Marco Bonciani winner in Firenze

Earlier this week the club of Firenze was holding a second WASPA tournament for this season. There were 12 players taking part and this time Marco Bonciani took the honors after defeating Mirko Masini in the final. Luca Pini and Tiberio Becucci made it to the semi-finals while Cabriele Casati won the consolation tournament. Thanks to all the players for another good evening of Subbuteo!

Some more results from Autsralia - November 2018

Several tournaments recently took place in Australia.

In Perth, the usual group of six players met for the November tournament with a group stage and then knock-out games. Inthe end, Singapore's Tan Yew Loy (aka Mark Ryan) defeated Ross McNulty in the final (2-0) while Alan Kimber defeated Chris Thorn in the game for the third place. Hugh Best was 5th and Ron Byrne was 6th.

Sydney TFC also had a good event with 7 players taking part. Congratulations to Eliot Kennedy for the win and to Hermann Kruse to reach the final beating respectively Oliver Ollnow and Fabrizio Coco in the semi-finals.
The Sydney Christmas Cup will be held on December 9.

In Melbourne the Western Flickers had a great event called "WFW30 - Flicks in the Sticks III" last week-end with 14 players competing. The Open category was a group of 9 players and Benny Ng finished on top of the league with 8 wins while Adrian Connolly was runner-up and Christos Garagounis was third. In the Junior section, Charlotte Wright finished on top of a group of 5 willy Billy Wright was runner-up.

Final standings in Open category:
1. Benny Ng
2. Adrian Connolly
3. Christos Garagounis
4. Steve Wright
5. Anthony Madiona
6. Kevin Grant
7. Benjamin Ng
8. Beth Eveleigh
9. Juliette Browne

Final standings in Junior category:
1. Charlotte Wright
2. Billy Wright
3. Liam Browne
4. Jayden Truter
5. Sean Browne

More subbuteo action in Belgium

Some events have recently been held in Templeuve. Last Wednesday the "promotional" event in the agenda of the Templeyuve United club had a good turnout of seven players (+ three other who didn't compete). Michaël Dupret (MT Tournai) took the honors after winning his four games while clubmate Jean-Luc Canfin was runner-up. It was also the first appearance of French player Sébastien Sorge in a tournament.

Top 3 of the evening: Canfin-Dupret-Marain jr

Final standings:
1. Michaël Dupret (MT Tournai)
2. Jean-Luc Canfin (MT Tournai)
3. Benjamin Marain (Warcoing Ducks)
4. Abdurahman Fahad (Templeuve Utd)
5. Arthur Clique (Templeuve Utd)
6. Sébastien Sorge (Templeuve Utd)
7. Islam Belahcen (Templeuve Utd)

Players at the tournai tournament

On November 22, the players from the Tournai area had the visit of Romania's Cezar Stoilescu. Cezar couldn't make it in the previous day so the club of Tournai asked to play a WASPA tournament in the premises of Templeuve. With 11 players taking part, the evening was a success. Geoffrey Marain didn't manage to win another WASPA title as he finished the evening with 2 wins and 2 draws. Vincent Coppenolle was a bit lucky to take the first place with 10 points while Stéphane Lambert had 9 and Michaël Dupret was third with more goals scored than Geoffrey Marain. Cezar Stoilescu proved to be an excellent player and took a well-deserved 6th place!

Top 3 of the evening

Final standings:
1. Vincent Coppenolle (Templeuve Utd)
2. Stéphane Lambert (Yokohama)
3. Michaël Dupret (MT Tournai)
4. Geoffrey Marain (AS Hennuyer)
5. Matthias Averlant (Templeuve Utd)
6. Cezar Stoilescu (Bucharest)
7. Benjamin Marain (Warcoing Ducks)
8. Jordan Bonte (Templeuve Utd)
9. Abdurahman Fahad (Templeuve Utd)
10. Sébastien Sorge (Templeuve Utd)
11. Islam Belahcen (Templeuve Utd)

Players in Bande

Also on November 22, another "promotional" event took place in Bande with 4 players. Bruno Mottet (Temploux) won his three games to lift the trophy. Henri Grosdent was runner-up with Aurore Grosdent and Lulani Verhoeven also taking part.

