West End Petanque Association

The West End Petanque Association, abbreviated WEPA or Westion, was a Lovian local pétanque club from 1920 to 1973. They were based in the West End of Long Road, Noble City and were known for their rather moderate skills and very good atmosphere. The pétanque club was founded by Robert Graves, a French-Spanish Lovia. The end of the club was announced by a low number of memberships and a scandal published in the press in 1972.

History
The West End Petanque Associaion had been a close group of elder men, all very familiar to eachother. The founding members included Robert Graves (their Chairman), Robert Maserati, Stephen Smith, jr. and Kurt Johanson. The club never reached a high level in pétanque, but as one of the only clubs in Lovia, was ranked first in the national registers. However, the WIPA was nationwide known as thé pétanque association, mostly as a result of the great atmosphere during and after games.

In 1969 the club still was very popular. About 24 men (women were allowed to enter, but this was highly unusual) were frequent members of the WIPA. In July of that year, a newspaper journalist wrote an article on the club, claiming it was an undercover mafia organization, having relations with the Sicilian-American Cosa Nostra. Public response on this article was rather cynic. Many did not believe these notable and friendly citizens could have ever been related to the mafia. Though, the Noble City Police did some research concerning these accusations. After the Police Chief received several letters from anonymous Lovians saying it was a mafia organization indeed, the Police did even more thoroug research. The police never was able to find anything against these men.

As a result of these probably false accusations, the club's member figures declined heavily and the WIPA was finally closed in 1973.