Saturday, October 26, 2024, 5PM
The Clubhouse, Toongabbie
This year's September Cup was, of course, held in...October!! The original date in September was set to go, but some late illness necessitated moving it back a month.
The September Cup is the cornerstone event of Western Sydney Subbuteo. Our club dates its origins to the first September Cup in 2003, making it the longest continually running annual tournament in Australia. It is also, currently, the only tournament in Australia dedicated solely to the use of Subbuteo brand equipment. This year, the handicap system kicked into overdrive, meaning that different base types from the history of the game were used and, for the first time, different players were or weren't allowed to polish in order to level the field even further. This helped greatly - no game was won by more than 2 goals - though we reckon there's still room for more handicapping next year, as it was two of the regular suspects who found themselves in the grand final. But more about that later! Also of note was the debut of the 2005 Dream Stadium pitch - bought brand new at an op-shop about a decade ago but never actually used before today. It was a beautiful sight, if not necessarily a brilliant playing experience.
Right from the outset, there were interesting results. Dave successfully defeated Adrian E for the first time ever, and then remained undefeated for the rest of the afternoon and evening, with draws against Franck, Eliot and Costa. Imojjen held out Adrian G to further extend her list of players drawn against, and Æowyn, in her first tournament in nearly a year, picked up a draw against her dad, Adrian E, with narrow losses to Costa and Adrian G.
Costa's late arrival meant he had a few catch up games to play so that, after an initial burst of a win and a draw, wilted to a string of losses as he played a long series of matches without a break. The tightness of the tournament was apparent in Franck's results, as he finally broke a run of 3 draws with a last round victory over Imojjen. Imojjen was another who was wilting as the sky darkened, her early draw against Adrian G her final highlight.
Following the group stage, Dave and Costa replayed their earlier encounter. This time, Dave came out a 1-0 victor to take 5th spot outright. Meanwhile, the top four placegetters went to the semi-finals. And so Eliot wrestled his way to another September Cup grand final with a 1-0 win over Franck. Tony, who had been quietly accumulating points throughout the evening to finish 3rd on the table, then also had a victory with a 1-0 over 2nd placed Adrian G to also earn a spot in the grand final.
And so to the final itself. Eliot had beaten Tony 2-0 in their 2nd round clash but had also, famously, never won a September Cup. And so a tight arm wrestle of a game ensued. As part of their handicaps, neither player had been allowed to polish for the entire tournament, and their rounded 70s and 80s bases were sometimes falling short on the 1970s cloth pitch. Eliot had picked up a couple of narrow wins during the tournament with outrageous long-distance shots, but wasn't able to carve clear chances against Tony. With 5 minutes to go, Tony finally found himself in a position to shoot and, with the help of a defending figure to deflect the shot unpredictably, was able to slot home the opening goal. Eliot redoubled his efforts as the speed of the game picked up in a frantic finale. But Tony held his nerve and, for the 3rd time in the past 5 tournaments, claimed the title.
Of course, there's far more to the September Cup than just a run-of-the-mill tournament. The unpredictable nature of the equipment (and the occasional burst of wind on the light 1980s balls on the outdoor pitches) led to much laughter as players found themselves unable to do what they'd normally expect to do with modern equipment. And the mealtime break was, as ever, a highlight, as Franck and Eliot regaled us with stories from the recent World Cup as everyone dug into their slices of gourmet pizza for dinner. And, even though he went home empty-handed yet again, as we all know Eliot would tell us, "...".
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