Finally, the first tournament of the season in Auvelais had a good turnout of 7 players from 6 different clubs. There was a big surprise in the final when Jean-Pierre Genart defeated Jérôme heyvaert in the sudden death to win the tournament. Fabrice Guyaux and Pol serwy reached the semi-finals.

Marcos Kalopsidiotis is the new leader in Cyprus

After a long hiatus Subbuteo was back in Cyprus this week-end. The Famagusta club held the first stage of the national circuit and it was a good way to celebrate the new premises of the club. Giorgos Zangylos was very enthusiast about the new project. For the first event, seven players were taking part with four different teams of the country being represented. Giorgos Zangylos reached the final but had to accept the victory of Marcos Kalopsidiotis who is therefore the first leader of the national circuit. Panagiotis Panaretos and Marios Nikolaou are the semi-finalists of the day. Congratulations to all the players invoved.

Paul Eyes wins Delaware Valley Open

The 2018 Delaware Valley Open has been held last week-end in Avondale, PA and after an eight year drought, Paul Eyes is your 2018 Delaware Valley Open Champion!! Paul defeated Daniel Cranston 3-1 in the final game to win the title. It is always a pleasure putting this event on for everyone!

(Report by Andrew Zunino)

End of Year Pretoria event with an International entry

Padro Araujo and Julian Van der Merwe

Sunday 18 November 2018, Pretoria, South Africa: 
The 2018 edition of this event attracted 11 players - 7 in the Open Section and 4 in the Promotion Section.
It was a great honour for Pretoria Flickers Club to welcome Pedro Araujo from the Portugese club OS Belenenses, as this just reinforced the spirit of this great sport of ours - to kindle new and lasting friendships!
In the Open Section both Pedro Araujo and Jayden vd Merwe won their 4 allocated matches, and as there was no "head to head" to choose from between these two players, the event was forced into a final play-off match!

Pre-tournament favourite (and 2017 defending champion), Bevin Reed did not have a good day trying out his new CLR bases and as a result only managed to win 1 of his allocated matches.
Conway Julie managed a very impressive 3rd place finish on the day!
In the final play-off match, Jayden took a 1-0 lead by the end of the first half, with Pedro equalising within the final 2 minutes of the 2nd half in what turned out to be an evenly contested and tense match-up. In the end penalty shots was required and Jayden triumphed by 3-1 shots over Pedro! In Pretoria we have been employing the "VAR" system for some time now - and Pedro's 4th shot was carefully scrutinised (slomo replay after replay after replay) to eventually make the correct call, where Jayden's 'keeper tipped the ball onto the inside of the upright without crossing the line to bounce back into play! This tiumph marks Jayden's 18th WASPA title to date!

Austin de Gama

In the Promotion Section some tightly contested matches unfolded and when Austin Da Gama beat Shaquille Barman by 2-0 in Round 2, it was clear that the 2017 winner (Shaquille) was about to relinquish his title! A clear sign of progression for Austin - as he ended bottom of the standings during the same event a year ago!
A special mention regarding the debutant Joycelle Tellie, who displayed very impressive touches on the tables all day - enough to earn him a well deserved 2nd place finish!

This event brings the curtain down for 2018 as far as PFC's club events are concerned. The next event = PFC's hosting of the 2018 SA Championships on Saturday 24th November 2018.

As always, a big thank you to all who attended to make the day a great success.
Finally….a special note of thanks to all the Pretoria players for your continued support during 2018!

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

(report by Julian vd Merwe)

Warcoing Ducks tournament - November 2018

11 players attended the tournament organized by the "Warcoing Ducks" on Friday. Geoffrey Marain had no problem to win his 91th WASPA title after he won his four group games. Stéphane Lambert was a deserved runner-up with three wins while Michaël Dupret managed to finish on the podium. It was another good evening with players from different levels but the weaker players gained experience and had a good time.

