Family Final in Panorama Challenge

Monday the 21st of March, A PUBLIC HOLIDAY IN South Africa, saw the first Series event in the Just For You Meals Super Series. The sunny weather after a week of rain in Johannesburg had an adverse affect on the turnout with a number of players spending time with families and friends. The above did not detract from a voiceferous field of 10 players with 4 debutants. The players were divided into two groups with the more seasoned players offering support and help in  their group games. The two seeded players, namely Clifford and his son Richard Graaff, who has returned from a sabbatical, progressing as group winners. Steward Makgatha and Abraham Siame, recent converts to our great game, showed vast improvement and claimed the runner-up positions. A pleasing aspect was the entry of 3 young ladies who enjoyed themselves against the male opposition. A new member was also Caper Steenekamp, the manager of Panorama Senior Football Club who play in the Premier Division of the DSL Football League. Clifford and Richard qualified unscathed for a friendly but fierce family final.
Clifford proved a bit too strong for his son who claimed he was tired after conducting a high performance rugby training camp in the morning:). Steward triumphed in the 3rd place play-off by defeating Abraham in an exciting penalty shoot-out. Thanks must go to all the participants in making the inaugural JFYM Series an exciting and enjoyable day.

(Report by Clifford Graaff)

The Paella and The Plate

The extra long weekend saw the opportunity to sneak in some extra Subbuteo and 11 players turned out to take advantage. With players competing for The Paella Plate, a Spanish theme was used for the tournament, with play preceded by lunch of paella, tortilla and vino, then players each choosing a Spanish club to represent in the Swiss format competition. 10 players competed, while newcomer, Bay, elected to watch and play a few friendly games to get himself acquainted with the rules and techniques.

Highlights of the day’s play included AGP U/15 champion, Jonty Brener (Villarreal), win one of his first senior matches in the first round, Harley Ullrich (Espanyol) scoring one of the goals of the day with a low, drilled far-post rocket from a tight angle, Adrian Elmer (Hércules) picking up his first competitive points against Fabrizio Coco (Athletic de Bilbao) in 18 months and Dave Sultana (Celta de Vigo) firstly scoring his first competitive goal, then picking up his first competitive points with another goal in a 1-1 draw in the following match.

After 3 rounds, 3 players were level on 7 points. So, heading into the 4th and final round, Daniele Lombardi (Atletico de Madrid) was ahead on goal difference from Steve Dettre (Valencia), who he would face, and Eliot Kennedy (Barça) who was paired with Neil Brener (Málaga). Daniele came out victorious in the first of those match-ups 2-0, including a trademark goal on the run to finally settle the very tight match, while Neil’s ‘keeper was in inspired form, keeping Eliot out for large swathes of the match. While Eliot picked up the result to keep him level with Daniele, he was unable to beat Neil’s ‘keeper enough times to rein in Daniele’s superior goal difference. Meanwhile, both Tony Credentino (Deportivo de La Coruña) and Adrian, hoping to slip past Steve into a minor placing, cancelled each other out in their tight 0-0 draw, relegating them both to mid-table obscurity.
Maybe it was the food, maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the holiday, but the afternoon was one of the most relaxed tournaments in recent memory, with all players competing sportingly in great spirits. Many thanks to those who played, making it a great afternoon.

Full results here: http://subbuteoaustralia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-March-Paella-Plate-WASPA.html

(Original report by Adrian Elmer here: http://subbuteoaustralia.com/?p=2423)

The Eggs Cup for Domenico Tassone

Last week-end the club of Savona in Italy organized a tournament won by Domenico Tassone (Savona Ponente). A real "ghostbuster" in Subbuteo 2016 Italian events.
Domenico "Eagle" Tassone beat El Buitre (Cavalieri di Moneglia) 4-2 after shoot-out in final, and Davide Santoro (Savona Ponente) took the third place after winning against Enrico Demutti (Savona Ponente) (4-3 after shoot out). Ettore Molino was the fifth, winning the "Chaltrons Cup". 14 Subbuteo players were taking part! it is a great success for the event, especially with the gift of 20 chocolate eggs, furnished by the premium chocolate firm "Lavoratti".

