Latest tournament of the Western Flickers

Western Flickers Melbourne 4th WASPA tournament (8 July 2016)
Reported by Benny Ng (Melbourne, Australia)

Western Flickers Melbourne was formed to cater for players living on the north/west side of Melbourne and provide more opportunities to play the wonderful game of Subbuteo table football.
If you are reading this and new to Subbuteo table football, watch this video (https://youtu.be/2GwgHF8IrXQ) for a brief introduction to the game.
After a hiatus of over 6 months, the Western Flickers hosted its 4th WASPA tournament. It almost felt like a new beginning with 3 new faces – including 1 junior – to the club having their first WASPA games and a new venue.
With a few kids joining in, it was decided to run 2 tournament categories – Adult and Junior – with a simple round-robin ladder format.
Adults – Beth Everleigh, Adam Deverall, Kevin Grant, Adrian Connolly and Benny Ng
Juniors – Benjamin Ng, Aidan Deverall, Jack Connolly

Junior category
2015 Asian junior champion and favourite Benjamin Ng kicked off proceedings with a match against newcomer Jack Connolly. In a game of missed chances and resolute defending, Jack finished his first competitive Subbuteo table football match with a very credible 0-1 loss to Benjamin.

Benjamin then renewed his rivalry with Aidan Deverall in the next game. It was a close game but Benjamin managed to fashion and put away two excellent goals for a 2-0 win to ensure another WASPA win. Aidan and Jack then battled it out for the runners-up spot. Aidan dominated as expected but just couldn’t find a way past the ever improving Jack. It ended up as a goalless stalemate with Jack snatching second spot in his first tournament. Well done Jack!

Junior category:
1. Benjamin Ng
2. Jack Connolly
3. Aidan Deverall

Adult category
The Adult category welcomed 2 new WASPA players in Kevin Grant and Adrian Connolly. Kevin started out with a 0-2 loss against Subbuteo veteran player Adam Deverall, but improved as the night wore on with his next matches both slim single goal losses.

Beth – who just returned from a trip to England to learn from legendary Subbuteo masters – had an excellent night with very good performances all round especially a 1-1 draw with Adam. Unfortunately, she was just pipped for third spot by Adam who had a slightly better goal difference.

The surprise packet of the night was Adrian Connolly. The former #1 Subbuteo player in Tasmania was making a comeback after decades away from the game and had an amazing night. With wins against Kevin and Beth and a draw against Adam, he went into the final title deciding game against an in-form Benny having secured at least second spot.

In the end, Adrian was unable to cause another upset and Benny won the match and also the WASPA title!

Conclusion
Thanks to all who attended for helping to make it an awesome night. Most importantly, everyone has loads of fun and went home happy. Subbuteo was indeed the winner.
GO WEST!

The final standings are:
1. Benny Ng
2. Adrian Connolly
3. Adam Deverall
4. Beth Everleigh
5. Kevin Grant

P.S. If anyone is interested in taking part in future Western Flickers events or just popping by for chat and look-see, please visit the Western Flickers Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WesternFlickers/) or send an email to bennidokk@yahoo.com