Final standings:
1. Geoffrey Marain (AS Hennuyer)
2. Stéphane Lambert (Yokohama)
3. Michaël Dupret (MT Tournai)
4. Matthias Averlant (Templeuve)
5. Vincent Coppenolle (Templeuve)
6. Eric Caillaux (Templeuve)
7. Olivier Bodelle (Templeuve)
8. Arthur Clique (Templeuve)
9. Benjamin Marain (Warcoing)
10. Abdurahman Fahad (Templeuve)
11. Islam Belahcen (Templeuve)

More wins for Rodgers and Stewart

There was some more Subbuteo action last week-end in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

After Derry Cuty TFC organized their Anniversary Cup ealier this month, Donegal also had a tournament on Saturday. Unfortunately only three players attended as bad weather was to blame for another few players not being in attendance. Brendan Rodgers won the group format while Caoimhe Rodgers was runner-up and Brian Mc Corkell took the third place.

Players in the Ulster Subbuteo Championship

Finally, on Sunday Round 2 of the Ulster Subbuteo Championship took place in the premises of Sporting Club 18. Simon Stewart hosted an impressive and enjoyable event with 10 players taking part. Players were divided in two groups of five but the winners of each group later failed to qualify for the final as Barry Spence lost to Simon Stewart (0-1) while Mark McCrossan defeated Kenny Beggs on shots. In the final, Simon Stewart took the best on Mark McCrossan (3-0) to take the trophy and the lead of the Ulster Subbuteo Championship. Derry's Martinog Bradley won the Plate tournament after beating Lawrence Watson on shots in the final.

Cape Town Open 2018

This past Sunday saw the 5th edition of the Cape Town Open. This year’s event saw one of the smaller fields to date (9 players), but definitely the most competitive. All three previous winners were present, including German visitor Sven Schilling from Subbuteo St. Pauli, and current South African champ Clifford Graaff from the Johannesburg Eagles Club.

Special mention should also be made of Nick van den Berg, a Dutch visitor and the only novice to take part. He had a wonderful time even though he didn’t manage to score too many goals, and has promised both to look up some players / clubs on his return to Holland, and also to come back and play in South Africa.

Group A proved to be a very tight affair, with it all coming down to the last two games to decide who would progress to the next round.

The toughest game in Group B was undoubtedly the one between Wayne and John, with the former just failing to equalise by hitting the post in the dying seconds, and the latter collapsing exhausted into a chair at the buzzer.

John had done enough however to force his way into the semi-finals along with the three previous winners, Sven, Clifford and Clinton. Clifford beat Clinton on penalties after a tense 1-1 draw, and Sven beat John 2-0. The final was a very close affair, with much enthusiastic spectator banter. Sven finally took it by the only goal, giving him his second CT Open title.

A special word of thanks once again to Lee from the Conference centre at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa, for the wonderful venue.

Cranston Wins The Shrine Challenge in Maryland, USA

Maryland Subbuteo Club hosted an 8 player WASPA event on November 10th. Two groups of 4 were topped by favorites Eyes and Cranston. Of note, Sam Cohen (MSC) – a promising new youth player – scored his first goals in tournament play. Eyes defeated Zunino, and Cranston defeated Colindres in the semi finals. The final saw Cranston prevail on shots over Eyes after a 2-2 draw in regulation.

Ordinal Position:
1. Daniel Cranston
2. Paul Eyes
3. Andrew Zunino
3. Adolfo Colindres
5. Bryan Arnold
5. Grant Lilly
7. Sam Cohen
7. Claudio Santos

Singapore: TFAS League updates

TFAS League 2018 Match Day 8

TFAS held their October session of their national league today at the Sports Hub Library. As usual, the session also doubled as a WASPA (World Amateur Subbuteo Players Association) tournament.
Five flickers took part, and a full round robin format followed. It was a tight affair between table toppers Anas and Rudy. Although Anas managed to beat Rudy in the early stages of the matchday, the former failed to secure a victory or even a draw against Bernard, who was actively seeking revenge for his previous losses against Anas.
Another surprising result was that Bernard failed to defeat his son, Isaac. Their match ended in an exciting 3-3 draw.
However, Anas managed to come out tops by edging out on goal difference against Rudy, who scored the same points.

