Wednesday 30 January 2019

Peter Sexton winner in Toronto

The latest tournament in Canada took place on January 19 with 6 players taking part. There was a Swiss system where everybody played three games and then a knock-out stage. There were many close games but in the end, Peter Sexton (Hamilton SC) defeated Howard Christie in the final. Mike Sgro and Richard Ruffolo made it to the semi-finals.

The next CanadaFlicks Cup is on February 9th. Interested players can contact Mike Sgro.

Tuesday 29 January 2019

3rd Round of the Ulster Championship

Mark Farrell receives trophy from Craig Stewart
The Oval in Belfast, Sunday 27th January 2019
15 players attended what was the biggest domestic competition on the Irish circuit in many years, hosted at the home of Glentoran FC in Belfast. Three of the highest quality domestic competitors made their debut in the competition; 1984&85 NI and 1985 UK Champion Keith Greene, former NI Junior Champion & 1990 World Cup representative Neal Hermon and former ROI Junior Champion and also 1990 World Cup representative Michael O’Brien. Also making his Ulster Championship debut was German Sven Schilling from Subbuteo Sankt Pauli club in Hamburg a regular traveller on the WASPA circuit.

Group Stage
Debutants Keith Greene and Michael O’Brien joined Lochlin Bradley, Nicky Moore and Derry’s Mark McCrossan in Group A. McCrossan topped the group with 4 straight wins but the real battle was for 2nd place and one of the best 3rd place berths. O’Brien and Greene were tied on 4 points as they faced each other in the last session with Moore able to pass the loser if he could beat the winless Bradley. Dubliner O’Brien won the game 1-0 to clinch 2nd and with Bradley recording his first win on the circuit beating Moore 2-1 to overtake him with Keith Greene holding on to 3rd to qualify.
Group B saw the other 2 debutants Sven Schilling and Neal Hermon lock horns with All Ireland Champion Mark Farrell as well as Lawrence Watson and Oisín Mór of Derry City TFC. Tournament favourite Farrell scored 12 goals without reply finishing 3 points clear of Schilling in 2nd. Watson claimed 3rd spot but his negative goal difference ensured he didn’t claim a quarter final spot and instead he dropped into the Plate semi-final. Hermon claimed 4th ahead of Mór courtesy of his scoreless draw with Watson.

Second place for Sven Schilling
In an open draw there is always the chance of the clichéd “Group of Death” and so it proved for the third time in three tournaments. Any local semi-final could easily see any of the 5 Group C players figure. Kenny Beggs, Barry Spence, Martin og Bradley, Simon Stewart and Brendan Rodgers went head to head to claim 2 guaranteed places out of the group. With Beggs winning his 4 games it was Stewart who claimed 2nd by way of wins over Rodgers and Bradley and a draw with Spence. With Bradley, Spence and Rodgers all recording victories over each other it was the draw with Simon Stewart that saw Barry Spence claim 3rd and also a place in the next round.

Knock-out Stages
The finalists from the last Ulster Championship Round, McCrossan and Stewart met in tetchy affair which Stewart edged 1-0. O’Brien’s trip north ended in a close game with “Sankt Schilling”, the German triumphing 2-1. Kenny Beggs played Keith Greene for the first time in 35 years in the third quarterfinal which he took 1-0 and Farrell knocked out Spence courtesy of a 2-0 victory.

Martinog Bradley won the Plate
In the semi’s Farrell beat Beggs 1-0 and Sven eventually fell over the line after a scoreless draw and goalless shot marathon against Stewart. It was a something he relied on again as he held off Farrell in the final to finish the game with a draw after already losing to the Irishman in the group. This time however it was the home player who scored the decisive shot and Farrell claimed his second Ulster Championship win and go top of the table.

In the Plate Brendan Rodgers and Martin og Bradley were reunited after their Group C encounter but this time it was Bradley who won the game, 2-1 on shots.

