Second tournament of the Veroia Labradors

This sunday 12 players attended the tournament organized by the Verioa Labradors (Greece). Among them, there were three players from Larissa TFC and Athinaikos to meet the local players. In the final, Thrasyvoulos Gagkas defeated Georgios Niavis to claim the trophy. Congratulations to all.

Home win for Clinton Gahwiler

Sunday 30th March 2015 saw Cape Town City Subbuteo Club host its 3rd WASPA tournament. Eight players gathered at the Sports Science Institute in Newlands for the (very belated) New Year tournament. While a few regular players were unavailable, it did feature two new ‘returnee’s’ to the game in Billy Nield and Stephen Solz. The tournament was played in league format, with each game being one half of 12 minutes. Final log positions were as follows:
1. Clinton Gahwiler 18
2. John Fishlock 15
3. Brendon Hoctor 15
4. Grant Lewis 13
5. Stephen Solz 5
6. Billy Nield 5
7. Dave Conradie 5
8. Glenn O’Connor 4

(Report by Clinton Gahwiler)

The Curse Of The Second Pie

Subbuteo Parramatta went on the road for this FISTF/WASPA tournament, heading down to club member, Raffaele Lombardi’s home town of Berry. The glorious sunlit day filled the room for the players to face off – some of the old regulars against some old champions who’ve recently returned to the game, as well as some novices to bring renewed enthusiasm.

Group 1 turned out to be where a lot of the action would be – both grand finalists as well as the repechage winner fought out the group stage. Daniele Lombardi was overwhelmed in his matches against Peter Thomas and former Australian junior champion Will Johncock. Their encounter against each other was a cagey affair, ending 2-1 to Peter.

Group 2 saw Eliot Kennedy down Adrian Elmer 2-0 in the first match, Adrian defending doggedly for the opening 15 minutes before letting himself down with some poor play and 2 conceded goals in the opening couple of minutes of the second half. New boy Mat Barrie then did the same to Adrian, Mat’s reading of the game serving him well until Adrian finally managed to break through midway through the second half. Eliot’s experience was too much for Mat in the final game.

Group 3, the only one with 4 players, was also the group that could go down to the wire, which it did. An opening 1-1 draw between Steve Dettre and Raffaele Lombardi could have gone either way, with each player having a golden chance to take the game in the final minute alone, a draw, however, being a fair reflection. Paul Magee got warmed up with a win over the other new boy, Adam Reynolds. Steve accounted for Paul in the second round, while Raffaele dispatched Adam. In the final games, the biggest celebration of the day happened when Adam scored his first ever competitive goal – a well placed finish against Steve – though Steve kept control, winning the game. Paul knew he needed to beat Raffaele to progress to the knock-out stage but, in the end, had to be content with the repechage after Raffaele saw him off 2-0.

The repechage semis saw the experience of Daniele and Paul win out over the new players, Mat and Adam though Mat, again, showed a deft defensive line and made Paul work hard, while both players brought an enthusiasm to the dy and willingness to learn that will see them progress quickly. In the final, two very different styles fought out for supremacy with Paul’s calculated precision rubbing up against Daniele’s flamboyance. Paul took the lead, while Daniele had thought he had equalised with a deft shot before realising he had a figure off-side. In the second half, Daniele pressed hard and finally found the net with a swift series of flicks on the run to bury the ball. As the game looked like heading for extra-time, Daniele took the lead, another swift manouvre and powerful shot giving him the repechage title.

In the barrage rounds, Steve took a comfortable 2 goal to the half-time break over Adrian, but Adrian got into the game much more in the second half, pulling one back and coming close a few more times. Steve’s experience, however, showed through as he made sure of his place in the semis with a 3rd. Will defeated Raffaele 3-1 to take the other semi, meaning the 3 seeded players were in the semis, joined by the the former junior champion playing his first tournament after an almost 20 year lay-off.

While Steve had his moments, Peter took an early goal in their semi, which allowed Peter to settle and dominate. His third goal, in particular, was an absolute screamer, scored by a deep, defensive figure piercing the smallest gap to get a venemous shot on target. Meanwhile, Will was pushing Eliot all the way, Eliot unable to turn field position into scoreboard dominance. 1-1 at full time meant the first (and only) extra time of the day was needed. This turned into an almost non-event, though, as, barely had the extra period started and the audience settled in to watch the tussle, than Will scored a well taken golden goal winner, giving him a rematch against his group opponent, Peter.

Having learned a few things from their earlier encounter, Peter played a perfect opening and was 3-0 up inside 5 minutes. An earlier comment about an extra pie that Will had eaten at lunch came back to haunt him as he appeared unable to move in the face of Peter’s quickfire attacks. He did finally settle, though, and was able to head to the half-time break without conceding again. Midway through the second half, however, Peter put the result beyond doubt with a knock-out blow 4th goal. Will did get some possession and pulled back a well-taken consolation, before Peter rounded out a convincing performance with 2 more to take the game 6-1.

A fantastic day of Subbuteo, played in sublime surrounds with great sportsmanship on display at all levels. It was great to see new and returning players throw themselves at the challenge with enthusiasm, while the regulars continued their onfield duels with each other with both competitiveness and camaraderie.

(Report from Adrian Elmer, originally posted here)

To see the full results click here.
To see more photos, click here.

First Alberton tournament a success!

