Daniel Cranston wins in Maryland

Washington Tuesday Subbuteo League held a WASPA event on saturday with 10 players at the Old Dominion Brewing Co. in Hyattsville, MD. Daniel Cranston took top honors, with Patrick Sheridan finishing 2nd. Dewey LaRochelle won the Consolation Bracket tournament.

Daniel Cranston took the honors

Group picture of the 10 players in action

First WASPA tournament in Lincoln to come

Lincoln Flickers Subbuteo Club is conducting a small-scale regional tournament to commemorate a club anniversary next Wednesday 1st May commencing at 7pm at The Morning Star, Greetwell Gate, Lincoln. Interested players can contact John Devaney at jaypeedee1956@yahoo.co.uk

First NETFA tournament in Thornaby

The very first NETFA Teesside WASPA event was held on 26th April 2013 at the clubs home venue in Thornaby. Because of other commitments, the turnout for this event was low at only 4 players. However this did not diminish from the night's play too much as we were entertained all night by a live rock band in the room next door! To the action now. In the first round of the swiss system we use, Neil Youngson took the early lead overall by beating Simon Spence 3-0 while Ben Staples was very unlucky not to beat Mike Parnaby, Mike's equaliser coming with 30 seconds left to play. In the second round, Ben continued his progress by beating Simon 3-0 while Mike found some form, beating Neil 4-1. Round three saw Mike take the title on the night with a 3-1 win over Simon, while Ben and Neil fought out a seven goal thriller, Neil winning 4-3. So overall, Mike ends the night with 5 points, Neil with 4 points, Ben with 3 points and Simon with 0 points this time.

Date of next NETFA Teesside WASPA tournament will be 24th May 2013

(report by Mike Parnaby)

The NETFA Teesside logo

Vincent Guyaux wins in Jambes

Six players attended the tournament organized by the belgian club of SC Jambes on friday evening. Vincent Guyaux (picture) beat Pol Serwy (2-0) in the final. Steve Filée beat Ralf Grégoire in the 3rd place final. Good to see SC Jambes back in action!

Vincent Guyaux did it!

Three Line Strike for Enrico Guidi

On April 24, the Table Soccer Club Black Rose ’98 Roma (www.blackrose98roma.com) organized the “Fourth Round” of the “W.A.S.P.A. Black League” occasionally named “Liberation Event” at the “Black Rose Training Center” located in Fiumicino (Rome), Via delle Lampare, 5.
It was a very nice evening tournament. Twenty two competitors played under Swiss system so that everyone could play five games. We saw the debut of two players in the W.A.S.P.A. tournaments: Riccardo Minnetti (SC Roma) and Nicola Montefusco (TSC Black Rose ’98 Roma).
At the end of the fifth round Enrico Guidi (TSC Black Rose ’98 Roma) collected 15 points so he was the undisputed tournament winner. Second place for Andrea Strazza (TSC Black Rose ’98 Roma) (11 points). Three SS Lazio TFC players ended the tournament at 9 points and it was necessary to calculate the value of the opponents to determine the ranking order. So, third place for the new italian champion "cadet category" Simone Trivelli (value opponents: 46); fourth place for Paolo Barone (value opponents: 40); fifth place for Stefano Tagliaferri (value opponents: 36).
A midnight snack and the usual group photo have closed a friendship and harmony evening between T.S.C. Black Rose ’98 Roma and S.S. Lazio T.F.C. associations and their players.
In the months to come T.S.C. Black Rose ’98 Roma will organize other W.A.S.P.A. tournaments looking atthe different needs (materials and rules) of F.I.S.T.F. and Subbuteo players.
Thanks to all the participants and Stefano Tagliaferri for the organizing support.
See you soon!

(Report by Andrea Strazza)

Superb group picture with the 22 players

The tournament poster

Subbuteo t-shirts & mugs

Looking for gifts ideas for anniversaries, birthdays, and mother's and father's days? Just found this interesting link: http://www.shotdeadinthehead.com/collection/subbuteo/

Nice Subbuteo Manchester City t-shirt

11th title for Geoffrey Marain

There was no surprise this time in Templeuve as Geoffrey Marain won his 11th tournament, beating Vincent Coppenolle in the final. The turnout was low with 5 players after 5 (!) last minute dropouts. Grégory Puissant (France) took the 3rd place.

The players

Geoffrey Marain was unbeatable ;-)

First NETFA tournament

It's a last minute announcement but we are very please to say the English club of North East Table Football Alliance will host a tournament on April 26th in their premises. Good luck to everyone involved. The event will take place in Thornaby (Teesside), near Middlesbrough.

Subbuteo has a famous fan in Italy!