(Report by Enrico Demutti)

March Flickoff: Road to the Championship

Benjamin and Daddy Benny Ng

A turnout of 5 senior players and 3 juniors attended in March where 2 separate WASPA categories were formed so the juniors could maximise their enjoyment playing against each other with the same skill level. Chris Hannington was also a brand new entrant and played his first ever Subbuteo games with the junior players.

Juan had returned for a second stint which solidified his interest in the game and had begun investing into his own teams already! Although it proved to be a difficult outing for him against the more experienced players, he managed to score a goal against Adam losing 2-1 in a tight contest.

Benny managed to finish first place in the 5 man round robin format, where defeating Benji proved to be crucial, finishing two points above second placed Luke. A play-off final was formed between 2nd and 3rd place to decide the 2nd grand finalist where we saw Luke up against Benji, their previous game finishing in a 0-0 draw in the round robin. It turned out to be a slug fest with Luke dominating possession and shots in the first half in which he found himself 1-0 up at halftime. The second half saw Benji slowly getting back into it where he managed to find holes in Luke’s iron curtain but was kept at bay from his goalkeeping. It was the same case on the other end as Benji’s goalkeeping frustrated Luke and looked as if it would be impossible to score another. It was a heated contest with moments of confusion on the pitch with the complexity of the rules, which only ran down the clock and adding salt into the wounds of Benji as this marginally diminished his momentum of searching for an equaliser. It ended 1-0 to Luke.

Benny and Luke faced each other in the grand finale, both remaining undefeated on the day. It turned out to be a 0-0 draw with both Benny and Luke equally matched. It was unfortunate that neither managed to find the net compared to their previous bout ending in a 1-1 draw in the round robin. It was however, decided on penalties where Benny won scoring the only goal. This marked a significant win for Benny, who had won his second WASPA tournament and also witnessed his son, Benjamin, taking the junior crown in his tournament, marking March 2016 as the month of the Ng family victorious in Melbourne.

Anas takes the champion belt in Singapore

Anas won the tournament

The Jurong Central Subbuteo Club (JCSC) League WASPA for the month of March saw 13 ‘wrestlers’ battling it out for glory in this wrestling-themed tournament. Players were represented by well known wrestlers, and are random drawn into 4 groups, with the top 2 in every group qualifying for the quarterfinals. The quarter and semi finals saw intense matches, and the’final showdown’ was between Rudy a.k.a Mankind and Anas a.k.a The Rock. Anas ‘The Rock’ slammed Rudy ‘Mankind’ with an early goal. With victory almost certain for Anas ‘The Rock’, Rudy ‘Mankind’ managed to score a goal in the dying seconds of the match, bringing it to sudden death extra time. With no goals scored in extra time, a sudden death shootout proceeded. Rudy’s shot was saved, while Anas’ shot found the back of the net. The Rock wins the title! Congrats to the winners!

(Report by the organizers)

The Copa Libertadores for Andrea Pagano

This friday evening the club of Catanzaro was holding a tournament with the old rules under the theme of the "Copa Libertadores". Estudiantes (Andrea Pagano) finished on top with 14 points after playing a round robin of 6 games for every player. Vasco de Gama (Alessandro Corigliano) was runner up (11 points) while Penarol (Davide Colace) was third (8) and Boca Juniors (Salvatore Scalise) ended in last position.

A nice win for Tan Kok Wee

Sunday TFAS WASPA were participants who did not progress to the 2nd rounds of the International open event. The plates event had several senior players namely John Ho, Tan Kok Wee, Chandru and Sham who were grouped with several of our promising under 19s and adult players where the 10 players dished out several fierce games in the 4 rounds of swiss games.

In the end, Tan Kok Wee emerged as the WASPA champion while John Ho came in 2nd.

The end of the Kingdom?

