Affectionately known as the “Horse Poo Cup”, the Winter Indoor League, run by Cobbetts Petanque Club, is about to kick off its sixteenth year on November 20th.
The story starts back in 2011 when Quob Stables at Durley was identified by Cobbetts member Glenn Floyd as a possible venue for some indoor matches. It was decided to run a league through the winter, with one match night per month from November through to March.
The first year saw an entry of 14 teams from local clubs such as Shedfield, Limesdowne (now Fareham), Portchester, The Ship and Southampton City, plus some from further afield such as Crondall and Racing Club, and some mixed teams such as Harrison’s Heroes, Plumhoff Sport and Hampshire Mix-up! Matches were played on Wednesday nights and it took some getting used to the very springy surface, complete with other horse-related ‘decoration’. The first holders of what Steve Love, Secretary of Cobbetts at the time, affectionately called ‘The Horse Poo Cup’ were Harrison’s Heroes, with a 6-3 win over Plumhoff Sport.
The following year horsey events booked at the stables forced us to move to Friday night and this saw a slightly disappointing fall in entries to 10 teams. We also encountered our first major problem when the January semi-finals night had to be cancelled because of snow. This meant a hasty change of plan, going straight from leagues to the finals.
Entries have fluctuated over the years, from 8 to an amazing 18 in 2017/18 and the event has attracted teams from all over the region including Muscliff, Southsea, Hayling Island, Worthing, Arundel, Lymington and Bordon to name a few.
The first competitions were run by Ali Stubbs and Mike Porter. Dave Stubbs feeling he had too many other jobs to do without taking this one on as well! This worked fine until Mike and Lyn Porter decided to move to Devon in 2020. Inevitably, Dave stepped in to help Ali with the organisation. This has remained the situation ever since, with Dave and Ali very grateful for the help from other Cobbetts members with scoring and setting up the terrains and players from other clubs who have been very helpful with setting-up and packing away.
After a break for Covid, 2021 saw a return to Wednesday night play and several interesting teams entered. Dave Lucas entered a team from his home village, Avington, and Peter Dawson (Cobbetts) and Marion Stanbrook (The Ship) both entered teams made up of family members. Burridge Cricket Club also put in a team.
Returning to being held on Fridays, and with the cafe re-opened with friendly new owners, 2025/26 saw Hayling Island U3A entering for the first time and River Hamble winning the Gold competition for the third time in four years, beating the previous year’s winners Reprobates in the gold final.
With cash prizes awarded for the best team in each of the leagues each month, and awards for the eventual gold, silver, bronze and spoon winners, there’s plenty to play for each month.
And the event is friendly and sociable, and a great way to stay in touch with petanque friends over the winter season. Even if the terrain is still regularly referred to as ‘bonkers’.
Winter Indoor League Roll of Honour
| No. Teams | Winners | Runners-up | Silver Winners | Silver Runners-up | Bronze Winners | Spoon Winners | |
| 2011/12 | 14 | Harrison’s Heroes | Plumhoff Sport | Cobbetts Riders | Shedfield | – | Cobbetts Seasiders |
| 2012/13 | 10 | Galacticos | Shedfield | Limesdowne Pumas | Harrison’s Heroes | – | – |
| 2013/14 | 8 | Fareham Oaks | Bordon | Cobbetts | Portchester | – | – |
| 2014/15 | 10 | Cobbetts Seven | Shedfield | Cobb@Quob | Fareham Oaks | – | Portchester |
| 2015/16 | 14 | Cobra Kai | Fareham Oaks | Shedfield | Harrison’s Heroes | – | Southampton City |
| 2016/17 | 16 | Les Hombres Mono | Harrison’s Heroes | Portchester | Fareham Oaks | Fareham Acorns | Magnificent Seven |
| 2017/18 | 18 | Cobbetts Leftovers | Salmon Leap | Southsea | Shedfield A | Fareham Oaks | Cobb@Quob |
| 2018/19 | 16 | Leftovers | Magnificent Seven | Cobb@Quob | Shedfield A | Cobbetts Six | Seahorses |
| 2019/20 | 14 | Fareham Oaks | Southsea Meerkats | Leftovers | Fareham Acorns | Avington Newbies | – |
| 2020/21 | Not held | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2021/22 | 14 | Cobbetts Six | Crondalliers | Fareham Oaks | River Hamble | Portchester | – |
| 2022/23 | 10 | River Hamble | Cobbetts Six | Muscliff Cherries | Shedfield | – | – |
| 2023/24 | 12 | River Hamble | Reprobates | Fareham Conifers | Muscliff Cherries | Southampton City | – |
| 2024/25 | 16 | Reprobates | Cobbetts Six | Bouledozers | Cobbetts Too | Portchester Castles | Southsea |
| 2025/26 | 14 | River Hamble | Reprobates | Fareham Conifers | Cobbetts Too | Portchester Castles/ Muscliff Cherries | – |