The players

The Johannesburg Table Football Club hosted their first tournament in Alberton, on the eastern part of Johannesburg on Sunday the 29th of March 2015 at the Erkhuleni Municipal Offices. The venue proved to be an immaculate venue and is odds on favourite to host the 2015 South African Championship later this year.

A nice venue

A field of 9 participants was divided into two groups. This tournament saw the return of Shane Graaff, one of the founding members of the South African Table Football Association in 2008. Imtiaz Ahmed also made his debut at a officially recognized table football event.

The group stages went according to the seedings as Jayden van der Merwe and Clifford Graaff qualified as group winners along with Julian van der Merwe and Shane Graaff as runner-ups. In the semi-final, top ranked junior, Jayden accounted for Shane Graaff by a solitary goal in a free flowing game. Clifford defeated Julian in a tense penalty shoot-out after a exciting but goalless game.

The final

Action in the final

The final saw Clifford defeat Jayden by a single goal in a tense and exhilarating final. Unfortunately, Jayden made one defensive mistake which Clifford was able to capitalize on and secure his first Alberton Challenge title.
Once again, great fun was had by all and more table football tournaments are to be hosted on the eastern part of Johannesburg.

(Report by Clifford Graaff)

Scotland's Malcolm Lees is UK and Ireland champion

This week-end, the club of Yorkshire Phoenix organized the 2015 First Call Gas WASPA UK and Ireland Championship.

Yorkshire Phoenix, team champion

A great weekend saw Yorkshire Phoenix win the team event on Saturday beating Manchester TFC in the final 2-0. The individual tournament was played under WASPA banner and attracted 22 players. The event was played with Swiss system and it was very exciting as after 5 games, the top 3 players ended with 12 points. Scotland had a 1,2,3 with Malcolm Lees coming out on top via goal difference. Great weekends play enjoyed by all, and we will be sure to run the event again next season.

(Story with the help of Paul Lawrenson)

Final ranking:
1. Malcom Lees, Scotland/Manchester TFC
2. Mike Burns, Scotland/Hot Club d'Ecosse
3. Robert Ramsey, Scotland/NETFA Teesside
4. Mike Parnaby, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
5. Kevin Adderley, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
6. Brian Daley, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
7. Andy Boyer, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
8. Martin Blanchard, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
9. Mark Farrell, Ireland/Yorkshire Phoenix
10. Daryl Shanks, Scotland/Hot Club d'Ecosse
11. Connor Bowden, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
12. Stuart Walsh, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
13. Russ Harker, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
14. Ben Staples, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
15. Matthew Parnaby, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
16. Ash Harker, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
17. Gary Keech, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
18. Paul Kerfoot, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
19. Jeff Parsons, England/NETFA Teesside
20. Abbie Staples, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
21. Dylan Staples, England/Yorkshire Phoenix
22. Mark Parkin, England/NETFA Teesside

László Csibor wins in Budapest

Six players participated the third Hungarian WASPA tournament, and after a few months pause László Csibor from Mezőberény TFC won the competition and Gábor Baross finished the second place. The tournament was very exciting, because only the higher number of points between Róbert Zsigri and Zoltán Baross judged for the third place and Róbert Zsigri was better with only one goal.

The final ranking:
1. László Csibor
2. Gábor Baross
3. Róbert Zsigri
4. Zoltán Baross
5. Adrián Száki
6. Bence Dolmányos

In blog of "Budapest Subbuteo" you can find some photos and the full results of the tournament: http://budapestsubbuteo.blog.hu/2015/03/29/diadalmas_visszateres_518

(Report by Gábor Baross)

Cyprus: nice win for Marcos Kalopsidiotis

This sunday 14 players attended the tournament held in Limassol and organized the the clubs of Famagusta. In the final, Marcos Kalopsidiotis defeated Georgios Zangylos in sudden death (2-1). Charalambos Constantinou and Marios Nikolaou were the semi-finalists.

First trophy for Spyros Stratoudakis

Spyros Stratoudakis is the winner of the 14th WASPA tournament organized by Flaming Flickers in Athens Greece.Finalist was Franco Alfonso. Well donne to all participants!

(Report by the Flaming Flickers)

Andy Beskaby wins in Arbroath

Andy Beskaby, tournament winner

A great days play held in Arbroath today where the focus was on coaching whilst playing. Two players sat out today but played friendlies whilst also coaching were Gareth and Steve.
Congratulations to Andy Beskaby on his first session win and doing so without conceding a single goal. The game of the day was 0-0 between Andy and Rob, a very well played game between the two Highland rivals!
Coaching is going to plan according to Gareth and Steve, great news for the club who will be fielding A & B teams at the forthcoming Glasgow Grand Prix in April.

Placings
1. Andy Beskaby
2. Rob Conway
3. Dave Baxter
4. Stuart Peacock
5. Craig Thom
6. Kevin Perkis

(Report by Steve Bennett)

A second WASPA title for Jeremy Bradley in Enderby

Action shot from the tournament

The English Cup was played in Enderby last week-end. matt Lampitt won the Open category while Phil Redman won the veterans. There was a consolation tournament played under WASPA banner by 11 players and Jeremy Bradley took the honors as he beat Andy Boyer in the final.

Full report of the English Cup can be foudn at http://subbuteoassociation.co.uk/english-cup-victories-for-lampitt-redman-arnold/