Big suprises at Breda club last night: the "King" Massimo Lapucci is resoundingly eliminated by an astonishing Alfredo Granato who played an amazing offensive strategy. Final match for Stefano Braschi and the "Maestro" Pierluigi D'Amico, qualified after a long series of shoot-outs over Granato (he also lost the 3rd place at shoot-out lottery). A shocked Lapucci also lost the consolation final. Lapucci still stands at the top of ranking, now threatened by the round winner Braschi.

(Report by Alfredo Granato)

Gagliardi wins the provincial championship

 

This week-end the "provincial championship" was played in Macerata (Italy) with 12 players competing with the old rules.

Alberto Gagliardi defeated Paolo Guidara in the final. Mario Marcolini and Massimo Garbuglia reached the semi-finals.

Another good night in Sydney

Only six players, but some good competition on a Tuesday night at the Northern Falcons’ ‘home’ at GoodGames. Fabrizio Coco took the title unbeaten, though he had a couple of scares. He only beat Johnny Ball with a goal  seconds from time, then did the same against Steve Dettre. Eliot Kennedy found his shooting finger after a sluggish start against Fabrizio (0-2), before beating Steve 2-0 and Simon 5-0. Simon Cole continued his impressive performances with his mighty West Ham Snipers, pipping Johnny. Quote of the night had to go to Johnny, after a delightful move and chip to score against Steve. “I love playing this game.”

(Report by Steve Dettre)

A first trophy for Renaud Parisel

Renaud Parisel and beginner Tom Léonard

This saturday the club of Semois SC was hosting their 5th WASPA tournament in their premises of Vresse-sur-Semois. The event saw Tom léonard making his first appearance in a tournament and a surprising final result as Renaud Parisel, the runner-up of the four previous events, finally managed to beat Pascal Droeven to claim the title. The club is growing slowly but surely and is now expecting to get more table to welcome more players from other clubs.

Erich Hinkelmann wins in Ebreichsdorf

A few weeks ago Austrias youngest Club, the TFKN Dragons, celebrated their second birthday. Their home tournament is the same age. The Anninger Cup , named after a mountain in their home region, was held last weekend.

The Open final

This year the Anninger Cup was played as a FISTF Satellite and also a WASPA tournament. Besides a group of Dragons, almost every Austrian team was represented at Ebreichsdorf. With Erich Hinkelmann (TFC Mattersburg), Thomas Busch (TFKN Dragons) and David Busch (Master San Remo) three players from Austrias top tier participated. Erich Hinkelmann and David Busch did mange to go through to the final.

The final was a hard fight. David Busch put a strong performance to the table. But in the end the former worlds number 1 won. Erich Hinkelmann took the glory with an outstandig goal, which led to the final score of 2-1.

The players of the U19 section

Next to the Open Category a Under 19 Competition was held. Jonathan Nichtenberger (TFC Wien West) showed his current top form and claimed the titel of the „nFusion Cup“ (Named after the Sponsor). With an unbeaten run he topped his group and defeated his teammate Marios Strommer 2-1 in the final.

The TFKN Dragons say thank you to all the participants and are looking forward to the Anningers Cup 2017 edition.

(Report by Thomas Eppensteiner)

Gus Gillespie takes the honors in Brisbane

The 13th tournament of Brisbane Subbuteo Club was held this sunday in Mooloolah. Due to some last minute dropouts, only four players were taking part and Gus Gillpsie took the honors after winning 3 games and drawing 3 times. Giuseppe Tardiata was runner-up, Rick Bland was third and Andrew Ridgen took the fourth place.

Clifford Graaff wins again in Pretoria!

