Home win for Valéry Dejardin

Last Friday the club of JSC Rochefort was hosting a second WASPA tournament in their premises with this time a superb field of 16 coming from four different clubs. After many great games in the group stage and in the classification round, Valéry Dejardin was the winner. He defeated Rémy Honet in the final.

The final standings were as follows:
1. Valéry Dejardin (JSC Rochefort)
2. Rémy Honet (JSC Rochefort)
3. Arnaud Robillard (JSC Rochefort)
4. Maxime Muraille (JSC Rochefort)
5. Christopher Sabetta (SC Seraing)
6. Olivier Saffer (JSC Rochefort)
7. Antonio Timpano (SC Seraing)
8. Didier Stévenot (JSC Rochefort)
9. Corentin Wauthy (Rochefort TS)
10. Nathan Dizier (JSC Rochefort)
11. Bruno Timpano (SC Seraing)
12. Richard Boulanger (SC Seraing)
13. Basile Magermans (JSC Rochefort)
14. Geoffrey Kelner (SC Seraing)
15. Pascal Droeven (SC Semois)
16. Aurélien Feye (JSC Rochefort)

A lucky Marain wins again in Templeuve

Vito Di Ruggiero and Geoffrey Marain

Templeuve United was hosting the "end of the year tournament" on Tuesday evening with 12 players competing in Swiss system. The evening was full of surprises and after three sessions four players were still tied with 7 points. Vito Di Ruggiero and Geoffrey won their respective top games but Marain finally won the tournament on goal-difference. The young Noah Denne made great debuts, scoring a lot of great goals. Samuel verriest, after a break of 3 years, made a come-back and he's starting a new club in Mouscron. John Verfaillie won the raffle and brought back a pack of chocolates at home. The next Templeuve event will be held on January 5.

The final standings were as follows:
1. Geoffrey Marain (Flickers Milano)
2. Vito Di Ruggiero (Charleroi)
3. Matthias Averlant (Templeuve)
4. Vincent Coppenolle (Templeuve)
5. Noah Denne (Eugies)
6. Corentin Boltz (Eugies)
7. Sébastien Denne (Eugies)
8. Olivier Bodelle (Templeuve)
9. Damien Urbain (Eugies)
10. Andre Boltz Andre (Eugies)
11. John Verfaillie (Templeuve)
12. Samuel Verriest (Mouscron)

Boxing Day for Vassilis Koutsompinas

Markos Kapsabelis, Vassilis Koutsompinas and Leonidas Koutromanos

It was a real Boxing Day this Monday in Pireas where the local club "Pireas Lions" was holding a Christmas Cup with a very nice field of 16 players divided in four groups. Among the competitors, some "big names" were making a WASPA debut, including Markos Kapsabelis (Foggia CT). The group stage saw many close games and in three groups, two players tied in second place with 4 points. Dimosthenis Kalatzis, who was the surprising winner of group 1, defeated organizer Leonidas Koutromanos in the quarter-final round to reach the top 4 but couldn't create another sensation in the semi as he lost to Vassilis Koutsompinas. Koutsompinas later won the final against Markos Kapsabelis in sudden death. Congratulations to the Pireas Lions for another successful tournament! Please note there will be another WASPA event in Greece on December 1, this time organized by the club of Proteas Athens.

Bernard Lim wins 2016 Christmas Cup in Singapore

The final tournament in the Singapore Table Football calendar with SG Ranking points took place on 26 Dec 2016 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 10 players.  It also marked the return to action of Ashley Tan, a Singapore Subbuteo National Champion in the 80’s, and SG Lions’ latest marquee signing!

(L to R): Nic Tan, Vikas Chandiramani, Luke Lim, Bernard Lim, Anas Rahamat, Ashley Tan, Isaac Lim, Michael Choong
(Not in photo): Soh Wee Lik, Matteo Soh

(L-R): Ashley (SG Lions’ Marquee Signing), Michael (Runner-Up),
Bernard (Champion), Isaac (Fourth), Anas (Third)

The 10 players were randomly drawn into 2 groups of 5 players each for the round-robin Group Stage; with the top 2 seeds (based on latest FISTF ranking) heading up each Group. The respective 1st to 5th finishers in each Group then play-off each other to determine the overall 1st to 10th positions of the Xmas Cup.  Each player gets 5 games.
Both Groups turned out to be very tight and were decided only on goal difference.  Group A saw 3 players (Bernard, Nic, Isaac) tied on 9 points – with Bernard making it into the Final by the skin of his teeth with a mere 1-goal difference.  Group B – the Group of Death – saw Michael edging out Anas by a 2-goal difference.  In a tense Final, Bernard prevailed with a 2-0 win to win the Xmas Cup!