Tournament coming up in Cremona

Tournament coming up in Italy. Interested players can contact Gianpaolo Abagnale at waspaitalia@mail.com

Monday 28 January 2019

Peter Alegi wins the Lake Effect Trophy in Michigan

Lake Effect competitors and fans

Eric Walton (left) vs Paul Pate
Despite -11’C temperatures, players from west, east, and mid-Michigan traveled to East Lansing on January 27 for the first WASPA event of 2019, hosted by Grand Rapids TSC.

The round robin saw some tight matches, none more hard-fought than the 0-0 draw between Paul Pate and Eric Walton, a former national finalist making his comeback after several years away from the game. Joe Legatz earned third place, avenging an earlier loss to Pate in the consolation final, while Bernardo Maestrini and Marco Del Pizzo both recorded their first wins in tournament play. Alegi’s shooting was reliable in the final, as he defeated Walton 4-0 to claim the title.

Sunday 27 January 2019

Brisbane Anniversary tournament

Gus the champion

Wooden spoon for Gareth
Brisbane Subbuteo club, results from the January Anniversary tournament

Gus was again unstoppable on his way to the title with his only loss coming at the hands of the Italian stallion who got a 2v1 victory, Gerry who was the reigning champion from December didn't quite have as good a time but went down honourably and Gareth, well what can we say except the start of the season was bad and went worse until a mid season coup saw the manager axed after which results improved but still the wooden spoon returned to the pie dome again!.

Final standings:
1) Gus 15 pts +11
2) Pino 12 pts +7
3) Gerry 6 pts +/- 0
4) Gareth 3 pts - 15

At the meeting it was decided on the dates for the coming year which are all on a Sunday closest to the 14th of each month and are as follows:
Feb 17
Mar 17
Apr 14
May 12
Jun 16
Jul 14
Aug 11
Sep 15
Oct 13
Nov 17
Dec 15

Kapsabelis and Tsakalakis winners in Greece


Markos Kapsabelis
Vasilis Tsakalakis


Category A final

Category B final
24 players divided in 2 categories competed last Saturday in the 40th WASPA tournament organized by the Flaming Flickers. The winner of category A was local player Markos Kapsabelis after a close final against Yiorgos Karavas (Proteas). In category B the winner was Vasilis Tsakalakis against Panos Tsiakalos. Congratulations to the winners and the finalists and to all the participants for the great games.

Friday 25 January 2019

Eric Lienhardt winner in Rochefort

Last week-end the FISTF Major of Rochefort was a success with a lot of players travelling from all over Europe to try to defeat Carlos Flores. The Spanish player was on fire, claiming the individual and team trophies (with his clubmates of Reggio Emilia). For those who couldn't make it to the finals, a WASPA tournament was organized on Saturday and 24 players competed in Swiss system. Three sessions were enough to decide a winner as French player Eric Lienhardt was able to win three times. The FTC Issy player, who is living in Alsace, claimed his first WASPA title while Malta's John Zammit was runner-up with just less goals scored the Lienhardt and Gibraltar's John Field took the third place. Players from 6 different countries were taking part. Huge thanks to the organizers for their support to the WASPA circuit.

Thursday 24 January 2019

Steve Bennett winner in Dundee

Dundee United TFC had another tournament last week-end with 4 players taking part and playing each other twice.

In the end of the day Steve Bennett won the event with 6 wins while Andy Beskaby was runner-up with 12 points.

David Baxter was third with 2 wins while Dave Minty ended in fourth position.

WASPA would love to thank Dundee United TFC for the continued support with the hope the club will soon have more active players in events.

Brian Daley does it again in North Wales


Cayne and Brian
London Road Subbuteo Club had another successful tournament last Sunday with a good turnout of 11 players coming from both Wales and England.

Group A consisted of 6 players and had some close games, Brian Daley finishing on top with 13 points and Martin Blanchard also qualifying for the semi-final while Mick Hammonds had 10 points.