The results are as follows:
Bernard 3 v 3 Isaac
Anas 1 v 0 Rudy
Rudy 4 v 3 Bernard
Isaac 1 v 3 Rizal
Rizal 0 v 6 Rudy
Bernard 3 v 2 Anas
Anas 8 v 1 Rizal
Rudy 3 v 0 Isaac
Isaac 0 v 5 Anas
Rizal 3 v 5 Bernard

Final standings:
1) Anas Bin Rahamat (Farrer Park Flickers) 9 points
2) Rudy Hesty (Farrer Park Flickers) 9 points
3) Bernard Lim (SG Lions Table Football Club) 7 points
4) Rizal Taib (Farrer Park Flickers) 3 points
5) Isaac HL Lim (SG Lions Table Football Club) 0 points

TFAS League 2018 Match Day 9

TFAS held their final league session of 2018 on 11 November at Pek Kio CC, home of the Farrer Park Flickers. As usual, the session also doubled as a WASPA (World Amateur Subbuteo Players Association) tournament.
Seven flickers took part, and a Swiss format of 4 rounds followed. It was a tight affair yet again between Anas and Rudy. With their game ending in a 1-1 draw, the outcome of the session would depend on other results.
Anas managed to come out tops by edging out on goal difference against Rudy, who scored the same points.

The results are as follows:
Isaac 1 v 4 Rudy
Bernard 4 v 1 Vikas
Nic 3 v 1 Rizal
Anas 1 v 0 Bye
Bernard 1 v 2 Rudy
Anas 2 v 0 Nic
Rizal 2 v 5 Vikas
Isaac 1 v 0 Bye
Anas 1 v 1 Rudy
Bernard 4 v 0 Nic
Vikas 4 v 0 Isaac
Rizal 1 v 0 Bye
Anas 5 v 1 Bernard
Vikas 0 v 2 Rudy
Isaac 2 v 2 Rizal
Nic 1 v 0 Bye

Final standings:
1) Anas Bin Rahamat (Farrer Park Flickers) 10 points
2) Rudy Hesty (Farrer Park Flickers) 10 points
3) Bernard Lim (SG Lions Table Football Club) 6 points
4) Vikas Chandiramani (Farrer Park Flickers) 6 points
5) Nic Tan (Farrer Park Flickers) 6 points
6) Rizal Taib (Farrer Park Flickers) 3 points
7) Isaac HL Lim (SG Lions Table Football Club) 0 points

Brian Daley again in North Wales

London Road Subbuteo Club events reached 24 in 2 years on November 4th. 9 players attended, 6 regular London Road players but also 2 new players returning after more than 15 years and visited by Melbourne TFC player Benji Batten.

Brian Daley took the honors after defeating Dave Merrilees-Kelly in the semi and Richard Stock in the final. Benji Batten was the other semi-finalist.

Chris Bedford won the Plate tournament after defeating Raoul Newton in the final.

Huge thanks to Cayne Matthews for his continued work to promote Subbuteo in North Wales.

Number 90 for Geoffrey Marain

On November 5, the SC Flanders club held another WASPA event with 8 players competing.

Geoffrey Marain was the winner again but this time things were a bit complicated as the ranking leader lost an early game to Geert Leys (2-3).

Leys later lost to Jos Ceulemans while Geoffrey Marain defeated Jos in the final game.

In the end Marain won the tournament on goal difference to claim his 90th WASPA title.

Here are the final standings of the evening:
1. Geoffrey Marain
2. Geert Leys
3. Jos Ceulemans
4. Frank Lannoy
5. Bart Van de Vliet
6. Johan Lourdon
7. Stéphane Lambert
8. Willy De Bandt

Hermann Kruse wins in Chastwood

There was a WASPA tournament in Chastwood on November 2. Six players were taking part and Hermann Kruse defeated Fabrizio Coco in the final to win the pumpkin. There was pumpkin soup for all players as a way to celebrate Halloween. Tony Credentino and Steve Dettre made it to the semi-finals while young talents Thorben Pfister and Olliver Ollnow proved to be improving against older players. Well done!

