First tournament of the “WASPA Black League”

On January 30, the Table Soccer Club Black Rose ’98 Roma organized the “First Round” of the “WASPA Black League” at the “Black Rose Training Center” located in Fiumicino (Rome), Via delle Lampare, 5.
It was a very nice tournament with 10 competitors played under Swiss system so that everyone could play four games. At the end of the tournament three players (Giovanni Frascarelli, Enrico Guidi and Sergio Robertiello) have collected 9 points so it was necessary the tie-break based on “value opponents”. In this situation the winner was Giovanni Frascarelli, second place for Enrico Guidi and third place for Sergio Robertiello. Fourth place for Andrea Strazza (7 points) and fifth place for Roberto Utzeri (7 points).
The “Second Round” of “WASPA Black League” will be organized on February, 27th 2013 in Fiumicino at the “Black Rose Training Center”. See you soon!

The Black Rose team 2012-2013

The players at the first tournament of the WASPA Black League

(report by TSC Black Rose '98)

A shop for Subbuteo clothing

http://www.curlylotta.de/subbuteo (or http://www.curlylotta.de/epages/63161422.sf/en_GB/?ViewObjectID=40513798 for the english version) is just a brilliant and fantastic place as you can buy T-Shirts, Polo-Shirts, Sweaters and Jackets with Subbuteo logo. It's worth a look!

First tournament in Florida

The first WASPA tournament ever in Florida took place this sunday in Tampa Bay with 6 players from 3 different clubs taking part. Host Alex Batacchi (Tampa Bay TSC) won all five games in the group stage while his wife Isabel finished second. Alex and Isable qualified for the final after they beat Daniel Louis and Jody Schaaf (Savannah SC). In the final, Alex Batacchi beat Isabel 2-0 to win the trophy. Congratulations to all six players.

First tournament in Finland

The club of TFC Lynx will be organizing a tournament counting for the Finnish ranking in Lappeenranta on February 24th. For the first time the event will also count for the WASPA circuit. It is a huge honor for WASPA to have a tournament request from Finland. Interested players con contact Marko karhunen at marko.v.karhunen@gmail.com

South Africa: 2013 off with a flicking bang

The first tournament of the year, the New Year's Challenge, took place on Sunday, 27 Janaury at Panorama Sports Club.

Eight participants entered, and due to 4 brand new members, a number of friendly games were played prior to all the names being placed in a hat for a knock-out draw.  In the semi-finals, Clifford Graaff accounted for Franco Lorenzani by a solitary goal with Martin Plascott (after a break of over a year) defeating Richard Graaff by two goals to one in the second semi final. All losing quarter finalists were entered into a Plate semi final where Angelo Lorenzani defeated Tristan Ionnides and Deon McCarthy defeated his son, Kyle to set up an interesting Plate Final. The Plate Final proved to be a tense game which was only settled with penalties. Deon edged out Angelo by two goals to one.

The Cup Final proved to be a very close game with Clifford sneaking in the winner in the last minute of play to capture his first title of 2013.

All the new players enjoyed themselves and the general consensus is that they will all be back for future tournaments.

(report by Clifford Graaff)

Zangylos wins again in Limassol

Famagusta TFC organized another tournament on saturday and for the first time there was only a turnout of five players as many local players were not available and nobody from Nicosia TFC could make it. Giorgos Zangylos came on top of the group stage with 22 points and met Vangelis Zorbis in the final. There was no surprise in the decisive game and Zangylos beat beat Zorbis (4-1) to claim the title.

Peter Alegi wins in Michigan

The Lake Effect Trophy 2013, attended by 9 players all based in Michigan, was won by Lansing's Peter Alegi (Italy), beating Nathan Pate of Rockford 2-0 in the final. Nate won the group of death, beating Mike Ewer 2-1 with a last second winner, and drawing 1-1 with his dad Paul 1-1. Paul and Brian Lambert split third place 1-1. Mike Ewer (ENG) beat rookie Eric Albertson with a winner 6 seconds from time 1-0 to win the consolation bracket.