No surprise in group B where Richard Stock won his four games while local organizer Cayne Matthews also made it to the semis. In the knock-out stage Daley easily defeated Matthews while Martin Blanchard scored a golden goal against Richard Stock to qualify for the final. Brian Daley won the event after defeating Martin Blanchard (3-0) in the final.

Congratulations also to Chris Bedford for winning the Plate tournament.

The next London Road tournament will be held on February 24.

Wednesday 23 January 2019

Jean Grosdent and Philippe Thys winners in Bande



Last week the club of Wamme held their regional tournament with 7 players taking part. In the end of the evening, Jean Grosdent won the Swiss system with 3 wins and a draw but more goals scored than Mathéo Grégoire (Rochefort TS).

Final standings:
1. Jean Grosdent (BEL/wam)
2. Mathéo Grégoire (BEL/rts)
3. Bruno Mottet (BEL/tem)
4. Philippe Thys (BEL/wam)
5. Aurore Grosdent (BEL/wam)
6. Maxim Grosdent (BEL/wam)
7. Lulani Verhoeven (BEL/wam)

Earlier in the month, the club also held a promotional tournament with 4 players taking part. Philippe Thys managed to win the event with 2 wins and a draw and just one more goal scored than Henri Grosdent.

Here is the final standing of the evening:
1. Philippe Thys (BEL/wam)
2. Henri Grosdent (BEL/wam)
3. Lulani Verhoeven (BEL/wam)
4. Maxim Grosdent (BEL/wam)

Tuesday 22 January 2019

Davide Visani winner in Firenze

The fourth tournament of the regional circuit in Firenze took place on Monday with 14 players taking part.

It was another good evening with a group stage and then knock-out games. There were also a few surprises and this time it was Davide Visani wook took the honors, claiming his fourth WASPA title. Davide defeated Luca Pini in the final on shots.

Stefano Barducci and Matteo Cherici reached the semi-finals. Francesco Gori won the consolation tournament!

Huge thanks to Marco Bonciani and his clubmate for organizing WASPA tournaments and being a great club!

Monday 21 January 2019

Farrer Park January tournament

The Farrer Park Flickers held their first WASPA tournament of the year at their clubhouse at the Pek Kio Community Centre on Friday, 18 January 2019. Five flickers took part, four from the club (Anas Rahamat, Vikas Chandiramani, Mohamed Rizal Taib, and Nic Tan), and our usual guest, Enzo Fornaro, from the SG Lions Table Football Club.

Players played round robin matches in 20-minute games. Anas won his first three games, but a surprise 2-1 defeat to Rizal in his last round put his fate out of his hands as he sat out the last round and had to await the result of Vikas's last game against Enzo. Alas, Vikas could only manage a 3-0 win which was one goal short of what he needed to overtake Anas. Nic came in third after his 2-0 win over Rizal in the last round overtook Rizal on goal difference as well. Enzo came in last but put in some credible performances as he tried Tchaaa4 Sniper 2.0 bases for the first time, and make it difficult for all his opponents.

Join the club for their next WASPA tournament on 22 February 2019 (from 7pm) at the same venue; all are welcome!

Final Standings:
1) Anas Rahamant 9 points (GD: +4)
2) Vikas Chandiramani 9 points (GD: +3)
3) Nic Tan 6 points (GD: +1)
4) Mohamed Rizal Taib 6 points (GD: -1)
5) Enzo Fornaro 0 points (GD: -7)

Sunday 20 January 2019

Kostas Kalopsidiotis takes the fourth stage


The 4th stage of the Cypriot circuit took place on Saturday with 12 players taking part. Kostas Kalopsidiotis (Salamis) won the tournament after defeating Panagiotis Panaretos (Phoenix) in the final. Georgios Zangylos (Famagusta) and Marcos Kalopsidiotis (Salamis). Huge thanks to the organizers for the amazing work!

