Simon Stewart takes Easter Cup

Great nights craic for the 2019 Easter Cup last night. The final match between Simon Stewart and Martinog Bradley was to decide the winner. Bradley, having already dropped points in a 1-1 thriller with Oisín Mór, needed the win to seal victory. Bradley thought he had it in the bag leading 1-0 but a slip in concentration let Stewart through with a stunner of a goal to level 1-1 with 5 seconds to go, leaving him top of the table. Congratulations Simon Stewart, this years Easter Cup Champ.

Lincoln Flickers’ Eostre OS Cup

Favourite Jez Boothman took the honours in Lincoln Flickers’ annual Easter Old Subbuteo event, the Eostre Cup. Jez won a close game against Andrew Fake, from Derbyshire. Andrew is a returner to the game after a long absence; they last met on the circuit about 25years ago. Despite this gap Andrew performed well throughout. Fast fingers creating the decisive opening. Andrew Garbutt was unbeaten on the day but didn’t make the final as he couldn’t find the net finishing all three group games goalless. Clinton Simpson performed well and was narrowly beaten to third with a long-range effort.  A friendly, enjoyable and equally matched event.  A highlight was all the interest from the junior tennis players and parents; some giving it a try and perhaps a little interest created!

Results:
A Fake (1) 2 : 0 CJ Simpson
J Boothman 0 : 0 A Garbutt
A Fake 0 : 2 (1) J Boothman
CJ Simpson 0 : 0 A Garbutt
A Fake 0 : 0 A Garbutt
CJ Simpson 0 : 1 (0) J Boothman


Third Place Play-Off:
A Garbutt (0) 1 : 0 CJ Simpson

Final:
J Boothman (0) 1 : 0 A Fake

Christos Panagiotides wins in Kallithea

On Saturday, April 6 16 players attended the tournament organized by the Greek club of Flaming Flickers under the theme of "WASPA FIFA World Cup for clubs".

The winner was Christos Panagiotides (Manchester City) who claimed his second WASPA title after defeating Nikos Liakopoulos (Real Madrid) in the final.

Semi-finalists were Alekos Apatzis and Mike Tastoglou.

Congratulations to all players for another great tournament in the WASPA spirit .

Farrer Park Flickers WASPA (12 April 2019)

The Farrer Park Flickers held their fourth WASPA tournament of 2019 on Friday, 12 April 2019 at their clubhouse, the Pek Kio Community Centre. Seven flickers participated, six from the club (Rudy Hesty, Anas Rahamat, Rizal Taib, Vikas Chandiramani, Michael Choong, and Nic Tan) and Enzo Fornaro from the SG Lions Table Football Club.

There were two groups with round robin games. After that, players played their counterpart in the other group based on their final group positions for final placings. All games were 20 minutes long.

In Group A, Anas came out top with two wins and a draw. In the three-player group B, Michael's 2-1 victory against club captain, Rudy was the decisive result he needed to win the group. The final was a high-scoring affair for a 20-minute game with Anas capturing a 4-3 win and his second club WASPA tournament for the year.

Because of the fasting month, we will not have a club WASPA tournament in the month of May. The club's next WASPA tournament will be on Friday, 21 June 2019; all are welcome to join in!

Final Standings:
1) Anas Rahamat
2) Michael Choong
3) Rudy Hesty
4) Nic Tan
5) Rizal Taib
6) Enzo Fornaro
7) Vikas Chandiramani

Easter Sunday TFAS League 2019

A beautiful Easter Sunday in Singapore saw 5 seasoned local players assembled at Sports Hub Library. All were ready to match their finger skills after a month lay off to rekindle their football battle on the board in the 3rd session of the local league.

The games started off cautiously with players unable to score beyond 2 goals with several low scoring games but once the rusts were shaken off the goals came in abundance. In the end Rudy won March league session with 3 wins & a draw; followed by Anas, Bernard, Vikas & Isaac.

Overall an enjoyable & entertaining flicking session.
Till we flick again at same venue on 26 May 19.

Scores 
Vikas 2 - 0 Isaac / Anas 0 - 0 Rudy / Rudy 1 - 0 Vikas / Isaac 0 - 5 Bernard / Bernard 2 - 3 Rudy / Vikas 1 - 3 Anas / Anas 1 - 1 Bernard / Rudy 10 - 0 Isaac / Isaac 1 - 3 Anas / Bernard 4 - 0 Vikas

Wins for Ralf Grégoire and Jean Grosdent in Belgium

In Belgium two events have been held last week with great turnouts of 7 and 16 players.

The club of Huy had a good evening with players from the same area but from four different clubs taking part and Ralf Grégoire, the locaol organizer of USC Huy, managed to take the honors after many close games. The Timpano brothers ended on the podium as well. The final standings were as follows:
1. Ralf Grégoire (USC Huy)
2. Bruno Timpano (Charleroi)
3. Antonio Timpano (Charleroi)
4. Geoffrey Kelner (Eugies)
5. Richard Boulanger (Wamme)
6. Dany Mlynek (USC Huy)
7. Lara Schmeits (USC Huy)

In the South of the country, the tournament in Bande was a great rehaersal before the national league for clubs held on Saturday. 16 players were taking part with many close games and Jean grosdent winning his four games to claim the final victory.