(Report by Julian vd Merwe)

Saturday 12 March 2016, Pretoria, South Africa
The 4th edition of the PFC Founder's Cup saw a field of 10 entries take part, including Clifford Graaff from the Johannesburg Table Football Club. The Founder's Cup is staged each year in March to celebrate the birthdate of Pretoria Flickers Club - PFC will celebrate it's 3rd year of existence on 24 March 2016 - thanks to all members for your continued support over the past 3 years, you have made it possible to continue playing! The event had 4 rounds of play - where each round of play was determined by ''random draw", with 2 points per win & 1 point per draw awarded. The random draw proved to be exciting in itself, but for some reason…..the pre-tournament favourites Jayden vd Merwe, Bevin Reed & Clifford Graaff were never drawn to play each other - but this did not detract from the entertainment levels at all! In the end Clifford Graaff won all 4 of his matches to gather 8 points in total - taking the honours on the day by 1 point over Pretoria's Jayden vd Merwe and Bevin Reed who were placed 2nd & 3rd respectively. A mention must be made about one of PFC's newest members….Adam Murray….whose efforts on the day earned him a well deserved 4th place overall. Adam managed to hold Jayden to 0-0 in round 1, and then suffered his only defeat by 1-0 to eventual event winner Clifford in round 4 - Clifford getting the winner with 30 seconds left to play!
On the day we witnessed a total of 35 goals over the 20 matches played….with only 4 matches ending 0-0. This made for a great day of goal action, thrills & spills - only as the game of Subbuteo can produce! The win for Clifford marks his 3rd triumph in as many months during 2016! Thanks to all for attending and making the day a success once again!

Final Standings - Pts
Clifford Graaff 8
Jayden vd Merwe 7
Bevin Reed 7
Adam Murray 4
Julian vd Merwe 4
Kegan vd Merwe 3
Chessray Jooste 3
Rowin Wilson 2
Stanton Nortjie 2
Neilon Waterson 0

The PFC website & facebook page will be updated shortly with photo's & news content at :
http://pfctest.leaguerepublic.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PFC-SA/519566284755728

Report of the last three events in Belgium

The club of "Semois SC" hosted their fourth WASPA event in Vresse and this time there was no surprise as Pascal Droeven took the honors (again), beating Renaud Parisel (again) in the final to claim his 4th title. Patrick Vanderliden Marc De Vos and Grégory Berte were the other competitors. There will be another tournament on March 12 in vresse with more new players in the entry list.

The players

Last Friday the Templeuve United players held a WASPA tournament in their premises. It was a good rehearsal for some of the international players taking part in the FISTF Major of Frameries. Hosts were glad to have 8 French players, 4 Greeks, 2 Italians and Paul O'Donovan from California. The tournament was played in Swiss system so that everyone had four games. After three sessions only Kostas Seses and Geoffrey Marain had 9 points. In the decisive game, there was no winner (1-1) and Marain won thanks to a better goal-difference.

Paul o'Donovan with local talent Matthias Averlant

It was a good evening played in a friendly atmosphere and with a much appreciated pizza break.

Top 3 of the evening: Seses, Marain, Stamokostas

The final standings were as follows:
1. Geoffrey Marain (BEL/fmi)
2. Kostas Seses (GRE/ocs)
3. Kostas Stamokostas (GRE/ocs)
4. Spyros Patrinos (GRE/ocs)
5. Vassilis Aggelopoulos (GRE/ocs)
6. Vittorio de Pascale (ITA/fmi)
7. Serge Leroy (FRA/puy)
8. Olivier Bastin (FRA/puy)
9. Giulio Astengo (ITA/fmi)
10. Paul O'Donovan (USA/kiv)
11ea Renald Deloose (BEL/tpv)
11ea Jean-François Balard (FRA/puy)
13. Michaël Dupret (BEL/tou)
14. Vincent Coppenolle (BEL/tpv)
15. Matthias Averlant (BEL/tpv)
16ea Olivier Bodelle (FRA/tpv)
16ea Eddy Beernaert (BEL/fla)
18. Alexandre Marc (FRA/puy)
19. Charly Caillaux (FRA/-)
20. Eric Caillaux (FRA/-)
21. Johanne Balard (FRA/puy)
22. Benjamin Marain (BEL/wad)

The players (Eddy Verstappen missing)

On Monday the SC Flanders players hosted their monthly WASPA event with a good field of 9. Jos Ceulemans took the honors but struggled in his game against Vincent Guyaux to take the tile. Congratulations to Jos!