Kenny Beggs takes the Anniversary Cup

The second Derry City TFC Anniversary Cup was attended by 8 players.

Semi-finals saw Martinog Bradley lose out on shots to Simon Stewart following a 1-1 draw. Kenny Beggs saw off Mark McCrossan to face Simon in the final, winning 2-1 and retaining his Anniversary Cup title.

Lawrence Watson won the plate final over Craig Stewart.

WASPA standings of October 2018

Hi there, here are the WASPA standings of October 2018. You will find here all results of the past few weeks and the updated rankings.

WASPA ranking - October 18 (Excel file)
WASPA Season results 2018-2019 (PDF file)

Young players competing in their first tournament in Johannesburg, South Africa

October was a busy month with 37 regional events, 4 promotional events, 1 tournament with old rules and 1 tournament with advanced rules but also some action in the NETFA mini-leagues and some presence in the Netherlands.

We have a record number of 51 nations involved in the rankings as our friends in South Africa had representatives from Zambia and Malawi in the recent Johannesburg events while some young guys from Marocco and Iraq have attended events in Belgium where they are living now.

Australia was a very active nation again in October with events in many different cities and we are also glad to see the first tournament organized under WASPA banner by the club of Aosta (Italy). Canada had events in Montreal and Toronto, which is great.

The real "tournamrent of the month" was held in Bristol, England

The "event of the month" was probably the Bristol tournament as Bob Fairbrother and his clubmates did an amazing job to host 27 players competing in four divisions.

Some words about rankings and statistics:
- it seems there is some confusion about the "old rules" events and the "advanced rules" tournaments as the rules used seem to be different from country to country. We are thinking about mising the records of both categories in the near future.
- the Junior ranking is growing but don't hesitate to send birthdates of your junior players (born in 2002 or later).
- We have 16 clubs in the "Junior ranking of clubs", which is great but we really want to grow as the youth is the future of the game!
- Remember you need three juniors to be part of the "Junior ranking of clubs".
- We also hope to see more clubs asking for the "top club" status in the future.

Giuseppe Tardiota is back in Australia and supports his friends at Brisbane Subbuteo club

About the WASPA world cup: we have no candidate to take over after FISTF put their European tournament on the date we had booked. If any of you is ready to organize the tournament, let me know. Otherwise there might be a "special" event again in Belgium on the first week-end of July.

We stay at your disposal for any info regarding the circuit or for ideas on how to improve things!

Please don't forget to send all results of your events (possibly with pictures and a short story for the blog) to my home address at vincent.cop@rsca.com

Mark farrell winner in Donegal, Ireland

Well, that's all for now. 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

Keep an eye on the WASPA blog at http://waspa-circuit.blogspot.com as there are updates almost every day.

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

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

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

Yours sincerely,
Vincent Coppenolle

Lincoln Flickers’ Summer Finale Cup

Wolverhampton TFC triumphed in Lincoln with all 3 players making the Semi-Finals along with Mat Atkin from Sheffield. Richard Badger clinched the trophy beating Mick Hammond 2-1. Richard hit a late winner in his Semi against Mat Atkin while Mick needed extra time to snatch victory from Justin Scott who took third prize 1-0 against Mat.

Just as Richard lifted the trophy the fireworks sounded from the nearby display! The Red Arrows, based down the road in Scampton, had to be cancelled with the tournament running over slightly!

Lincoln Flickers were all relegated to the Plate competition in a competitive field. Andrew Garbutt squeezed through his Semi after extra time beating fellow Flicker Jez Boothman 1-0. Andy Boyer breezed through his with an impressive 5-0 dismantle of Rich Meddings. The Plate final ended goalless and then one a piece (1-1) aet. Andrew Garbutt winning shots 2-1 with some fine goal keeping. Jez took third place with a 2-0 win against Rich.

Final standings:
1. Richard Badger
2. Mick Hammond
3. Justin Scott
4. Mat Atkin
5. Andrew Garbutt
6. Andy Boyer
7. Jez Boothman
8. Richard Meddings

Thank you to Eastgate Club for allowing us to host the event with late notice and to Julia for opening the bar. Thank you also to all the competitors for making it our best event to date. Finally,  congratulations to Richard and Wolverhampton TFC.