Saturday 19 January 2019

TFAS League 2019 Match Day 1

The first match day of the 2019 season of the TFAS League kicked off on 6 January, with 8 players fighting it out to take an early lead in the League standings.
After 4 rounds of the Swiss System, Anas emerges out on top, with a clean record of 4 wins! However, the man of the match-day was notably the youngest player, Isaac, who came out undefeated at the end of the day, bagging a win against Vikas, and almost winning in the other games he drew.

Results are as follows:
Vikas 2 v 1 Bernard
Isaac 2 v 2 Rudy
Anas 3 v 0 Haikal
Rizal 0 v 1 Nic
Anas 3 v 0 Vikas
Nic 1 v 3 Rudy
Isaac 2 v 2 Rizal
Bernard 3 v 1 Haikal
Anas 3 v 0 Rudy
Bernard 0 v 1 Nic
Vikas 2 v 3 Isaac
Rizal 2 v 2 Haikal
Anas 2 v 1 Nic
Isaac 4 v 4 Bernard
Rudy 12 v 1 Rizal
Vikas 2 v 3 Haikal

Thursday 17 January 2019

Maltese Christmas Cup for Daniele Spadaro



 Last Saturday the club of Attard was holding the “WASPA Christmas Cup Tournament 2018” in their premises in Malta.

There was a good field of 12 players of all ages and in the end, there was no surprise as Daniele Spadaro defeated Natalino Tanti (2-0) in the final.

Walter Attard beat Joseph M. Debono in the game for the third place (2-1). A good day was had by all.

Wednesday 16 January 2019

Kenny Beggs is New year champion


Derry City TFC held their third New Years Cup on Monday and it was a very successful event. 7 players competed in a league format with plenty of drama and good spirits shown on the night. Kenny ‘the legend’ Beggs returned to form to take the first place honours with Martinog Bradley finishing 2nd on goal difference ahead of Mark ‘the Moth’ McCrossan. Oisin Mor chalked up his first competitive victory with a 3-0 win over Paddy Simms.

Tuesday 15 January 2019

Daniele Lombardi rattles the favourites pre-AGP19


Sydney TFC’s Daniele Lombardi caused an upset when he won the pre-AGP19 WASPA, organised by the Northern Falcons on Monday night.
A 10-man field including AGP19 3rd seed Eliot Kennedy (Nthn Falcons), 5th seed Fabrizio Coco (Sydney TFC) and 7th seed Robert Green was drawn into a four round Swiss competition.

Daniele started inauspiciously when he lost 1-0 to Greenie, but then amassed points and culminated in a 2-0 win over Fabrizio to win on goal difference. “I’m not sure it’s a good thing to have won tonight”, said a surprised Daniele. “I hope I can keep the form going into the AGP.”

Falcons’ Jonty Brener got in some good preparation for the AGP with wins over Adrian Elmer and his dad, while Adrian managed to shrug off his shooting woes, at least some of the time, to grab two precious wins.

Steve and Tony renewed their great rivalry, but this time it ended in a 1-1 draw, while it was great to see Jonny Ball in action, preparing for the AGP.

Great fun all around and in true camaraderie.

Results

Monday 14 January 2019

Number 5 for Geert Leys


This Monday seven players attended the WASPA tournament of SC Flanders. As usual, the tournament was played in Swiss system. It was very close in the end with everybody losing points but Geert Leys took the honors with 9 points despite losing in the first game to Stéphane Lambert.

Jos Ceulemans was runner-up with 8 points and more goals scored than Stéphane Lambert. Frank Lannoy was 4th, Bart Van de Vliet 5th, Johan Lourdon 6th and Willy De Bandt 7th.

Sunday 13 January 2019

Craigieburn Cup 2019 WASPA tournament report


With the holiday season ensuring a number of absentees, a small but passionate group of Flickers gathered for the annual Craigieburn Cup. With the AGP next weekend and almost all of today’s Flickers making the trip to Sydney, this WASPA event would serve as the ideal warm up tournament.