Final ranking: 1. Peter Alegi (Lansing/ITA), 2. Nathan Pate (Rockford), 3. Paul Pate (Rockford) & Brian Lambert (Grand Rapids), 5. Mike Ewer (Grand Rapids/ENG), 6. Eric Albertson (Grand Rapids), 7. Michael Koster (Rockford) & Dave Waligora (Grand Rapids), 9. Jen Waligora (Grand Rapids).

News from Switzerland and Germany

The first tournament of the Swiss season will be held on February 10th, 2013 at the following address:
Im Burgfelderhof 60
4055 BASEL
The event will count as the first leg of the Swiss championship and is open to all players of the SSTV.

In Germany, there are plans to establish series of "Five4eight"-Cups under WASPA banner. The system will be very easy to understand: 5 games for 8 players on 4 tables. The system will be used as often as possible in places were 4 tables can be set up. Of course suche vents can be copies by any other club around the world. The first of these tournaments will be held in Bergkamen on February 24th.

First win for Marco Bacci Happy wiinner!

Happy winner!

The club of Versilia organized their second WASPA tournament this wednesday in Viareggio. 8 players were competing anad everyone was offered to play five games. In the first group, Alessandro Casanova came on top with 7 points. Marco Bacci won all three games in Group 2.  In the semis, Marco Bacci gave no chance to Enrico Giannarelli, the winner of the first Versilia tournament (2-0) while Alessandro Casanova beat Roberto Conti (2-1). The final was very open but Alessandro Casanova has to admit the defeat on shots to Marco Bacci (0-0 and 6-7 on shots). Marco Bacci (versilia CT) was finalist in the first tournament and can now taste the glory.

RIP Geoff Luke

Geoffrey Luke (left) with Marcus Tilgner

Geoffrey Luke who founded the London Branch of Plymouth Argyle Supporters Club back in June 1978 has sadly passed away. Geoffrey was 65 and for years attended Home Park as well as travelling to many an away games.

Geoffrey gave a lot of time to football and indeed it was football that made him move to London, Geoffrey was assistant secretary at West Ham United before that he was the secretary of Truro City FC, however these two jobs did not stop his support for Plymouth Argyle.

Geoffrey also has international honours, he represented England at Table Soccer (Subbuteo).

Final arrangements for his funeral are to be sorted but all are welcome to attend and if you do wish to attend please email at lee.c.jameson@hotmail.co.uk

Geoffrey passed away whilst coming back on a train after a couple of beers, anyone that knew Geoffrey the three things he loved were Trains, Plymouth Argyle and Real Ale.

ESA chairman, Justin Finch, comments "Geoff was a very sincere person who organised the Cornwall Invitation Open for many years in St Agnes, Cornwall. The event itself epitomised everything which is good about the game of Subbuteo, because it focused on the social element. Players from as far as Germany attended the event regularly in August each year and this was all down to Geoff. A great organiser and person who will be missed by all who knew him."

Geoff had attended the very first WASPA tournament played with the ETF rules last summer in St. Agnes. He will be missed by all his friends.

Link: http://www.pasoti.co.uk/talk/viewtopic.php?t=73927&p=1268927
Original post at http://subbuteoassociation.co.uk/articles/In-memory%20of%20Geoffrey%20Luke

First WASPA trophy for Remo Fusco

Congratulations Remo!

On January 23, the club of SS Lazio organized the 5th leg of the WASPA Lazio League. It was a nice tournament with 12 competitors played under Swiss system so that everyone could play five games. The winner was Remo Fusco who won four times and drew with the young Diego Tagliaferri. The final game against Patrizio Lazzaretti (1-0) made the decision for the final win. Simone Trivelli, Patrizio Lazzaretti and Diego Tagliaferri had 10 points but the ranking was made as according to the number of points every player's opponent took during the event so Trivelli ended second. The general ranking of the WASPA Lazio League has not changed much as Gianmarco Del Brocco is still on top with 102 points while Simone Trivelli has 92 and Matteo Del Brocco has 86.