Congratulations to Enrico Letta, the new Prime Minister of Italy. A man who loves the right things :-)

Enrico Letta flicking it right!

Third title for Daniele Spadaro

Daniele Spadaro beat Gordon Caruana to win the 16th WASPA tournament organized on sunday by Attard Subbuteo Club in Malta. Roderick Vassallo beat Joseph M. Debono to take the third place of the tournament. 12 players were taking part. (picture of Daniele Spadaro from the archives)

Focus on Calgary Subbuteo Club

Riad Kadri and Jessica Philips have made a great job in making a story about Cangary Subbuteo Club for the Calgary Journal. There is a text, a picture and a video report that all subbuteo fans will appreciate! Well done to everyone involved for helping to promote the game over there.

The link: http://www.calgaryjournal.ca/index.php/calgaryeclectic/39-weird-stories/1702-gamers-expanding-niche-tabletop-soccer-league

Casanova wins in Viareggio

The Italian club of Versilia organized their last tournament of the season last wednesday in Viareggio. 8 players were taking part and this time, Enrico Giannarelli couldn't take the trophy as Alessandro Casanovo beat him in the final (3-1). Ruggero Torboli and Massimo Goldoni lost in the semis. Marco Bacci beat Maurizio Seppia in the final of the consolation tournament. Congratulations to the Versilia players for setting up several tournaments under WASPA banner this season. "We will be back in October", reported Enrico Giannarelli.

6th title for Peter Sexton

13 players attended the Hamilton tournament on saturday. The Canadian club is still very active with many good players but this time, Peter Sexton won the title as he beat Stephen McNab on shots after a very close final (1-1). Sexton also defeated Shaun Burt on shots in the semi (1-1 and 5 shots to 4) while Brodyn Sexton was the other semi-finalist. This is already Peter's 6th title under WASPA banner.

7 players and Zangylos wins again in Limassol

There was a small turnout of 7 players this sunday in Limassol where Giorgos Zangylos beat Marcos Kalopsidiotis (3-1) in the final of the tournament. Marios Nikolaou and Daniel Sarris lost in the semis. Thanks to Giorgos Zangylos for organizing the event!

The 7 players

Unstoppable Finch dominates the field – Sliders Tour 1.1

England’s Justin Finch played some quality table football throughout a very good sliders day in Manchester. He defeated the field of 22 from UK and Ireland, with the statistics any table football player would love to do, P5 W5 D0 L0 F39 A1.
2nd was Paulo Gouveia and 3rd Mark Farrell from Ireland. The added bonus of the Slider Tour was the Prize money; Justin came away with a cool trophy plus £72, with Paulo collecting £36 and £12 for Mark Farrell. Yes, Money in Subbuteo, but it is/could be the future. The New Sliders Tour was a great experience for old and new players. We would like to thank all the participants who took part.
Truly the hottest ticket in the game!

(report by Danny Lilley)

Danny Lilley, Paulo Gouveia, Justin Finch, Mark Farrell and Paul Lawrenson

Danny Lilley, Justin Finch and Paul Lawrenson

9 tournaments in the next 9 days

There will be a lot of action in the next few days on the WASPA circuit as there will be 9 tournaments in 9 days! On saturday, the first leg of the SUPASLIDE Tour will take place in Manchester (England) and there will be a tournament in Hamilton (Canada) where Peter Sexton will try to win again after last's month loss again Shaun Burt. On sunday, there will be action in Attard (Malta) and Limassol (Cyprus). Will George Zangylos continue his winning streak to make 6 in a row? On wednesday, the club of Black Rose will be hosting another great tournament in Fiumicino (Italy) and Templeuve (Belgium) will host their 16th tournament on thursday. Another tournament will take place in Belgium on friday but the location will be Jambes, near Namur. Australia will be back in action on April 27 with another tournament in Penrith. Some legends such as Mike Newton and Steve Dettre should be attending, which is great. The last tournament of the month will take place on April 28 in Hyattsville, Maryland (USA). Good luck to every player involved. And you, will you be flicking in the next few days?

Italian winner in California

It was really an international tournament held on monday in Simi Valley, California as the guys of the Socal club had two european guets for the "Eureka Cup". Terry Edge from England and Simone Di Pierro from Italy attended the event and a total of six players were taking part. After the round robin, Wayne Smith came on top of the table while Simone Di Pierro was second. Both players qualified for the final and Simone beat Wayne (1-0) to win the title. Paul O'Donovan was 3rd, Rob Tucker 4th, Varant Kurkeyerian 5th and Terry Edge 6th.