(Report by Andrew Garbutt)

Some news from around the world - October 2018

Some results of several WASPA events have not yet been published so here is a brief recap of events held in different countries.

Players in Northern California

In Northern California, Conan Mullen finished on top of a group of five to win the "NCSC Halloween WASPA". There were some new players involved and some great games.

In Austria the Ebenfurth club had a small tournament a few weeks ago with 4 players taking part. Congratulations to Horst Deimel for the win while Rene Buchler was runner-up.

In Wales the latest Knighton tournament saw Dan Nicholls finishing on top of a group of 4. Tom Taylor took the second place.

In Australia the Western Flickers TFC players had a great gathering on October 14. 8 players competed in a round robin so that everyone had seven game. Benny Ng took the honors while benjamin Ng was runner-up and Steve right took the thid place.

Three more events were played under WASPA banner during the Melbourne Open.

Junior U19 WASPA: The junior WASPA was held for all those eliminated from the FISTF event. Second seed for the FISTF Junior competition, Billy Wright, overcame his disappointment at elimination from the main event to make the final but didn’t join his sister on the winners’ list, going down on penalties to promising debutant Liam Browne in the Junior WASPA final. (report from Subbuteo Australia)

MTFC Open WASPA: The Melbourne IO Event also saw the debut of the Power Rankings to decide the outcome of a WASPA tournament. The rules were:
- 1. Players not occupied referreeing the Junior, Women’s or Teams events on the Saturday were free to organise themselves games on the spare tables and record results.
- 2. The final standings were made using the new Power Rankings system given that not all players played a similar number of games, or games against players of the same standard. Only results on the day counted. A win over a player who had performed well on the day was worth more than a win against a player who was winless.
- 3. All enquires on how Power Rankings are calculated should be directed to Richard Wilson.
- 4. For disputes on the outcome, see rule 3 !
The completion was narrowly taken out by Raffaele Lombardi from Eliot Kennedy and Giuseppe Tardiota in a good indicator of players to watch in the main Open event on Sunday. It was great to see 10 players from 5 different clubs taking part. (report from Subbuteo Australia)

WASPA Open: To ensure the WASPA was complete prior to the FISTF IO Final, the format was a straight knockout competition with 2x10min halves and penalties (no extra time). There were 9 competitors in the WASPA Plate Event, with the previous days’ junior runner up Gabriel Lombard joining the 8 players eliminated from the FISTF Open event. Gabriel played Charlotte Wright in the barrage. After a scoreless draw Charlotte won 2-1 on penalties to move into the quarter finals.
In the quarter finals, Charlotte continued her impressive run of results by defeating Adam Deverell 2-1 on penalties. This set up a semi final showdown with her brother Billy who progressed after Beth Eveleigh needed to forfeit due to illness. Benny Ng accounted for Christos Garagounis to set up a clash with his son Benjamin in the other semi final after Benjamin defeated Juliette 1-0.
In the battle of the Wrights, it was Billy that prevailed 2-1 on penalties after a scoreless draw. In the other semi Benjamin continued his run of wins over his father to progress to the final 3-1.
The final saw two of the Western Flickers’ juniors battle it out for the WASPA Open win. In the end the FISTF Junior IO winner,
Benjamin Ng, proved to strong for the WASPA Junior IO winner Billy Wright. (report from Subbuteo Australia)

Canada had two events in October and both tournaments were played on the same date (October 20).

In Montreal, Simon Harvey won his first WASPA tournament after defeating Pierre Chastenais in sudden death in the final. More importantly, it was fantastic to see five players gathering for a tournament. We really hope for a good future in Quebec.

The monthly event in Toronto had a good turnout of four with Mike Sgro defeating Final Howard Christie in the final.

Finally, in Spain Pasquale Carrassi won the Marina Citerior SC "promotional event" in Javea, which was held a few weeks ago. the italian finished on top of a group of 3 with Scotland's Bill Dunham and Italy's Lisa carrassi also taking part.