Final Placings
Champion: Bernard Lim
Runner-Up: Michael Choong
3rd Place: Anas Rahamat
4th Place: Isaac Lim
5th Place: Nic Tan
6th Place: Vikas Chandiramani
7th Place: Ashley Tan
8th Place: Luke Lim
9th / 10th Place: Wee Lik Soh / Matteo Soh

Congratulations to all winners!

Jérôme Heyvaert takes the Christmas Cup in Auvelais

There was action on Friday evening in Auvelais, Belgium where the local club "Etoile Sarthoise" was hosting a nice subbuteo tournament with 13 players including several players from SC Eugies. The level was high, there were many good games and after the group stage, quarter-finals qualified the top four players of the night. Jérôme Heyvaert defeated Vito Di Ruggiero on shots while Geoffrey marain took the best on Vincent Guyaux (3-2). In the final, Heyvaert won the game (2-0) against Marain. The final standings of the evening were as follows:
1. Jérôme Heyvaert
2. Geoffrey Marain
3. Vincent Guyaux
4. Vito Di Ruggiero
5. Noa Dheene
6. Dany Timmerman
7. Sébastien Dheene
8. Damien Urbain
9. Fabrice Guyaux
10. André Boltz
11. Corentin Boltz
12. Bruno Castellano
13. Alyssa Guyaux

Brendan Rodgers retains title in Derry

Some of the players

Derry City TFC was holding a second WASPA tournament on Monday with players from Donegal and Strabane among the 9 competitors. Brendan Rodgers, the only representative of the Republic of Ireland, retained his title following a thrilling 3-3 draw, winning 4-3 in the shoot out against local player Martinog Bradlay while Lochlin Bradley and Mark Mc Crossan made it to the semis. Congratulations to DCTFC for their efforts to promote the game in the North West of Ireland.

Derry City TFC Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/DerryCityTableFootball/

Andrew Garbutt takes the Lincoln Christmas Cup

Villa Real (A. Garbutt) wins Copa del Santa in a three match Swiss System coming from behind to pip Barcelona (A. Boyer) 2-1. Barca almost levelled in the final throws but the shot flew high. Villa Real accused of arriving late for an early bye also beat Celta Vigo (J. Devaney) 3-1 which included a spectacular top corner own goal.




The final standings are as follows:

1. Andrew Garbutt (ENG/lin) 9
2. Andy Boyer (ENG/yor) 6
3. Jeremy Boothman (ENG/lin) 6
4. Michael Hardy (IRL/lin) 3
5. John Devaney (AUS/lin) 3

Western Flickers 9th WASPA

Back to the Future!

December 10, 2106

Western Flickers goes home!

Flick On!

For the last WASPA tournament of 2016, Western Flickers returned to the suburb where it all began – Altona.
Despite a number of flickers being busy with holiday season activities, there was still a relatively good turnout of 7 flickers, including a new flicker Arjuna playing table football for the very first time. With our junior flickers mixing it up with the seniors to gather invaluable playing experience against strong adult opponents, there was only a single Open category for the day.




An exciting finish and a star is born
The round-robin tournament matches went pretty much according to WASPA rankings, though there were some close contests and last gasp winners.
With top seed Kevin Grant on fire, it was not surprising that he was undefeated for the day and clinched the title comfortably. Special mention should be given to Chris Hirst, who played well to finish second despite still recovering from illness during the week.

Kevin Grant and Chris Hirst facing off for championship honours

With Kevin cruising to the title, the tussle for third spot turned out to be the most exciting contest. Harrison Briffa was ahead by a single point going into the final round of matches, which meant that junior rival Benjamin needed at least a draw against the in-form Kevin. In a thrilling match, young Benjamin held out for a goalless draw to snatch third position on goal difference – by a single goal!

Rivals on the pitch, good mates off it. Well done boys!

Another highlight for the day was the debut of first time flicker Arjuna Hanafi. A naturally talented
flicker, he surprised everyone with his accurate flicking, soft touch and thoughtful play. He’s definitely a player to watch out for and with a bit more playing experience, Arjuna will no doubt be challenging for WASPA tournament titles in the near future!