Top 3 of the evening: Leys, Ceulemans, Guyaux

Final standings:
1. Jos Ceulemans 10
2. Vincent Huyaux 10
3. Eddy Beernaert 7
4. Geert Leys 6
5. Bart Van de Vliet 6
6. Johan Lourdon 4
7. Willy De Bandt 3
8. Bert Feyens 3
9. Eddy Verstappen 0

Action in Switzerland and England

Last week-end the club of Basel organized a gathering with five players. The "GrafixCup" consisted in a round robin so that everyone played four games. Peter Erb took the honors with 10 points while Leo Cavallaro was runner-up with 7 points. FB, Alberto Eilis and Italian guest Pasquale Stirparo from Black Rose Roma were the other competitors of the day.

In Lincoln, four players attended the event organized by the Lincon Flickers. Jeremy Boothman finished on top of a group of four while Andrew Garbutt was 2n, Andy Boyer 3rd and John Devaney 4th.

WASPA rankings, statistics and results of February 2016

Dear all,

here are as every month the rankings, statistics and results of the WASPA circuit.

Golden book: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4_PpphlADgVUFU2OGlXUHl6WEE
Excel file: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4_PpphlADgVWmgtRGZBVnBpeTQ

A great field of players in Johannesburg (South Africa)

In February, we had 21 tournaments (20 "regional" and 1 played with the old rules). Some of the events were great, many were played in Swiss system so that everyone had 4 games. In Italy, the club of Catanzaro had a fantastic tournament with 20 players. The guys in South Africa were very active with 8 players competing in Pretoria and 20 in Johannesburg where, for the very first time, team matches were organized between Johannesburg TFC and the Pretoria Flickers. We were glad to see action in Indonesia where the only foreign player, Majee Nolizam (Malaysia), took the honors. Cyprus finally held their third tournament of the season. Finally, the English club of Harrow held a tournament with the old rules and it was a success.

Singapore players had the visit of Frenchman Emmanuel Miranda

The number of ranked players is slightly down to 1624 and 41 nations are still involved.

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

A good turnout of 16 in Templeuve

Please note the blog is updated almost every day at http://waspa-circuit.blogspot.com

The FISTF website is http://www.fistf.com

Yours in sport,

Vincent Coppenolle

5th stage of the Tayside circuit

Last Sunday the Dundee United players met in their new premises to play the 5th stage of the local circuit. The event was played as a round robin of 10 players with games of 20 minutes. Everyone had 9 games and in the end, Steve Bennett took the honors with a best goal difference than Andy Beskaby. Bennett is also on top of the circuit with 196 points. Beskaby is runner-up with 169 and both Gareth Christie and Craig Thom have 146.

The final standings of the tournament were as follows.
1. Steve Bennett -> 23 pts - GD: 23
2. Andy Beskaky -> 23 pts - GD: 21
3. Gareth Christie -> 21 pts - GD: 8
4. Rob Conway -> 16 pts - GD: 10
5. Fraser Bruce -> 14 pts - GD: 2
6. David Baxter -> 13 pts - GD: 3
7. Drew Orr -> 10 pts - GD: -6
8. Stuart Peacock -> 6 pts - GD: -10
9. Kevin Perkins -> 3 pts - GD: -26
10. Craig Thom -> 0 pts - GD: -25

George Ebejer wins the Easter Cup

George Ebejer with Mauro Camilleri and Josef Camilleri

This saturday the club of Attard (Malta) organized the Easter Cup in their premises with 12 players taking part. George Ebejer took the best on Mauro Camilleri to win the Open final. Nicolai Bugeja and Josef Camilleri were the semi-finalists. The event attracted many young players of the local club. The was a good mix between older players and beginners who are gainging experience by playing the older guys.

McKenzie Life Subbuteo Cup 2016

Back row: Mike, Grant, Clinton, Wayne, John. In front: Mikael, Rafael, Tarek.

Sunday 6th March saw Cape Town’s inaugural McKenzie Life Subbuteo Cup. It was wonderfully hosted in a lovely venue - which amongst other things allowed for dips in the pool between games :)

There were many really tight matches, and some fantastic goals - some of which we wished we could have captured on camera!