The format of the day was a simple round robin group stage followed by winner-takes-all Final matches. All games were FISTF style matches.

In the Open and Junior group matches, father and son duo Benny and Benjamin set the stage with 100% records respectively.

Junior final
Back from playing at the World Cup and with a change in equipment, Paul Mercer showed huge strides in his game and put 6 past hapless Anthony. However, Anthony’s game would grow stronger as the day progressed and finished with a 2-0 win over Steve Wright to grab 3rd spot. In the Open final, Paul had the better of the game but struggled with his finishing. In the end, Benny won 3-0 with some clinical shooting to take out the Cup.

In the Junior final, Benjamin started as favourite after having won all his games convincingly - scoring 12 goals in 3 matches! However, “Miss Cool” Charlotte was unfazed and managed to turn around her group stage 0-3 loss to Benjamin to emerge 1-0 victor in a tight match.

Congrats to Benny and Charlotte for the wins and most of all to everyone who took part in a fun day !

And special thanks to Anthony for being such a wonderful host and also to Kevin Grant for going out of his way to drop off the boards.

Junior Group matches:
Benjamin 3 Jayden 0
Charlotte 2 Billy 1
Benjamin 3 Charlotte 0
Billy 2 Jayden 0
Benjamin 6 Billy 1
Charlotte 2 Jayden 0

Open Group matches:
Benny 2 Steve 0
Paul 5 Anthony 0
Steve 0 Paul 0
Anthony 0 Benny 5
Steve 1 Anthony 1
Paul 1 Benny 4

Junior Final: Charlotte 1-0 Benjamin
Junior 3rd & 4th: Billy 1-0 Jayden

Open Final: Benny 3-0 Paul
Open 3rd & 4th: Anthony 2-0 Steve

Thursday 10 January 2019

A third WASPA trophy for Antonio Timpano


Last Friday a WASPA tournament was held in the premises of the "Etoile Sarthoise" club in Auvelais. Seven players competed in Swiss system. In the end of the evening, Antonio Timpano (formerly SC Seraing but now SC Charleroi) took the honors with four wins.

His brother Bruno was runner-up. Jérôme Heyvaert took the third spot to make sure Charleroi had the top 3 players. Fabrice Guyax (Etoile Sarthoise) was 4th, Vincent Guyaux (Bormla SC) 5th, Jean-Pierre Genart (Temploux) 6th and Peyton Heyvaert (Charleroi) 7th.

Wednesday 9 January 2019

2019 off with a bang with Joburg TFC

Saturday the 5th of January saw the official opening of the 2019 season with the Joburg TFC aka The Eagles.

A competitive field of 8 players flicked off in two seeded groups of 4. Two new members, both junior coaches at Randburg FC, namely Thomas and Moses both acquitted themselves well and really enjoyed the comaraderie and friendly banter which is a hallmark of the tournaments at Randburg FC.

Abes dished up the first upset to qualify as runner-up along with Clifford from Group A. Carl and Chris proved their seedings by qualifying as winner and runner-up from Group B. Both semis proved to be tight encounters resulting in Clifford and Carl winning by solitary goals. This was Carls first final appearance and shows his rapid improvement. The losing semi finalists flicked off for the bronze placing with Chris defeating Abes in a thrilling penalty shootout after the match ended goalless. The game saw Carl make his maiden appearance in a WASPA final and although he lost to Clifford, he had his opportunities which he failed to capitalize on resulting in Clifford securing his first title for 2019.

Clifford also was 4th official at the FNB Stadium (home
of the 2010 WC Final) for a friendly between Werder Bremen
and Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday the 6th of January.
Once again, JOBURG TFC's masterchef and Clifford's better half,  Nita, dished up a delicious lunch which everybody enjoyed along with some ice cold refreshments on a glorious Highveld summer afternoon.