New club in Brisbane

The first club in Queensland (Australia) just opened their Facebook page!
Link: http://www.facebook.com/QueenslandSubbuteoClub

More tournaments in Italy & South Africa

There will be some more tournaments in Italy as events have been added in La Spezia on February 6 and Viareggio on February 23. In South Africa the tournament of February 10 has been confirmed and will take place at the Randburg sports club in Johannesburg, which means South Africa has already two tournaments in the agenda for the first two months of 2013.

More events in South Africa, Canada and Belgium

Some events have just been added in the calendar of the WASPA circuit. Subbuteo will be back in South Africa on January 27 as the Panorama sports club in Johannesburg is hosting a tournament in their premises. It is great to see a tournament here after a long break and most tournaments held in Randburg in the last few months. In Canada, the club of Hamilton (Ontario) will hold their next event on February 3. The Templeuve United club in Belgium will hold another tournament on February 10 in their premises. The contact persons for these tournaments are mentionned in the right column of the WASPA blog.

We really hope more tournaments will take place in the future and there is already a big question: where will be held the 100th WASPA tournament?

More events in Italy

On January 30 & February 27, two tournaments will be held in Fiumicino (near Rome) in Italy and the events are organized by the club of BLACK ROSE. Contact: Andrea Strazza at info@blackrose98roma.com

News from Canada, Malta and Australia

Congratulations to Peter Sexton for winning the tournament held in Hamilton (Canada) on sunday. It was another great tournament with 12 players (including two beginners) and Peter beat Shaun Burt in the final on shots after a tie (1-1). John McKay & Stephen McNab reached the semis.

In Malta, the tournament scheduled on sunday did not count for the WASPA ranking as it was decided to play a team tournament instead of an individual tournament. The clubs of Bormla and Attard were facing the "MSTFA team" (which included top players such as Gauci, Borg, Mifsud, Mallia and Zammit Pavia).

In Australia the tournament in Penrith was postponed to another date. Hopefully there will be some better communication between the local players next time...

Geoffrey Marain wins again

Marain & Heyvaert after the final

Geoffrey Marain won the Templeuve tournament on sunday. 8 players were taking part. After a group stage where every player played all other opponents, Marain beat Jérôme Heyvaert in the final (4-2). Ralf Grégoire is 3rd, Renald Deloose 4th, Vincent Coppenolle 5th, Pol Serwy 6th, Samuel Verriest 7th, Axel Verriest 8th.

News from around the world

South Africa: Johannesburg will hold another tournament on February 10, 2013. Interested players can contact Clifford Graaff for details at Clifford@worldsviewsports.co.za or c.graaff@vodamail.co.za
People interested to hear about Subbuteo in South Africa can follow the updates on the South African Subbuteo website at www.premiersubbuteoleague.leaguerepublic.com

Singapore: Leste Aquila Subbuteo club will be hosting a WASPA 'Leste Cup' challenge on February 24, 2013 at 10.00 am at Jurong Central Zone D RC centre. Contact Rudy Norita for details at norrud@singnet.com.sg

Australia: a new club is ready to start in Brisbane. John Sexton, who recently attended a tournament in Hamilton (Canada), is trying to set up something. his astropitch is ready for games and he has already recruited an ex-Scot. Contact at John.Sexton@camelon.com.au

England: the Harrow Weald Subbuteo Club is trying to organize a first WASPA tournament on February 10 or 17, 2013. The event and the date are still to be confirmed to but there are good chances things will happen soon. More details can be found on the club's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/HarrowWealdSubbuteoClub

Zach Walker is the the king of California

Zach Walker won the second WASPA tournament of the week-end held by the Southern California SC. On sunday, the player from Colorado beat Paul O'Donovan in the final (7-0) after another impressive win against Wayne Smith (8-0) in the semi. 9 players were taking part and there were dropped in two groups. Rob Tuckers also reached the semi-final but lost to Paul (3-1).

Welcome Harrow Weald SC

Welcome to the new club of Harrow Weald Subbuteo Club, based in the London area. The new club is expecting to run a league and possible WASPA tournaments in the future. You can join the Facebook page of the club at the following link: http://www.facebook.com/HarrowWealdSubbuteoClub

Looking for a bright future

After a very promising year 2012 with 61 tournaments played under WASPA banner, it is time to speak about the future of WASPA with Vincent Coppenolle, the organizer and founder of theWASPA circuit.