This was the second time that Cape Town Subbuteo has had a separate u11 category at a tournament, and we will endeavour this year to grow these numbers. It’s great to see the kids enjoying themselves so much with something that does not involve a screen…!

Another huge thank you to Wayne McKenzie and to McKenzie Life, for the wonderful afternoon (and for by far the best prizes we’ve ever seen at a Cape Town event!) They have set a standard which will be tough to live up to.

Open standings:
1. Clinton Gahwiler
2. Wayne McKenzie
3. Grant Lewis
4. John Fishlock
5. Mike Ryder

U11 standings:
1. Rafael Gahwiler
2. Tarek Schulzer
3. Mikael Kasfikis

(Report by Clinton Gahwiler)

A nice meeting in Frameries

More then a simple game, the first round match in the FISTF Major of Frameries between FISTF World champion Carlos Flores Lopez and WASPA number 1 player Geoffrey Marain was prestigious. No surprise in the end as Flores won 6-1 but it was a nice meeting and a rare opportunity for a good picture..

History made at Joburg Open!

Saturday the 20th of February saw the 2016 hosting of the oldest table football tournament in Africa – the Johannesburg Open proudly hosted by the Johannesburg Table Football Club at the Panorama Sports Club. The Joburg Open also featured the first ever Gauteng Inter-Club Championships between the host club, the Joburg Eagles and the Pretoria Flickers TFC.

Jason Kennedy (SA runner-up in 2009), Richard Graaff and Greg Green were returning from a few years sabbatical. However this did not detract from impressive performances on the day. A very competitive field of 20 players were seeded (top 8) and placed in four groups of 5 players.
The majority of games went according to the seeding with the only real surprise being local and much improved player, Wayne Pienaar, who showed some excellent touches in topping his group and eliminating one of the pre-tournaments favourites namely Chessrey Jooste and ending above of another favourite, Clifford Graaff. Jason Kennedy rolled back the years in maintaining a 100% victory in all his games and Richard Graaff won his group ahead of favourite Bevin Reed.

The quarter-finals saw Wayne continue his impressive showing by eliminating Bevin Reed in a tense penalty shoot-out. Richard Graaff was unlucky to lose to his father after scoring probably the goal of the tournament and leading with only a few minutes left only to concede a second goal virtually on the full time whistle. Youngster, and star prospect, Jayden van der Merwe, edged out Greg Green by a solitary goal. Jason Kennedy accounted for Julian van der Merwe with a penalty kick proving decisive. The semi-finals saw Jason edge out Jayden by 2 goals to 1 in a marathon penalty shoot-out. In the other semi, Clifford defeated Wayne by 2 goals to nil in a fast and entertaining game.

The final pitted Clifford against Jason in a very entertaining final. Clifford’s precise passing was instrumental in securing him the final with his first goal coming from a shot on the run which is synonymous with Jason’s trademark goals from a few years ago.

The first ever Gauteng Inter Club Champs was also played between the knock-out stages of the Joburg Open. It was decided to play two legs and take the aggregate score to determine the winner. The first leg was extremely tight and tense and Joburg’s Richard Graaff scored the only positive result for the Eagles by defeating Chessrey Jooste one nil. The other three fixtures ended goalless setting up an exciting and decisive second leg. The second leg resulted in a flurry of excitement and goals with the Eagles Clifford and Jason accounting for Pretoria’s Julian and Chessrey. Jayden score the solitary victory for Pretoria by defeating Wayne.  The Joburg Eagles won the second leg by two games to one and an aggregate score of 3-1. This new format proved extremely exciting and Pretoria is sure to host the next round of the Gauteng I/C Champs to exact revenge and bragging rights for the top table football club in Gauteng.

Jason Kennedy, regional Sales Manager for Ola Ice Cream, kindly provided supplied lucky draw prizes for all participants. Thanks Jason!!!
A special word of thanks must go to Nita for once again providing delicious treats to all the competitors on a typical Joburg summers day, extreme heat rounded off with a severe Highveld thunderstorm to cool everything down. Thanks Nita!
Thanks must go to all the competitors who played the games in the true spirit of the game –well done to you all and see you soon!!!!!

