 🎙️ Paquita sur la légende de Fanny "J'ai fait mes recherches. Il existe au moins sept versions différentes de qui était Fanny. Dans l'une, c'est une serveuse de Grenoble. Dans une autre, une patronne de café de Lyon. Dans une troisième, un personnage inventé de toutes pièces par un joueur en 1923 pour humilier son beau-frère. La vérité, c'est que personne ne sait vraiment. Et franchement, c'est mieux comme ça. Une légende qui a une origine officielle perd la moitié de sa magie. Fanny est plus intéressante mystérieuse." — Paquita, historienne amateur et accidentelle
Myths vs reality: what we think we know (and what's false)
Over the decades, the Fanny has accumulated a thick layer of false beliefs, invented rules, and local traditions elevated to universal law. Let's untangle the true from the false.
❌ MYTHE "La Fanny est une règle officielle FFPJP." "On doit obligatoirement offrir un verre." "La Fanny s'applique aussi en doublette et en tête-à-tête." "Prendre une Fanny disqualifie de la suite du concours." "Fanny était une vraie serveuse dont on connaît le nom de famille." "Il est interdit de refuser le rituel dans un club affilié." ✓ RÉALITÉ La Fanny est une tradition culturelle — aucun règlement FIPJP ou FFPJP ne la mentionne. Le verre est une coutume locale. Certains clubs ne le pratiquent pas, d'autres exigent une tournée entière. Dans la tradition classique, la Fanny concerne la triplette. Son application en doublette varie selon les clubs. La Fanny n'a aucune conséquence sportive officielle — c'est uniquement un rituel culturel. L'identité réelle de Fanny reste non établie. Les archives du café présumé de Grenoble n'ont rien confirmé. Le rituel est une tradition, pas une obligation légale. Un refus peut cependant générer un froid durable avec le club.What the "rule" says — and what it doesn't say
📋 THE CONSENSUS DEFINITION A team takes a Fanny when it loses a game without having scored any point — meaning the final score is 13-0 (or in some game variants, any X-0 score where the losing team never led). The traditional ritual requires that the losers kiss Fanny's buttocks — represented by a painting, a sculpture or any object standing in for them — and offer a drink or a round to the winning team, the referees or all the players present, depending on the local tradition. 13-0 the classic scoreof the Fanny 0 points scored
by the team that takes it ∞ ritual variants
cataloged in France 1 minimum drink
(depending on the clubs) 🍷 The drink — mandatory or not?
In the classic tradition, the team that takes the Fanny offers a round for everyone — or at least a drink to the winners. In large competitions with many simultaneous games, this rule is often relaxed (a drink to the opposing team only) for obvious practical reasons. In clubs, the tradition is maintained more strictly. The unwritten rule: whoever refuses the drink will be called out by the whole club at their next Fanny — and they will inevitably take one, one day or another.
The craziest rituals — a tour of France's traditions
France is a country of 67 million inhabitants and as many different ways of making someone take a Fanny. Here is a selection of the most creative, most humiliating, and most inexplicable variants cataloged across clubs.