Rob & Simone in action

Third tournament win for Fabrizio Fedele

24 players attended the tournament held in Manoppello on sunday. After the group stage, players had to pass the last 16 round and the quarter-finals to reach the final 4. Camillo Di Francesco and Eddy Monticelli couldn't win their semi-finals. In the big final, Fabrizio Fedele beat Andrea Vincenzo to claim the title. Well done!

Updated calendar of events

More events have been added to the calendar. Here is a list of the next tournaments:
April 17: tournament in Viareggio (Italy)
April 20: tournament at the Manchester golf club (England)
April 20: tournament in Hamilton (Canada)
April 21: tournament in Limassol (Cyprus)
April 21: tournament in Attard (Malta)
April 24: tournament in Fiumicino (Italy)
April 25: tournament in Templeuve (Belgium)
April 26: tournament in Jambes (Belgium)
April 27: tournament in Penrith (Australia)
April 28: tournament in Hyattsville, Maryland (USA)
May 5: tournament in Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA)
May 5: tournament in Calgary (Canada)
May 12: "Torneo Majella" in Pescara (Italy)
May 19: tournament in Harrow Weald (England)
May 26: "Torneo Majella" in Chieti (Italy)
June 1-2: Barliner Baren Pokal in Berlin (Germany)
June 5: WASPA Lazio League tournament in Rome (Italy)
June 16: "Arabona Tour" in Pescara (Italy)
June 19: WASPA Lazio League tournament in Rome (Italy)
July 13-14: "EW Cup" in Manoppello Scalo (Italy)
August 12: tournament with ETF rules in St. Agnes (England)

Farrell Wins Bangor Open

The Bangor Open, Northern Ireland's 2nd WASPA Event, was won by Mark Farrell, who made it a hat-trick of Irish Circuit triumphs this season. Kenny Beggs was 2nd and John Moore 3rd. Congratulations also to Ernie Bickerstaff, who won the Plate - his first trophy since starting to play competitively just over a year ago. Seven players took part in the tournament, which had been rearranged following the original postponement due to snow. They played each other once in a league format, with the top 4 qualifying for the Final Group and the bottom 3 competing for the Plate. Full results here.

Competitors at the Bangor Open

36.000 views for the WASPA blog

Did you know we just reached 36.000 views on the WASPA blog?
We had 5678 views from the US, 4883 from Italy, 3908 from the UK, 2157 from Germany, 2048 from Belgium, 1173 from Greece, 1142 from Malta, 1070 from Russia, 803 from Spain and 738 from Finland. This is our top 10 :-)
Feel free to check the blog as often as you want!

Luca Pagani wins the tournament with ETF rules in Modena

10 players attended the WASPA tournament with ETF Rules held on saturday in Modena. There were many goods games between the seven representatives of the club of "OSC Celtic Triangle Bologna" and the three guys of "Subbuteisti Modena". The first part of the event was played in swiss system and Luca Pagani and Claudio Lambertini qualified for the final. Pagani won the decisive game 2-1. In the final for the thrid place, Michele Gabrielli lost to Stefano Cirillo on shots. Well done to Marco Di Francesco for his great work of promotion.

Luca Pagani, winner of the tournament

Claudio Lambertini, runner-up of the tournament

Stefano Cirillo receives his trophy for the third place

The tables and the organizer

The playing area

First meeting of the Pretoria Flickers Club

The new club of Pretoria in South Africa met for the first time this week-end. Six players took part and many friendly games were played. The local league will start on April 20. Good luck to the new club!

7 players in Calgary, Shane Hoopfer wins again

Calgary had 7 players at their event with a new U19 player on sunday! Everyone got a minimum of 7 games in and had a good time and the play has improved dramatically! There were great semi-finals with Shane Hoopfer beating Josh Braun on shots and Logan Stevenson beating Tom Stevenson (1-0). In the final, Shane and Logan tied but Shane won on shots. Well done! The next event in Calgary will take place on Sunday May 12, perhaps at a new location, too.

Filippo Iacovacci wins in Roma

On saturday the club of SS Lazio in Roma organized a small tournament called "Cipunno's Premier" in their premises. The winner is Filippo Iacovacci. Well done to the club of Lazio for having so many tournaments in their internal life!

Important notice about the future of WASPA

Dear all, I think it's important to send you a short notice about the latest developments in international table football.

Most of you probably know I had been appointed as FISTF General Secretary in February during the FISTF General Meeting held in Issy (France). This was a big honor to be back in FISTF but I had already mentionned at that time I would not let down my other duties with WASPA. I believe WASPA is very important for weaker players, occasional players and players who can not afford to travel long distances to play.

In the last few days, I have been told that I had to chose between my position in FISTF or WASPA.