More pics here

(Report by Clifford Graaff)

Sydney Premier League Round 6

The Games Cube in Parramatta was heaving on Saturday, February 27. With more people turning up for a miniatures tournament than the owners had been counting on, the Subbuteo pitches got moved from their usual spot in the gaming area right into the middle of the shop floor. This was a great bonus, as the air-conditioning on the sweltering day was much better here, and the game was on clear display for everyone in the packed store to see.

The Lombardi father and son duo had traveled up from Berry on the morning, Dave Sultana had thrown his wicket away at the end of play the previous Saturday and called in the 12th man for fielding duties so that he could be part of the Subbuteo action, while Eliot Kennedy returned from his sojourn to the US to resume his rivalry at the top of the Sydney Premier League table against Daniele Lombardi.

The tournament was played in a 4 round Swiss System, with the first round drawn randomly. Harley Ullrich surprised Daniele after going down early, scoring an equaliser with a flying counterattack. Daniele was roused from his lethargy and ended with a hard earned 2-1 victory by full-time. Eliot dominated possession but had trouble getting through Adrian Elmer’s ‘keeper and found himself susceptible to the odd counter attack but was able to settle his nerves midway through the second half to take a 1-0 victory. Steve Dettre slipped 3 past Dave, while Mat conceded 2 to Raffaele Lombardi.

Because not enough juniors were able to enter the tournament, 6 year old Gabriel Lombardi had to play in the main competition, where he performed very admirably, earning sporting draws against Hermann Kruse and Adrian. Raffaele put another 2 past Steve, while Dave’s defense improved considerably, keeping Mat to a hard won 1-0 scoreline. In the shock result of the day, Eliot shipped 3 goals against Daniele, their normal tight tussle nowhere to be seen, as Eliot continued to struggle in front of goal while Daniele found every shot was turning to gold.

By the final round, Eliot needed to beat Raffaele by 2 clear goals and hope Adrian could hold Daniele at bay if he were to take the tournament title. Unfortunately for him, Daniele blitzed Adrian in their match opening and it was 3-0 before Adrian could even get a look in. In the end, it mattered little as Raffaele held off Eliot with a 0-0 result that gave Raffaele his first Sydney Premier League title. Meanwhile, in the lower placings, Hermann made a large jump on the table with a 1-0 win over Dave. Dave did manage to score his first goal of the day – a beautiful manoeuvre through a packed box with a shot on the run. Unfortunately, one of his figures was in an off-side position! Still, for only his second ever tournament he is showing signs that it won’t take long before he is a contender.

A great day’s play with all competitors playing with great sportsmanship. A number of interested onlookers got an introduction to the game, including the owner of The Games Cube, Lindsay who, having supported us wonderfully for almost 2 years now, finally got to play his first game. And, most pleasingly for this organiser, the entire tournament ran exactly to schedule! Thanks all.

(Original report from http://subbuteoaustralia.com/?p=2357)

Another great night of Subbuteo in Singapore

TCHA4 WASPA Club Challenge on February 26 attracted 15 players with special guests Emmanuel Miranda  (Hartamas Tigers SC) & Bernard Lim (SG Lions SC) participating in Jurong Central SC 2nd WASPA tournament of the year. The tournament was played in the theme of European Champions League 15/16 where the cup final was between Valencia (Rudy) & Arsenal (Vikas).
An injured Valencia team still had enough firepower to edge the "come back team of the tournament" Arsenal 1-0. Overall all the games were played in good spirit with laughters clouding the tournament atmosphere.

The big final

Prizes were given to the following:-

Cup Semis
Bayern (Noor Haikal)
Astana (Anas Bin Rahamat)

Finalist 
2nd - Arsenal (Vikas)
1st - Valencia (Rudy)

Plates Finalist 
2nd - (Real Madrid) Mohamed Bolkiah
1st - (PSG) Simon