Anas wins January event in Singapore

In this new year of 2020, the WASPA tournaments by Table Football Association of Singapore (TFAS) will be renamed as “TFAS Monthly WASPA”. The WASPA is open to everyone, while also serving as a platform for the TFAS League 2020.

The first Monthly WASPA saw a great turnout of 16 players!

All the players went through 4 rounds of the Swiss system, with every player playing 4 games each. Additionally, there were handicap conditions implemented on experienced players when playing against less experienced players.

Every session, 2 to 3 handicap conditions will be randomly drawn. This session’s handicap conditions are:
- No flick for all set piece (corner, free-flick, flick in), but opponent gets to flick.
- Use small plastic goalkeeper

These handicaps are aimed to challenge the experienced players, and at the same time, prevent the weaker players from taking a bashing.

After the 4 rounds, it was Anas who came out tops, undefeated with 3 wins and a draw, with Rudy and Bernard close behind.

WASPA rankings of December 2019

Dear all,
you will find in the attached files the monthly standings of the WASPA circuit after the events held in December.

WASPA Season results 2019-2020
WASPA ranking - December 19

Christmas Cup in Singapore

We added 28 sets of results, some of them arrived a bit later than expected but we are glad to have seen 27 regional tournaments and 1 promotional events last month. We also had a test-match in Switzerland and some meetings of the NETFA mini leagues.

We are glad to see a new club joining the WASPA circuit in Edinburgh (Scotland) and to see the Ellan Vannin tournament on the Isle of Man.

26 players for the Flaming Flickers tournament

Maybe a few results are missing in the PDF file. If you see missing data, please get in touch so that I can correct the files.

If some juniors (born in 2003 or later) don't appear in the ranking, it means we don't have their birthdates so please send your feedback.

Players at the Attard tournament in Malta

In the different rankings of clubs, we are glad to see the Kragero club from Norway joining the Development league.

Kids having a great day on Subbuteo in Italy

Please remember you only need 3 players to register your tournament. Don't be scared to join. It's free and tournament requests can be sent by e-mail to vincent.cop@rsca.com

Please invite your friends to join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/waspasubbuteo/
We also have a WASPA page here: https://www.facebook.com/WASPA-World-Amateur-Subbuteo-Players-Association-231789816834700/

Keep in mind WASPA is also looking for partners. If you know any company ready to support us (we don’t ask for money but we want some win-win agreements so that we can promote each other), don't hesitate to contact me at vincent.cop@rsca.com or vincentcoppenolle@gmail.com

Ideas to develop the WASPA circuit, to get new clubs/nations involved or to make things more attractive are always welcome. We stay at your disposal for more info.

Yours sincerely,
Vincent Coppenolle

Eugene Plytas with Flaming Flickers tournament

A great turnout and a great atmosphere

The latest Flaming flickers tournament was a real success as our greek friends decided to run their December event with three different categories. 26 players from many different clubs were taking part.

Eugene Plytas receiving his trophy

In the main event, Eugene Plytas was the best of 12 players after defeating Markos Kapsabelis (1-0) in the final. Alekos Apatzis and Manolis Papadakis were the semi-finalists.

Podium of the B category

The B category had 10 players with two groups of 5 and then knock-out games. Achilleas Bogdanidis took the honors after beating Vasilios Argyropoulos (3-0) in the final.

The Juniors

Finally, the Junior category consisted in a group of four with Christian Tsakalakis finishing on top of the table and Nikos Jr Psomiadis being runner-up.

Huge thanks to the Flaming Flickers for another amazing event!

John Imbrogiano wins Swiss Cup tournament in Eschenbach

Players having a great day in Eschenbach

We continue our review of January events with the great news from Switzerland where after a long absence of more than two years, there was a tournament again under WASPA banner. The Swiss Cup event held in Eschenbach and organized by the Linth Sliders Club had a turnout of five players including South Africa's Clinton Gahwlier. John Imbrogiano (subbuteo.ch) won the tournament, finishing on top of the league with 3 wins and a draw. Peter Erb was runner-up (7 points), Clinton (7) took a great third third place while Roman Bernharsgrütter (3) and Martin Wiesmann (1) were the other competitors.

"The absolute highlight though was the friendships forged and the amazing hospitality shown particularly by Peter Erb and Martin Wiessman. It was also fantastic to meet Subbuteo legend Willi Hofmann who popped in unexpectedly at the WASPA event", commented Clinton Gahwlier on the Cape Town City Facebook page.

Huge thanks to Roman Bernharsgrütter for his great job to organize the tournament and also to bring back Switzerland in the WASPA circuit! A much appreciated effort!

Giulio Astengo wins inaugural event in Cardiff

We are starting publishing the news of January 2020 with the first report of the year. The Cardiff Bluebirds club in Wales was the host of the first tournament of the season on January 2.