First time flicker Arjuna Hanafi (right) in a tight tussle with Fauzi Rahmen 

A day of firsts

While this was a small tournament, it turned out to be an event of many historic firsts:
• Congrats to the ever-improving Kevin for winning his first WASPA tournament!
• Alex finally enjoyed his first victory over older brother Harrison in the Briffa Boys derby.
• Arjuna playing table football for the first time and even won a match. Naturally, this was his first WASPA tournament as well.
• The first event held at our new western-region venue – Altona City Soccer Club.
Thanks to all who attended for helping to make it another extremely successful Western Flickers WASPA event. A big shout-out to the Altona City Soccer Club for their support and allowing us to use their facilities. It was definitely another great day of table football fun!

GO WEST!

The final tournament standings are:
1. Kevin Grant
2. Chris Hirst
3. Benjamin Ng
4. Harrison Briffa
5. Arjuna Hanafi
6. Alex Briffa
7. Fauzi Rahmen

P.S. If anyone is interested in taking part in future Western Flickers events or just popping by for chat and look-see, please visit the Western Flickers Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WesternFlickers/) and send us a message.

Brian Daley retains title in Drury

This Sunday London Road Subbuteo Club was holding a second WASPA tournament in Drury (Wales) with a good turnout of 10. Group stages gave everyone 4 games with the top 2 going through to the semi-finals. The Final was a very close game but Brian Daley took the honors after defeating Martin Blanchard. Cayne Matthews and Richard Stock reached the semi-finals. There will be some future events in North Wales. Anyone interested can contact Cayne Matthews at caynematthews@aol.com for details.

Alegi Wins 2016 Turkey Shoot in Michigan

Grand Rapids TSC hosted the eighth edition of the Turkey Shoot on Sunday, December 18. The tournament was played at Big Kidz Games in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The five-man round robin stage featured several good games. Marcus Fila's early goal against Paul Pate was all he needed for the win. Pate bounced back in the next match, capitalizing on a free kick to beat Alex Galarza 1-0. Newcomer Joe Legatz, who brought a beautiful 1980 Club Edition set to display, did very well and came within two minutes of earning a draw against Alex.

In the championship final, Peter Alegi completed a fine tournament by defeating Marcus 5-0 to claim the title. Alex took revenge on Paul in the third-place final with a 1-0 win. Grand Rapids TSC's second year of activity has now ended and everyone is  looking forward to 2017 when the club will host the ASA Nationals.

Tournament Results:

ROUND ROBIN

Alegi - Legatz 9-0
Fila - Pate 1-0
Legatz - Fila 0-3
Pate - Galarza 1-0
Alegi - Pate 5-0
Fila - Galarza 2-0
Galarza - Alegi 0-3
Legatz - Pate 0-2
Alegi - Fila 4-0
Legatz - Galarza 1-2





Standings

(PTS W-T-L    GF    GA)
Alegi    12    4-0-0    21    0
Fila        9    3-0-1    6    4
Pate    6    2-0-2    3    6  
Galarza    3    1-0-3    2    6
Legatz    0    0-0-4    1    16


FINAL
Alegi v Fila 5-0

3rd PLACE FINAL
Pate v Galarza 0-1

Number 5 for Gus Gillespie

There was Subbuteo action again this week-end in brisbane, Australia, for the last tournament of the year. Local players had a great time, despite there was a low turnout. In the end, Gus Gillespie won the final against Giuseppe Tardiota to claim his 5th WASPA title. Congratulations to Gus and to the boys in Brisbane for their continous efforts to promote the game!

Adam Lundy wins in Worcester

Worcester River Plate 7 was holding a Christmas tournament on December 15. There was a small turnout of three and results were as follows:
Tim Lovell 1-1 Paul Shearman
Adam Lundy 4-1 Tim Lovell
Paul Shearman 1-1 Adam Lundy

The finals standings were as follows:
Adam Lundy 4 Pts
Paul Shearman 2 Pts
Tim Lovell 1 Pts

"This was the last time we are playing as Worcester River Plate 7, the club has now folded after 11 years of playing. We've had lots of fun over the years, but have decided now is the right time to finish. Our new club, West Midlands SC will take over", commented Adam Lundy.

Good luck to Adam, Paul and Tim for the future!

Big fun in Japan

On December 3, just before the FISTF tournament held in the same venue, there was a WASPA tournament in Yokohama with 16 players from different ages (between 11 and 55). Taichi Kato (Yokohama OSC) defeated Singapore's Issac Lim from Singapore Lions in the final. Katsuhiko Fukuoka (OSC Yamato) and Makoto Miyake (Yokohama OSC) were the semi-finalists. Big thanks to Kenzo Koi for the support!