In fact, the FISTF president Luis Horta told me I had to accept WASPA should be organized under the roof of FISTF or I should resign of my position of FISTF General Secretary. Considering I don't accept blackmail, I decided to resign and to concentrate on WASPA.

I also want to point out a couple of inacceptable rumors have been spread by the FISTF President. I can not accept lies and some things need to be said:
- in no way FISTF can forbid nations to host WASPA tournaments;
- in no way FISTF can forbid players to play WASPA tournaments;
- in no way FISTF and WASPA will be rival associations as their goals are different.

Well, I really hope in the future WASPA and FISTF can work together for the good of the game. I am sure FISTF will continue to do good work for the elite players while WASPA will help the local development of subbuteo table football, help to get new players and new clubs and promote small event played at local or regional level.

In less than 2 years, more than 120 WASPA tournaments have been played in 20 nations by more than 600 players from 31 nations. I really hope the number will grow in the future.

Let's build the future of subbuteo all together.

Yours sincerely,
Vincent Coppenolle, founder of the WASPA circuit

News from the WASPA circuit

There are some good developments in the WASPA circuit as some events have been confirmed.

The Bangor Open (Northern Ireland) will take place on April 13. Details at www.nitfa.org.uk

Templeuve United (Belgium) will organize a tournament on April 25.

On May 5, there will be a tournament in Grand Rapids, Michigan. So far 17 players are confirmed from both sides of Lake Huron with a total of 5 nations represented. U19 tournament will also be played! Interested players can contact Mike Ewer at mike@mistfa.org

Good luck also to the players who will attend the Rockford Cup in Michigan on April 7. The event hasn't received the WASPA status but these guys are sharing the same philosophy.

There are discussion to add a tournament in Hyattsville, Maryland on April 28. The tournament should receive the WASPA status soon.

3 players having fun with ETF rules

You don't need to have many people to enjoy the beautiful game of subbuteo, that's what three guys probably thought after this monday's tournament in Verona (Italy). The event was played in a friendly atmosphere and everyone won one game! Luca Rajna finally won the event on goal-difference but it is worth mentionning that Luca played his first game with a team of "Subbuteo La Legenda" to beat Roberto Piccoli while he lost to Bruno Vezzoli while using flat figures!

Friendship and the beautiful game: what else?

New results & statistics file

The latest version of the WASPA golden book is now available (check here). You will find in the file all results of the tournaments played in March and the latest ranking and statistics.

We have now 599 players in the ranking and they are coming from 31 nations. Scoltland is appearing for the first time, just as the Isle of Man (and that's not a joke!)

13 tournaments have been played under WASPA banner in March and there were some interesting happenings. The tournament in Birmingham played during the English Cup was very exciting with three players finishing on top of the table. Paulo Gouveia won on goal-difference while both Mike Burns and Paul Andreas got the ranking points of the second place.

In Italy the tournament in Rome was played under swiss system by... 24 players, which is amazing!

The last Templeuve tournament had 5 French players taking part and... a French winner. Well done! The players of the Louvroil club were so happy that they are thinking to organize a WASPA tournament soon. That would be the first tournament in France!

Unfortunately the tournament in Northern Ireland was postponed due to snow but there will be some more events over there in the next few weeks and months.

There are interesting development in England with the upcoming "Sliders Tour" organized by the clubs of Manchester TFC and Yorkshire Phoenix. The first event in April is likely to have 24 players!

In the statistics section, you can check that Italy has now organized 20 regional tournaments. Well done!

The WASPA ranking has some interesting changes as Clifford Graaff from South Africa is now 2nd and Pater Sexton from Canada is now 3rd.

Canada is now 3rd in the ranking of nations. Well done for their great efforts!

As for the breaking news, the first tournament in Wales took place on April 1 and the winner was Chris Thomas, one of the best players of the world. Well done to John Lauder for making this possible!

Last point: we have had contacts in Malaysia so hopefully there will be a first WASPA tournament in Malaysia soon!

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy the file and feel free to contact me at vincent.cop@rsca.com to add more events!

Have a great week!

First WASPA tournament in Wales

9 players attended the first WASPA tournament held in Wales. The event took place in Cardiff on April 1 (and it's not a joke) and Chris Thomas (England) beat Phil Dacey (Wales) in the final. Special thanks to John Lauder for organizing the event!

Great fun + great games + great winner = perfect evening!

Gurmeet Khaira wins in Vancouver

Four players attended the second WASPA tournament held in Vancouver on Sunday March 31 2013. Unfortunately it was difficult to find a better date so that more players could attend but there was good fun and some interesting games. Special thanks to the two new additions whom took time to understand the game better. After the group stage, Parjesh Randhawa and Gurmeet Khaira had six points and qualified for the final. Gurmeet took the title when he won the game 1-0.