Congratulationss to Giulio Astengo for winning the Cardiff WASPA event, the 1st Subbuteo event of the year. Not exactly a goal fest. Both semi-finals (Aaron Skinner v Darren John Barnes & Giulio v Dave Samuel) finished 0-0.

The final between Darren & Guilio was decided on shots after a 1-1 draw.

Finally thanks to the mystery guest turning up to present the trophy.

December 2019: news from around the world

Here is a quick review of some events held under WASPA banner in December. We are waiting for the last few results of last month to publish the december rankings. Hopefully everything will be ready by the end of the week.

3 dedicated players in Javea

Spain: one more tournament in Javea
The Marina Citerior Club held a 15th "Tea Time Tournament" int he beginning of the month. Unfortunately the club is struggling to get new players but the usual members of the clubs are still very motivated to play together. italy's Pasquale Carrassi finished on top of a small league (with home and away games) with David Mc Aulay being runner-up and Bill Dunham taking the third place.

Presentation of trophies in Ilioupolis

Greece: Roligans Christmas Cup
The Roligans club organized a Christmas tournament on December 21. There were 13 competitors including a special guest of the new club of Ippovotes Chalkida Club. Evangelos Kotrotsos (U15) won the tournament while the runner-up was Tassos Priftis. This time the event was a knockout tournament and the players eliminated played for Category B. Therefore the winner of the B tournament was Dimitrios Rembis.

Players in Thessaloniki

Greece: Panorama still doing well
Also in Greece, the Panorama 1978 SC Thessaloniki organized a tournament with 6 players involved. This time Ioannis Terzidis took the honors after defeating Constantios Giapoutzis in the final (2-0) while Stavros Giapoutzis won the game for the third place.

Some good games in Donegal

Ireland: action in Donegal
Also the Republic of ireland saw some Subbuteo action in the end of December with three players competing in a group format in Donegal. Local organizer Brendan Rodgers finished on top of the table while clubmate Oisin McKeogh was runner-up and special guest from England Nick Pearson took the third place.

Richard Ruffolo - Howard Christie - Mike Sgro

Canada: Howard Christie does it again
This month's tournament in Toronto had a small turnout of three but there were many close games. Defending champion Mike Sgro could not win another event as Howard Christie won the final against Mike to win the "tournament of the decade".

Isle of Man: Joseph Kinrade is a winner
We have been extremely glad to see some action on the Isle of Man where Joseph Kinrade won the "Ellan Vannin WASPA Christmas Cup" after defeating brian Kinrade in the final. The tournament had a good turnout of four players including first time player Lisa Warren from England. The tournament was played as a group of five with the top 2 qualifying for the grand final.

Martin Wiesmann bringing Switzerland back on the WASPA map

Switzerland: Test match in Wil
Just a few days before the WASPA tournament in Eschenbach of January 5 (results coming soon), there was a test match between local player Martin Wiesmann and South Africa's Clinton Gahwiler from Cape Town. The game ended as a draw but more importantly it was a good way to have Switzerland coming back to the WASPA circuit with more good news coming up soon.

Anas Bin Rahamat wins 2019 Xsmas cup in Singapore

(L to R): Bernard Lim, Nic Tan, Anas Rahamat, Ashley Tan, Den Mulia Yusni, Arjuna Hanafi, Rizal Taib, Michael Choong,
Vikkram Kumar, Vikas Chandiramani, Luke Lim, Isaac Lim, John Edwards, Bolkiah Musa, Rudy Hesty Roselan

The final tournament in the Singapore Table Football calendar with SG Ranking points took place on 29 Dec 2019 at the Singapore Sports Hub Library.  The Xmas Cup was organized under the banner of SG Lions Table Football Club and saw a turnout of 15 players.

The 15 players were randomly drawn into 4 groups for the round-robin Group Stage. The top 2 in each Group qualified for the Cup quarter-finals while the bottom 2 competed in the Plate quarter-finals.  Play-offs for respective placing in the Cup and Plate also took place for players eliminated at the quarter-finals.  Each player gets at least 5 games.

In the Cup Final, Anas continued his domination of the local table football scene to win 1-0 over Rudy to win the Xmas Cup!!  While in the Plate Final, Rizal defeated Vikas 2-1 to win the consolation final.

Final Placings
Champion: Anas Rahamat
Runner-Up: Rudy Hesty Roselan
3rd Place: Nic Tan
4th Place: Ashley Tan
5th Place: Michael Choong
6th Place: Den Mulia Yusni
7th Place: Bernard Lim
8th Place: Isaac Lim
9th Place: Rizal Taib
10th Place: Vikas Chandiramani
11th Place: Bolkiah Musa
12th Place: Vikkram Kumar
13th Place: John Edwards
14th Place: Luke Lim
15th Place: Arjuna Hanafi

Congratulations to all winners!!