Jurong Central tournaments in 2017

Steve Bennett still on top in Letham

This Sunday the Tayside circuit was back in Letham, Angus as the Dundee United players moved to their old venue. 8 players were present and Steve Bennett ended on top of the league table after winning his seven games. The final standings were as follows:

1. Steve Bennett
2. Gareth Christie
3. Andy Beskaky
4. Rob Conway
5. David Baxter
6. Drew Orr
7. Craig Thom
8. Dave Minty

Chessray Jooste ends 2016 on a high!

(report by Julian vd Merwe)

Saturday 10 December 2016, Pretoria, South Africa: 
The final event on the 2016 Pretoria Flickers Club calendar attracted a field of 10 entries - including Imtiaz Ahmed on holiday from the Northwest province of South Africa. Imtiaz had last competed in March 2015 during the SATFA / Alberton Challenge. The players were placed in two groups of 5 - with each player getting to play 4 matches over 5 rounds of play. Over the 20 scheduled matches we witnessed a total of 20 goals scored, ensuring for great fun and action to end a busy year for the Pretoria Flickers Club. For this event all players used Total Soccer figures & bases - playing in various International colours.
The pick of Round 1 action saw a 2-0 win for Jayden vd Merwe (Netherlands) over Stanton Nortjie (Argentina). Elsewhere, Kegan vd Merwe (Portugal) registered a 1-0 win over Imtiaz Ahmed (France).
In Round 2, Stanton frustrated Bevin Reed (England) to a 0-0 draw, whilst Rowin Wilson (Brazil) shocked everybody when he took a 1-0 lead over Jayden - but the lead lasted only 2 minutes as Jayden stormed back to force a 1-1 draw !
The much anticipated fixture in Round 3 saw Bevin record a 2-0 victory over Jayden. When Conway Julie (Spain) beat Imtiaz by 1-0, the standings at the end of Round 3 made for some interesting reading as Conway found himself top of the standings - but the tournament favourites still had a game in hand.
Then Round 4 produced some upsets - firstly, Julian vd Merwe (Japan) wheathered an opening 5 minute assault from Bevin, but Julian somehow managed to compose himself and win the match by 2-0! Sherwin Reed (Germany) then profited on a defensive error to beat Kegan by 1-0. Chessray Jooste (Italy) was silently getting the results he required, and after beating Imtiaz by 1-0, Chessray was top of the standings going into Round 5.
In Round 5, Julian took the lead over Jayden - but Jayden got one back to end the match 1-1, the draw ensuring a 3rd place overall for Julian. Chessray then beat Kegan by 1-0, the result confirming Chessray as 2016 PFC Copa del Clausura winner ! Elsewhere Bevin recorded the day's highest winning margin by 3-0 over Rowin, a result securing 2nd place overall for Bevin.
I suppose it was no surprise that Chessray Jooste captured his 8th WASPA title on the day - as he (Chessray) was Pretoria's stand out player during last month's SA Championship held in Cape Town, when Chessray managed a 4th place overall finish at the SA Championship!
A great day of fun as the curtain came down on the club's busiest year to date - a total of 12 WASPA sanctioned events was held in Pretoria during 2016 ! Thanks to all for your support during the year - hope you have a Flicking Festive period, ready to take on 2017!

Final Standings - Points
Chessray Jooste (ITALY) 7
Bevin Reed (ENGLAND) 5
Julian vd Merwe (JAPAN) 5
Sherwin Reed (GERMANY) 5
Conway Julie (SPAIN) 5
Jayden vd Merwe (NETHERLANDS) 4
Kegan vd Merwe (PORTUGAL) 3
Stanton Nortjie (ARGENTINA) 3
Rowin Wilson (BRAZIL) 3
Imtiaz Ahmed (FRANCE) 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

A first victory for Arnaud Robillard

It was a last minute event but JSC Rochefort was glad to have six players taking part to their very first WASPA event with a good night of games played in Swiss system. Arnaud Robillard took the honors, ending on top of table with Olivier Saffer, Rémy Honet, Basile Magermans, Mathéo Grégoire and Aurélien Feye being the other competitors. Despite some late dropouts, it was a good evening and organizers said they will have som emore events in the future, probably a good chance for neighboring clubs to show up next time.

St-Nicolas cup for Geoffrey Marain

The players

Results file

Jos at work

St-Nicolas was there

On Monday evening the SC Flanders club was holding another subbuteo night with a smaller field of 8. The atmosphere was great, the organizers thought about some details to make it special as this week Belgian kids celebrate St-Nicolas, a usual appointment for Belgian childrens to receive candies and toys. This time there was chocolate for everyone and all the players were very happy. Geoffrey Marain won his four games to finish on top of the table. Jos Ceulemans was runner-up and Frank Lannoy took a deserved place on the podium as well.