📍 Classic South-East The mandatory Fanny Painting The loser kisses the painted buttocks on the painting hung on the club wall. The kiss must be audible, visible and owned. No pursed-lips kiss — the club secretary checks. A round for everyone bought by the losers. 🟢 Classic 📍 Lyon region The shame song In addition to the kiss on the painting, the losers must sing together a nursery rhyme dedicated to Fanny composed by the club. The lyrics change from club to club but systematically include the losers' first names. Musical quality is not required — enthusiasm is. 🟠 Intense 📍 Inland Provence The public procession The losing team stands up, lines up in front of the other players in the competition and recites out loud: "We took Fanny. We're proud of it. Well, no." Then everyone kisses the painting in turn, with their first name announced by the improvised presenter. 🟠 Public 📍 Occitania The selfie with Fanny Modern and documented version: the losers photograph themselves kissing the Fanny. The photo is sent immediately to the club's WhatsApp group. It stays pinned until the club's next Fanny. One loser tried to delete the photo. He was banned from the group. 🟠 Digital 📍 Périgord The Fanny in rosé The ritual is simple and dreaded: the losers offer a bottle of local rosé per player on the winning team. In triples, that makes six bottles. In the grand final of an 80-person competition, some teams calculated that a Fanny could cost more than the entry fee. 🔴 Costly 📍 Brittany (yes, there is pétanque in Brittany) The Fanny in cider Local adaptation of the southern ritual: the rosé is replaced with brut cider. The Fanny painting has been replaced by an oak wood sculpture representing a mermaid in an equivocal position. Kissing it in Brittany means kissing a hybrid and magnificent cultural heritage. 🟢 Local 📍 Paris — indoor boulodromes The urban Fanny In some Parisian clubs, the traditional painting has been replaced by a screen displaying the 13-0 score with the losers' names for 10 minutes. No kiss. No mandatory drink. Just digital shame, sober and cold. Parisians have their own style of humiliation. 🟢 Modern 📍 Var — unidentified club The Fanny in Bermuda shorts The loser must retrieve the Fanny painting, carry it under their arm to the refreshment stand, order the drinks while holding it visibly, and put it back in place. One hand on the painting, one hand serving. Nobody has questioned the origin of this rule. It dates from 1987 and that's how it is. 🔴 Legendary 📍 Unknown — reported on Facebook The Fanny speech The losing team's captain must improvise a speech of at least 2 minutes explaining why they lost 13-0, without ever using the words "bad luck", "terrain", "sun", "wind" or "it's not fair". Record duration: 12 minutes. Minimum accepted duration: 58 seconds. 🔴 Creative 📸Physical representations of Fanny — paintings, sculptures, plaques — are sold in many specialized pétanque shops and at flea markets. They range from the classic painted wooden model to the more recent resin model. Some clubs have theirs customized with the club logo. The smallest Fanny cataloged measures 8 cm. The largest, in a Var club, measures 1m20 and weighs 12 kilos.
The shame ranking — the worst ways to take a Fanny
Not all Fannys are equal. There's the ordinary Fanny — sad but dignified. And there are the legendary Fannys people still talk about ten years later. Here is the unofficial ranking of the most aggravating circumstances.
🏅 La Fanny en finale de concours Perdre 13-0 en finale, devant 80 joueurs qui attendaient d'aller boire. La honte est proportionnelle au nombre de témoins. Niveau de récupération psychologique estimé : 3 à 6 mois. HONTE MAX 🥈 La Fanny contre des débutants Vous jouez depuis 15 ans. Eux depuis 3 semaines. Le score final : 13-0 pour eux. Certains joueurs ont vendu leurs boules après ça. D'autres ont juste changé de club. CUISANT 🥉 La Fanny contre votre propre famille Oncle Roger et ses fils ont fait 13-0. Votre père est dans l'équipe qui a pris Fanny. Le repas de Noël suivant a été difficile. Oncle Roger a ramené le sujet à l'apéritif. DURABLE 4 La Fanny photographiée et partagée Le baiser sur le tableau a été immortalisé. La photo est dans le groupe WhatsApp depuis 2019. Elle revient à chaque anniversaire de la date. Elle a été imprimée et affichée dans le club. ÉTERNEL 5 La Fanny le jour de votre premier concours Vous vous êtes inscrit avec enthousiasme. Vous avez perdu 13-0 votre première partie. Vous avez dû embrasser Fanny avant même de comprendre ce qu'était Fanny. Bienvenue dans le sport. FORMATEUR 6 La double Fanny (deux fois dans le même concours) Statistiquement quasi-impossible. Humainement traumatisant. Un joueur de Toulouse l'a vécue en 2018. Il joue toujours. On le respecte pour ça. LÉGENDAIRECan you avoid the Fanny?
The question every player silently asks themselves deep down. The short answer: yes, technically. The long answer: if you play long enough, no.