Martinog Bradley wins Christmas Cup

A team of 5 played out a league format Christmas Cup in derry (Northern Ireland), with Martinog Bradley taking the honours with 4 wins. Oisin Mor played runner-up with two solid wins over veteran, Paul Boyle, and newcomer Jude Morrow. Great nights craic for the last flicks of the decade!

Final standings: 
1. Martinog Bradley
2. Oisin Mor
3. Lawrence Watson
4. Jude Morrow
5. Paul Boyle

30th birthday of the Templeuve United club

A special logo for the birthday of the club

In December, the Templeuve United players celebrated the 30th birthday of the club. It was indeed in December 1989 that 2 teenagers of the small Belgian village (population of 3500) started their own club.

Final 4 of the promotional event: Benjamin Marain - Sébastien Dohet - Daniel Boistelle - Giulio Bonfanti

The club had a national tournament on December 21 with 22 players taking part. The "C category" was a WASPA promotional tournament with 10 players competing. There were 2 groups of five, semi-finals and consolation games. Sébastien Dohet (USC Huy) won his very first tournament after defeating Daniel Boistelle (Wamme SC) in a close final (1-0). Giulio Bonfanti (Wamme) and U12 player Benjamin Marain (Templeuve) made it to the semi-finals.

Templeuve players after the national tournament

The rest of the table was as follows:
5. Jean-Luc Platiaux (Templeuve)
6. Eric Caillaux (France/Templeuve)
7. Sébastien Sorge (France/Templeuve)
8. Esteban Boistelle (Wamme)
9. Didier Moons (Templeuve)
10. Jordan Bonte (Templeuve)

Players at the regional tournament

A few days later, on December 27, the monthly "regional" tournament had a small turnout of 7. The tournament was played in Swiss system and geoffrey marain was the winner once again. The good news is that there were visitors coming to see the games with possible new players for the future meetings.

Final standings of the régional tournament:
1. Geoffrey Marain
2. Matthias Averlant
3. Vincent Coppenolle
4. Didier Moons
5. Renald Deloose
6. Arthur Clique
7. Jordan Bonte

Eliot Kennedy and Tan Yew Loy winners in Australia

Some news from Australia where there was Subbuteo action in both Sydney and Perth in December.

2nd annual Christmas Binge tournament

For the second year running, Western Sydney Subbuteo closed out the year with a tournament squished into that wasteland between Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, just to keep everyone in celebration mode. Four hardy competitors dragged themselves and their extra kilos off their couches to take part.

Steve - Geoff - Eliot - Adrian

In the opening round of matches Geoff played a brilliant defensive game, only for Eliot to settle in and squeeze a winner later in the game. Meanwhile Steve's first half lead was cancelled out by a second half equaliser from Adrian during a riveting draw. The second round saw Geoff take an early lead keeping up his impressive displays...for half a game at least. Steve took command in the second half and slotted home 4 unanswered goals. Meanwhile, on the other table, Eliot commanded possession, as expected, but Adrian defended stoutly, keeping clear chances to a minimum, until 45 seconds before half time, when Eliot finally got into clear space and slotted home comfortably. The second half provided great entertainment as Eliot searched for the sealing goal, opening up his defense in the process. This gave Adrian space on the counter and he began to trouble Eliot. Then , in the evening's most spectacular moment, Eliot wound back the clock to 1977. After one too many attacking flicks went awry, he picked up the offending figure and hurled it across Good Games, reminding everyone of how he got a reputation as an emotional firebrand is his younger years. Adrian later managed an equaliser which cheered Eliot up no end.

Which meant that 3 players were still in with a chance to win the tournament heading into the final game. Adrian partly did his part, with a 1 goal victory over Geoff, but the woodwork continually hindered him from building up the goal difference he really needed. Steve and Eliot were still scoreless at the break in their game, with everything still in the balance. A goal part way through the second half, however, was enough to confirm the title for Eliot.

Steve 1 - 1 Adrian
Geoff 0 - 1 Eliot

Eliot 1 - 1 Adrian
Steve 4 - 1 Geoff

Steve 0 - 1 Eliot
Geoff 0 - 1 Adrian

Final standings:
1. Eliot Kennedy
2. Adrian Elmer
3. Steve Dettre
4. Geoff Sirmai

Original link

Tan Yew Loy winner in Perth

A bit earlier in the month, Tan Yew Loy won the monthly Perth tournament. The Singapore player eneded on top of a group of 5 while Alan Kimber was runner-up.

Final standings:
1. Tan Yew Loy
2. Alan Kimber
3. Hugh Best
4. Ron Byrne
5. Chris Thorn