Vincent Coppenolle, did you expect such a development?
Definately no! Last year in Januay, WASPA was still very small with only 15 tournaments held in a few different places. Month after month, there was more interest shown for WASPA by different subbuteo clubs from around the world. It was very exciting to hold the first tournaments in Italy because it's really the "country of subbuteo" and suddenly more italian clubs have been attracted by WASPA.

Italy is not everything. There were some other interesting developments...
Absolutely. I was very happy that WASPA contributed to relaunch subbuteo tournaments in Canada and Australia. Right now things remain small in Australia because tournaments are only held in Penrith (near Sydney) but there are good hopes that more events will be held in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide in the future. As for Canada, the development has been huge.. Thanks to Shane Hoopfer's efforts, tournaments have been hald in four different cities (Vancouver, Toronto, Hamilton and Calgary) and there are good hopes that more cities and clubs will be involved in the future. We can not forget that the very first tournament in Hong Kong was held in April 2012 under WASPA banner.

Some other nations have also supported the WASPA circuit...
I was extremely happy to have more tournaments in the US. I remember the very first WASPA tournament was held in California but since then we have had events in Michigan, Delaware and Maryland. There will be a tournament in Florida in March. Some other nations have also supported WASPA by organising tournaments. South Africa, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Northern Ireland and Ireland are happy to be part of our family. I also believe there will be many tournaments in the UK in 2013.

What are the goals of WASPA for the future?
2013 can be the year of development with more tournaments and more regular organizers. I hope nations such as Sweden and Denmark will be organizing tournaments again and hopefully we will have the first tournaments in Malaysia and South America. Hopefully more locations will be added in the "WASPA circuit map".

Do you think the relaunch of the gameSubbuteo will help to boost WASPA?
I think we have to help each other. The fact that Subbuteo material will be available in shops in many countries will create interest and many new players will be interested to join tournaments in the future. WASPA can also help Subbuteo by organizing tournaments in shopping malls or shops. The tournaments held at the Mega Games shop in Penrith (Australia) are just the way to go! One of my dreams is to reach some agreement with Subbuteo in the future. We don't need money from them but it would be great if Subbuteo could announce our tournaments and add a link to our blog. We have had support from Superfooty and hopefully we will have more partners in the future.

There will also be more types of tournaments in the future, right?
Since January 1, 2013 organizers can not only host regional tournaments and tournaments with the old rules. It is also possible to organize some "promotional tournaments" for players who are not in the top 50 of the ranking. Nations will also have the possibility to host a "National Cup Challenge" that should be bigger than a "Regional tournament".

Do you think FISTF and WASPA can live together?
Absolutely, FISTF is made for elite players and players who take the game very seriously. If some players are not scared to travel to play only two games, they can go to FISTF events. WASPA is made to offer more games to weaker players and to the players who can not afford to travel very often. It is also very positive to see some top players such as Mark Gauci or Joseph Mifsud taking part in WASPA tournaments just because they love the game!

What do you say to people who think WASPA is made to divide the table football community?
It's totally wrong. We have to learn from other sports. As a big fan of cyclo-cross, I have learned that sometimes a sport can be very popular in one country and much less popular in other nations. The cyclo-cross world cup has 7 or 8 races in different nations. In the belgian races, there are sometimes 20.000 spectators while there are sometimes less than 1000 spectators in Italy, Czech Republic or Spain. In Belgium, many races that don't count for the world cup have created their own "challenges of regularity" to attract more attention from the medias. Even if these events don't count for the world cup, there are always most of the top riders taking part, many spectators and TV channels covering the races live! We can do something similar with subbuteo. Having many small events being "part of something" because they can not be part of the FISTF circuit can only be positive for organizers and players.

What would be the final word?
I just want to say to organizers that they should not be scared to be part of the WASPA circuit. Once they will be part of the family, they will just enjoy it! Subbuteo remains the most beautiful game on the planet and WASPA would like to help new players to feel welcome in tournaments.

The Eureka Cup for Zach Walker

Zach, a big champion

Zach travelled from Colorado to play in California!