🧠 THE SACRIFICIAL POINTER STRATEGY "In some clubs, there's a theory that you can 'buy a point' by deliberately sacrificing a hopeless mène to score at least 1. Even 1 point is enough. It doesn't change the defeat — 13-1 is still humiliating — but it avoids the Fanny. This strategy is ethically disputed but universally understood by every player who has seen it practiced." 😤 THE STATISTICAL TRUTH "Every regular player will take a Fanny in their life. The question isn't if, but when. The numbers are relentless: if you play 50 games a year for 10 years, the probability of avoiding a 13-0 500 times is close to zero. The Fanny isn't a curse — it's just statistics with a buttocks painting and a round of drinks." 🎭 THE PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH "The greatest players say you should kiss Fanny with elegance — even with pride. Because taking a Fanny means you played. It means you took part. And it means you had the bad luck or an opponent good enough to never let you score. There's something almost poetic about it. Well, that's what you tell yourself after the third drink." 🍑 Paquita's tip to survive your FannyWhen it happens — and it will — be the player who owns it with humor. Kiss the painting with enthusiasm, offer the drink graciously, tell the anecdote yourself before others do. A player who laughs at their Fanny before anyone else is a player who earns respect. A player who disappears to the toilets right at ritual time is a player remembered for the wrong reasons.
📖 LE LIVRE DE PAQUITA Pour ne plus jamais prendre de FannyThe best way to avoid the Fanny? Improve. Paquita's book gathers 100 numbered exercises, level-based programs and the complete method to become a formidable shooter — with, as a bonus, the satisfaction of no longer being the team at 0.
📦 Order on AmazonFAQ — Your frequent questions
No. The FIPJP and FFPJP rulebook does not mention the Fanny. It's a cultural tradition, not an official sporting rule. In large national or international competitions, the ritual is generally not practiced — or only symbolically. It's in local clubs, friendly competitions and neighborhood doubles that the tradition is best maintained. Each competition organizer can decide whether to apply it or not in their specific rules. In the classic tradition, the Fanny applies to all game formats — triples, doubles and one-on-one. A 13-0 score in one-on-one is sometimes considered even more humiliating because you bear it alone. Doubles add a particular dimension: you share the shame with a partner, which can either bond a team or create lasting tensions depending on how each person experiences the event. Improvisation takes over — and that's often where the most creative local rituals are born. Without a painting, clubs have used a printed photo, a whiteboard drawing, a symbolic object placed on the counter, or simply the drink rule with no physical prop. There are even clubs where the Fanny is taken by kissing the opposing team's jersey folded in four. The tradition adapts to whatever is available. Technically yes — nobody can physically force you. Socially, it's another matter. In most clubs, refusing the ritual is seen as a lack of fair play and humor that can linger long in the collective memory. There are accepted alternatives: a firm refusal accompanied by a round graciously offered is generally accepted without resentment. What matters is the spirit of the tradition — humility in defeat — not the kiss itself. Several sports have similar traditions of gentle humiliation for catastrophic performances. In Canadian curling, some clubs practice equivalent rituals. In darts, memorable first attempts are the subject of club traditions. But the Fanny remains unique in its physical (the kiss) and visual (l'objet représentatif permanent dans le club), ce qui lui confère une présence matérielle qu'aucune autre tradition sportive n'a vraiment reproduite. C'est pour ça qu'elle perdure — elle a un support physique qui lui donne une réalité concrète dans l'espace du club. 📎 Articles liés Rules Complete FFPJP rulebook — the real official rules Regulations 2026 Regulations — what is really changing Competition Official pétanque competition calendar PétanqueLand All the pétanque news Video Refereeing videos — game situations explained Tools Free PetanqueLand tools© Pétanque by Paquita — petanqueland.fr ·
📖 Paquita's book on Amazon
This article is a cultural and humorous exploration of the Fanny tradition. Any resemblance to Fannys experienced by existing players is statistically inevitable.