Please keep mind all results are welcome. Even if you have only three players, that's enough to have a WASPA tournament. And if you are visiting a foreign country, you can always organize a "WASPA test-match" against a local player to show some WASPA presence.

For any question, contact WASPA at vincent.cop@rsca.com

Exciting Table Footie at the Johannesburg Open

Sunday the 28th of October saw the latest offering of the oldest Subbuteo Tournament in South Africa, namely the Johannesburg Open, at Randburg Football Club. This year (2018), marked the 10th Anniversary of the Johannesburg Open hosted by the Johannesburg TFC, more commonly known as 'The Eagles'.
A total of 19 entrants took part with a number of inquisitive spectators watching the table footie.
A new innovation was introduced with the 10th Anniversary with a special Promotional Event held featuring local 11 and 12 year old boys from a previous disadvantaged area of Johannesburg. Although this was the first time that these youngsters were introduced to our beautiful game they showed tremendous spirit and enthusiasm. Scoring goals proved to be a problem so all the games went to exciting penalty shoot-outs and the cheering proved louder than the support the previous day at the Sowet Derby!
Opentse was the best youngster on display and showed a great aptitude towards flicking and beat his friend and team member, Malendkosi in a loud and entertaining final. All the youngsters were treated with sweets, drinks and special prizes after the completion of the final courtesy of the Eagles and sponsor of the tournament: JUST FOR YOU MEALS.

The sponsor also provided delicious meals for all entrants in the main tournament which saw 8 entrants divided into two pools of four players.
Newcomer, Thomas Maseke - a local football coach from Randburg FC really enjoyed his games and promised to be back for more table footie fun. Carl and Johan proved too strong in Group A and qualified for the knockout stages along with Chris and Clifford from Group B. A special Plate Section was also introduced whereby Waynne and his son, Jason qualified for an all action family final. Youngster Jayson upstaged his father and secured the Plate victory with an exciting penalty shoot-out victory with all the spectator support. The Cup semis paired lifelong friends, Chris and Johan (friends for 53 years), and Johan claimed his maiden Final appearance courstesy of a single goal victory in a tight and cagey affair. Clifford made use of his chances to advance to the final vs Carl.
Chris secured third place in a very entertaining game against Carl and once again highlighted the great sportsmanship prevalent at these games. Clifford proved too strong for Johan, who proved to be unlucky on a number of occasions when he had Clifford against the ropes to secure another Joburg Open title. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the comeraderie and great sportmanship that exists between all club members.
VAR in Subbuteo was used for the first time in South Africa, and probably the world, when a referral was made to the 'panel' re the legitimacy of one of the penalty flicks in the 3rd Place Play-off. Waynne captured the contentious flick on his cell phone and after much deliberation and great banter and laughter amongst all present, the goal was rightfully DISALLOWED!
Well done to all the Eagle members for a great day.

(Report by Clifford Graaff)

Geoffrey Marain wins for the 89th time

Top 4 of the evening

Last Wednesday the lest event of the month took place in Belgium with 11 players attending the event of the "Warcoing Ducks". There was no surprise in the Open table as Geoffrey Marain won his four games to get his 89th WASPA title. Michaël Dupret score more goals than Matthias Averlant to reach the second place. The big surprise of the day was Héléna Marain's performance to take the fourth place. There were 6 juniors taking part, which is promising for the future!

Final table:

1. Geoffrey Marain

2. Michaël Dupret

3. Matthias Averlant

4. Héléna Marain

5. Vincent Coppenolle

6. Alain Flament

7. Stéphane Lambert

8. Islam Belahcen

9. Abdurahman Fahad

10. Jordan Bonte

11. Walid El Fatni Atchamal

Justin Scott winner in Wolverhampton

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Wolverhampton Open last week-end. 8 players took part in a fantastic event. From left to right we have Gage Badger, Youth winner and plate runner up, Justin Scott, main event winner, Richard Badger, main event runner up and Peter Sleeth, plate winner.

A very enjoyable event overall. Thanks also to Brian and everyone at the Electric Club for hosting the event.

(Report from the club's Facebook page)