Thanks to all for attending and flicking it out to some entertaining and enjoyable table footie fun.

(Report by Clifford Graaff)

Tuesday 8 January 2019

Demitrios Rebis winner in Ilioupolis

Roligans Ilioupolis organized a New Year's regional tournament on January 5. Five players played in a single group. The winner was Demitrios Rebis and the runner-up was Chris Kotrotsos.

Final table
1. Demitrios Rebis (10 points and +8)
2. Chris Kotrotsos (10 and +7)
3. Alexis Tzelatis (6)
4. Angelos Foutrakis (3)
5. Stavros Mesonisanakis (0)

Monday 7 January 2019

Giorgos Stylianou takes third stage of the national circuit


The final
The third stage of the Cyprit circuit took place on January 5 with a good turnout of 12 players. This time there was a different final between Giorgos Stylianou (Famagusta TFC) and Marcos Kalopsidiotis (Salamis) and Stylianou won the game (3-0) to be the third winner of the tournament since the beginning of the season. Giorgos Zangylos (Famagusta) and Panagiotis Panaretos (Phoenix) reached the semi-finals. There will be more action in Cyprus in the next few weeks. The team of Famagusta is the current leader in the Cypriot circuit of clubs. 7 different clubs are involved in the circuit.

Sunday 6 January 2019

Belgium: report from Vresse - Rochefort - Templeuve

Several events have been held in Belgium in the last few days.



In Vresse there was a good turnout of 7 including some unattached players competing in a league format.

Pascal Droeven took the honors with 16 points while Renaud Parisel was runner-up. It was a good day for all players.

Final standings:
1. Pascal Droeven
2. Renaud Parisel
3. Philippe Van Kerm
4. Marc De Vos
5. Grégory Berte
6. Michaël Paquay
7. Pascal Tiste


In Rochefort, 9 players competed in Swiss format with Valéry Dejardin proving to be the best player. Valéry finished the evening with four wins and Maxime Muraille was runner-up with 7 points. It was a good rehearsal before the forthcoming forst day of the Belgian national league for clubs to be held in Eugies on January 5.

Final table:
1. Valéry Dejardin (JSC Rochefort)
2. Maxime Muraille (JSC Rochefort)
3. Luc Grosdent (Wamme SC)
4. Thierry Magermans (Temploux)
5. Bertrand Louis (JSC Rochefort)
6. Basile Magermans (Rochefort TS)
7. Rémy Honet (JSC Rochefort)
8. Didier Stévenot (JSC Rochefort)
9. Raphaël Maillard (JSC Rochefort)


Finally, in Templeuve, 12 players attended the club's monthly event. It was a good night with three French players and the first appearance of new player Zineb Hamza. As for the results, Vincent Coppenolle manage to score a late equalizer in session 2 against Geoffrey Marain. Marain later had a difficult time against Matthias Averlant but won the game (2-1) and in the end, Coppenolle won the tournament thanks to a better goal-difference.

Final table:
1. Vincent Coppenolle (Templeuve)
2. Geoffrey Marain (AS Hennuyer)
3. Matthias Averlant (Templeuve)
4. Eric Caillaux (Templeuve)
5. Benjamin Marain (Warcoing Ducks)
6. Arthur Clique (Templeuve)
7. Stéphane Lambert (Yokohama)
8. Olivier Bodelle (Templeuve)
9. Jordan Bonte (Templeuve)
10. Sébastien Sorge (Templeuve)
11. Zineb Hamza (Templeuve)
12. Islam Belahcen (Templeuve)

Christos Agrios winner in Thessaloniki

The last greek tournament of 2018 took place on December 30 in Thessaloniki. 9 players were competing representing the different clubs of the city, Thessaloniki United and Panorama 1978 Subbuteo Club. Christos Agrios defeated Constantios Giapoutzis in the final to claim the title. Congratulations to everyone!