Top 3 of the evening

The final standings were as follows:
1. Geoffrey Marain (Flickers Milano)
2. Jos Ceulemans (London & Essex United)
3. Frank Lannoy (SC Temploux)
4. Vincent Coppenolle (Templeuve United)
5. Vincent Guyaux (Bormla SC)
6. Johan Lourdon (SC Flanders)
7. Geert Leys (London & Essex United)
8. Rudi De Smet (Baardegem Blues)

A first trophy for Miguel Zahra

This week-and the club of Attard was hosting another WASPA tournament and it was great to see youth in action as most players were very young. Miguel Zahra took the honors after beating Joseph Agius on shots in the final. Nigel Spiteri was third and Zven Zahra took the fourth place.

Special thanks to Mr Joseph Debono for his work with the kids and the efforts done to promote the game in Malta. We are convinced he should get much more support from everyone in Malta!

The Christmas Cup for Miguel Faria

Filipe Maia, António Pires, Sérgio Silva

Paulo Laranjeira, Miguel Faria, João Rodrigues

This week-end the club of Orfeao da Foz do Douro in Portugal was hosting a second WASPA tournament. The Christmas Cup was played by six competitors who all played 5 games. Miguel Faria remained unbeaten and took the honors.

The final standings of the tournament were as follows:
1. Miguel Faria
2. Paulo Laranjeira
3. João Rodrigues
4. Filipe Maia
5. António Pires
6. Sérgio Silva

Blog of the club: http://orfeaofozdouro.blogspot.pt

Historic moments in New Zealand

Some of the players. At that time several players had left.

Robert Southward (from New Zealand) and Emilia López (from Chile) playing the final

The winners with their prices

WASPA had another historic moment this week-end with the very first tournament organized in Palmerston North, New Zealand. It was another exciting tournament organized by Ignacio López Campbell who used to be the historic organizer of Subbuteo tournaments in Chile before he moved to News Zealand. There were 16 players taking part and several nationalities were represented as there were 6 players from New Zealand, 6 from Chile, 1 from Germany, 1 from Colombia but more surprisingly also 1 from Mexico and 1 from India, which means two more nations will be involved in the next rankings. After the first round, the final was played between Robert Southward (using England) and Emilia López (using Holland). The game finished 0 x 0, so was the extra time. Thus first and second place was decided by penalty kicks. Robert Southward (from New Zealand) was the winner. The people really enjoyed playing subbuteo so there are great hopes to have more tournaments in Palmerston North in the future! Huge thanks to Ignacio López Campbell for making things possible!

Monthly report of the WASPA circuit - November 2016

Dear all, like every month, here are the monthly standings of the WASPA circuit.

The Excel file (fulle rankings, main statistics)
The PDF file (results, statistics, ranking)

It has been a very busy month as I have added records of 35 tournaments (33 "regional", 1 "old rules", 1 "national cup")

Derry City TFC in Northern Ireland had their first tournament

Four clubs have organized their very first WASPA event:
- London Road SC (WAL)
- SC Temploux (BEL)
- VGE Subbuteo Szombathely (HUN)
- Derry City TFC (NIR)

Tournament played with the old rules in Macerata, Italy

We have already had tournaments in 19 different countries since the beginning of the season and we have more events in the agenda scheduled in New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.

Please note in the "Golden book" some results might not appear in the right order, sorry for that. We have added a tournament played in October in the US in November we have had great improvements and some superb events.

Junior players at the National Championships in Cape Town, South Africa

For the first time South Africa had a National Cup under WASPA banner and it is fantastic to see that players from Pretoria and Johannesburg travelled to Cape Town for the event. There was an impressive field of 26 entries, which is awesome.

There were small and big events but it was always something special for the players taking part. It as also great to see some nations having a revival like Northern Ireland, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, Canada and Hungary.

Players in Melbourne, Australia

Belgium, England and Australia have regular tournaments in several different clubs and that's also very positive.

10 clubs have joined the "top clubs" project and we have three pending applications.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you will love the statistics, results and rankings.

Group picture in Pireaus, Greece

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 directly to my Facebook account or on my private e-mail.

Keep an eye on the WASPA blog at http://waspa-circuit.blogspot.com as there are updates almost every day.
The FISTF website can be found here: http://www.fistf.com

Ideas to develop the WASPA circuit or to make things more attractive are always welcome. We stay at your disposal for more info.

Yours sincerely,
Vincent Coppenolle