Nice group picture

The first of the two tournaments held in Simi Valley, California this week-end was the Eureka Cup. The tournament was played on saturday by seven players and it was played on a single program, "so that everyone could get the honor of getting crushed by Zach", reported Wayne Smith. Zach Walker won all his game and was the final winner while Wayne Smith ended second and Paul O'Donovan was third.

Farrell Wins Celbridge Open

Mark Farrell won the second Irish Circuit event of the season on goal-difference, ahead of Kenny Beggs. Six players competed in a League format, playing each other twice. Despite gaining a victory and a draw against Farrell, Beggs had to settle for 2nd place due to a rare defeat by Nicky Moore. It was the very first WASPA tournament in Ireland.

Small tournament but good fun

The second WASPA tournament played with the old ETF rules was held on friday in Modena, Italy. Unfortunately there was a poor turnout of three players, which is not so bad after all as this type os events is still very unusual. Marco Di Francesco ended as winner in a group stage with 2 wins and 2 draws while Stefani Cirillo was second and Marco Berselli was third.

Paulo Gouveia is the first WASPA winner from Portugal

Paulo Gouveia

Paul Andreas congratulates the young Hayden Osbourne

The final

Paul Andreas congratulates Paulo Gouveia

16 players attended the WASPA tournament held in Chingford (near London) on January 2. The event was organized by Paul Andreas and the Essex Subbuteo Club and had an amazing field of eight different nations taking part with 9 players from England but also representatives from Portugal, Wales, Cyprus, Australia, Pakistan, Jamaica and Italy. Every player was offered the chance to play six games and there were many close matches. After the group stage, players had to play the quarter-finals of the main event or the consolation tournament. The final was another international match with Paulo Gouveia (Portugal) beating Paul Andreas (Cyprus) 2-1. Elliot Bellefontaine and Kevin Dyson were the semi-finalists. Colin Tarry from Yorkshire Phoenix beat Adrian Davies in the consolation final. it was definately a great evening. The first WASPA tournament in England with FISTF rules was a success and hopefully many more events like this will follow in the future!

Final standings:
1 Paulo Gouveia (POR/net)
2 Paul Andreas (CYP/fam)
3 Kevin Dyson (ENG/tsp)
4 Elliot Bellefontaine (ENG/kei)
5 Martin Bellefontaine (ENG/kei)
6 Gerald Brightwell (AUS/wes)
7 Rudi Peterschinigg (ITA/-)
8 John Turpin (ENG/tsp)
9 Colin Tarry (ENG/yor)
10 Adrian Davies (WAL/kei)
11 Kevin Mason (JAM/ess)
12 Stuart Osbourne (ENG/-)
13 Lee Ulatowski (ENG/-)
14 Adam Douglas (ENG/kei)
15 Naweed Zaman (PAK/-)
16 Jayden Osbourne (ENG/-)

First tournament of the year in Canada

The year 2013 already started with a first tournament played in Calgary on January 1. Four players of the Calgary Subbuteo Club where present and Shane Hoopfer did it again by beating Logan Stevenson int he final. It was Shane's third title and Logan's first final. Josh Braun couldn't find a goal but his defense was stingy other than the first half of the first game. Ben Herrel also racked up his first two draws and only gave up one goal in regulation in four games!
Next event in Calgary will be Sunday February 10th at noon. Contact: Shane Hoopfer at Hoop27@gmail.com

Tournament in England

Last minute announcement: there will be a tournament on January 2 held by the Essex Subbuteo club in England at the Tom Oakham Centre, 6A Weale Road, Chingford. Flick-off at 7.00 pm. Confirmed enrants so far are: Paul Andreas, Rudi Peters, John Turpin, Kevin Dyson, Martin Bellafontaine, Elliot Bellafontaine, Kevin Mason, Matthew Neill, Stuart Osborne, Jayden Osborne, Naweed Zamen, Paulo Gouveia, Colin Tarry, Geraldo Brightwell, Adrian Davies, Adam Douglas. Trophies for the Winner & Runner Up.
Club link: http://essextablesoccerassociation.webs.com/