June and July 2024: results from around the world

We are always happy to see players flicking the plastic in many different countries. In the last few years, we had of course a lot of WASPA event in England but some other nations are still very active with regular tournaments. Here is a brief summary of recent results from Wales, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Belgium, Northern Ireland, Ireland, France and Scotland. Some more news also from Norway!

Drury, Wales, June 16, group format

1. Ruby Matthews
2. Chris Bedford
3. Cayne Matthews
4. Brendan Ashley

Brisbane, Australia, June 16, group format

1. Giuseppe Tardiota
2. Gus Gillespie
3. Gordon Orr
4. Gareth Whalley
5. Wayne Miller

Johannesburg, South Africa, June 16 (group and knock-out games)

Semi-finals: Ian Clarke - Rui Dos Santos 3-0
Gary Downs - Craig Smith 3-1
Final: Ian Clarke - Gary Downs 1-0

Perth, Australia, June 23, group format

1. Hugh Best (Sports TFC of Western Australia)
2. Alan Kimber (Subbuteo Perth)
3. Chris Thorn (Subbuteo Perth)
4. Noel Mani (Subbuteo Perth)
5. Ron Byrne (Subbuteo Perth)

Auckland, New Zealand, June 24, Swiss system

1. Mark Rossi
2. Richard Edeson
3. Conrad Mudge
4. George Miller
5. Andy Miller
6. Craig Wright

Melbourne, Australia, June 27, group format.

1. Peter Thomas (Melbourne TFC)
2. Benji Batten (Melbourne TFC)
3. Adrian Connolly (Western Sydney)
4. Nathan Urbaniak (Melbourne TFC)
5. Anthony Madiona (Northern Phoenix)
6. Beth Eveleigh (Northern Phoenix)

Templeuve, Belgium, June 28, Swiss system (2 categories)

Templeuve United, one of the most active clubs in the circuit, organized a special tournament last month as the club will have to leave their premises in a couple of weeks. The city council decided to rebuilde the local sports center, which means the club will have to find a new venue during the next 2 years before have a great new room is available. 18 players attended the evening and two separate tournaments were organized in Swiss system. Geoffrey marain was unbeaten in the main tournament while returning player Raphael Dhondt, who had not played for more than 30 years, proved the training sessions of the last few weeks were good to win the "promotion" tournament.

Top division with 8 players

1. Geoffrey Marain (AS Hennuyer)
2. Sébastien Rochez (Templeuve)
3. Matthias Averlant (AS Hennuyer)
4. Jann Segers (AS Hennuyer)
5. Vincent Coppenolle (Templeuve)
6. Benjamin Marain (AS Hennuyer)
7. Lucas Père (AS Hennuyer)
8. Michaël Dupret (Tournai)

Promotion group with 10 players

1. Raphael Dhondt (Templeuve)
2. David Sardi de Letto (Wattrelos-SLM)
3. Jordan Bonte (AS Hennuyer)
4. Franck Santer (Templeuve)
5. Eric Caillaux (Templeuve)
6. Sébastien Sorge (Wattrelos-SLM)
7. Thibaut Marville (Wattrelos-SLM)
8. Ursule Dhondt (Templeuve)
9. Mathis Verhelst (Templeuve)
10. Roman Lamiral (Templeuve)

Brisbane, Australia, June 27, group format

1. Chris Burford (England/Andover)
2. Giuseppe Tardiota (Brisbane)
3. Gus Gillespie (Brisbane)
4. Gordon Orr (Brisbane)
5. Gareth Whalley (Brisbane)
6. Wayne Miller (Brisbane)

Johannesburg, South Africa, June 29, group format

Report by Gary Downs: "On Saturday the 29th of June, ETS held a fund raiser fun day.  A 7-a-side football tournament, stalls, food, raffles and of course a Subbuteo tournament were all there. The tournament was a round robin of 6 players. After a tough opening draw between Easterns team mates, Ian and Gary, their days took a different turn. Ian went unbeaten to take the top spot, while Gary battled and went winless to finish 5th. Chris had his best day in a tournament for a long time, picking up two wins and two draws. He was pipped to second spot by Fernando by just one goal. Johan had a mixed bag to take 4th spot while Carl couldn't repeat his good performance in his last outing, and finished in 6th. All players that played and a few that didn't, contributed to the fund raising with donations, that are going to a worthy cause."

1. Ian Clarke (Easterns)
2. Fernando Rodrigues (ETS)
3. Chris Dimmer (Johannesburg TFC)
4. Johan Niewenhuis (Johannesburg TFC)
5. Gary Downs (Easterns)
6. Carl Bolweg (ETS)

Derry, Northern Ireland, June 23, Knock-out games

Lawrence Watson & winner Kenny Beggs

Lawrence Watson and runner-up Marco Bevilacqua

This years Jimmy Watson Memorial Cup was played as the plate competition at the Irish Open FISTF IO. The group was made up from an impressive line up who narrowly missed out on the last 16 from the main comp, so the competition was fierce. Kenny ‘The Legend’ Beggs came out as champion with Derry's own Marco Bevilacqua coming in runnner-up.

Semi-finals: Kenny Beggs - Malcolm Lees 2-1
Paul Lawrenson - Marco Bevilacqua 1-2
Final: Kenny Beggs - Marco Bevilacqua 2-1

Cork, Ireland, July 1, Group format

1. Mario Frittelli (Cork)
2. David Elton (Tralee)
3. Cian Hogan (Tralee)
4. William Magnier (Cork)
5. Timmy Ryan (Cork)
6. Jeff Murphy (Cork)
7. Barry Higgins (Cork)
8. Gerard Heaney (Cork)

Auckland, New Zealand, July 8, Swiss system (2 games each)

1. Mark Rossi
2. Andy Miller
3. George Miller
4. Conrad Mudge
5. Richard Edeson
6. Craig Wright

Edinburgh, Scotland, July 8, Group format

"July's WASPA event in Edinburgh saw 6 players play in a league format. Marco won his opening game against Bruce Henderson which proved to be pivotal, with Marco taking the game 1 - 0 and helping him to achieve top spot. 

Solid performances from Bruce and Peter Morrison saw them finish 2nd and 3rd respectively, with Peter accomplishing a full house of shutouts and conceding 0 goals on the night. 

In the Crammond Derby, Andy Kent and Paul McFadyen played a nail biting affair, with Andy triumphing 1 - 0 . And Lee McMenemy learned the hard way to hold his goalkeeper when getting shots taken against him. All in all, a great night."

1. Marco Bevilacqua (Golazzo SC)
2. Bruce Henderson (Golazzo SC)
3. Peter Morrison (Golazzo SC)
4. Andy Kent (Golazzo SC)
5. Paul McFadyen (Golazzo SC)
6. Lee McMenemy (Golazzo SC)

Wattrelos, France, promotional event, July 3, group format

1. Jordan Bonte (Belgium)
2. David Sardi de Letto
3. Sébastien Sorge
4. Thibaut Marville
5. Nicolas Voet

Norway: Subbuteo project in Terje Ellefsen's school

Terje Ellefsen is still doing an amazing job in his school with many kids involved in a development program. The "Euro 24 tournament" is not a WASPA event but might open doors for future events. The hard work pays as boys and girls are improving week after week and 16 players have been involved in the event. Half-size pitches and teams have been borrowed to kids so they can continue to practice during the summer and Terje is hoping to have tournaments outside school in the future, possibly involving parents, too. "We have a good wave here", reported Terje Ellefsen who has also been very active posting flyers and posters about the beautiful game in the surroundings with some positive answers from former players who will hopefully be back in action soon.