Final standings:
1. Jean Grosdent (Wamme)
2. Basile Magermans (Rochefort TS)
3. Thierry Magermans (Temploux)
4. Raphaël Maillard (JSC Rochefort)
5. Pascal Droeven (Semois)
6. Junior Travieso (Wamme)
7. Richard Boulanger (Wamme)
8. Luc Grosdent (Wamme)
9. Philippe Thys (Wamme)
10. Dany Mlinek (USC Huy)
11. Marc De Vos (Semois)
12. Daniel Boistelle (Wamme)
13. Henri Grosdent (Wamme)
14. Giulio Bonfanti (Wamme)
15. Aurore Grosdent (Wamme)
16. Esteban Boistelle (Wamme)

Eliot Kennedy wins in Hobart

Hobart’s historic first WASPA goes down in history as the most southern tournament at 42.8594° S, which featured players from three clubs.

The format of the tournament was a round-robin home and away series, which saw Northern Falcons powerhouse Eliot Kennedy who took the gold dude aka trophy. The tussle for the remaining places was tight to the very end.

Eliot vs Peter

HTFC member Peter Brook made his long awaited debut, and was impressive against his more experienced opponents. His form and level of play dramatically improved during the tournament. If his conversion rate was better, he would have taken a scalp or two. His first match was up against club mate Yago, and Yago was fortunate to come away with a 1-0 win. Peter’s defence and midfield set-up was consistently tight. Peter had a memorable draw against Arjuna and held his own against Sydney titan – Eliot.

In the opening match of the historic event, Eliot Kennedy had a statement win against Arjuna from Melbourne. The bar was set high for the other players to aspire to.

It was great day for the Hobart club, and with new member Chris ready to join the ranks, the club continues to show signs of growing.

A big thank you to Arjuna and Eliot who made the hop across the pond to Tassie; and to Peter for his wonderful hospitality.

A new home for Panorama 1978 SC Thessaloniki

On April 10 the Greek club of Panorama 1978 SC Thessaloniki held their monthly WASPA tournament 10 players attending. It was a special day as the club was playing their first tournament in their new home, a place where they can have 8 tables. In the end of the day, Christos Agrios defeated Stavros Giapoutzis (2-1) in the final while Ilias Galanopoulos beat Ioannis Terzidis in the game for the 3rd place. A great day was had by all.

April 2019: results from Belgium

The first tournaments of the month in Belgium had good turnouts in Templeuve, Hofstade and Vresse.

Players in Templeuve

The Templeuve regional tournament had a good field of 10 players with Geoffrey Marain winning all his games to claim another title. Matthias Averlant was once again runner-up while Eric Caillaux proved to be improving to finish in third place.

Top 3 of the evening

The final standings of the evening were as follows:
1. Geoffrey Marain
2. Matthias Averlant
3. Eric Caillaux
4. Michaël Dupret
5. Vincent Coppenolle
6. Jean-Luc Canfin
7. Arthur Clique
8. Jordan Bonte
9. Olivier Bodelle
10. Sébastien Sorge

In the Flanders, the Swiss system was also used to decide the winner. This time Jos Ceulemans proved to be in a good day to claim another tournament. Jos tied in the last session against Geert Leys but that was enough to win the trophy.

Final standings:
1. Jos Ceulemans
2. Geert Leys
3. Johan Lourdon
4. Philippe Thys
5. Willy De Bandt
6. Stéphane Lambert

The players in Vresse

In the South of Belgium, the club of Semois had a tournament with six players invovled in their premises of Vresse.

The event consisted in a league format and after five sessions, Pascal Droeven ended as winner with 13 points while Renaud Parisel was runner-up (13).

Philippe Thys was 3rd (8), Marc De Vos had 5 points, Tom Léonard 5 and Michaël Paquay 1.

Promotional event in Templeuve

Finally, in Templeuve, the "promotional event" held last Friday had 7 players involed with two of them not eligible to get WASPA ranking points. Among the five competitors, the younger boys did well and Arthur Clique (15) defeated Jordan Bonte (19) in the final to claim his very first WASPA trophy. Sébastien Sorge won the game for 3rd place against Djessy Dardenne.

Great promotion in Greece

Last week-end the Flaming Flickers had a great presence at the Vintage Toys expo in Athens.

The Flaming Flickers showed the game to a lot of visitors with the hope to have some new players coming.

The video below shows how they managed to get people involved besides other games.

Brian Daley and Tom Taylor winners in Wales

On Sunday London Road SC were joined by Wolverhampton TFC players Mick Hammonds and Richard Badger and Liverpool TFC Lucasz Witthle. The tournament consisted in groups of five with then semi-finals and consolation games. In the main event Brian Daley won his semi-final against Chris Bedford while Mick Hammons defeated Richard Badger. Brian later defeated Mick (1-0) in the final to claim his 36th WASPA title. Yanik Merrilees-Kelly won the consolation tournament after defeating Cayne Matthews (1-0). The next London Road tournament will be held on May 19.

A few day earlier, Knighton TFC also held a WASPA tournament with five players competing in in league format. Tom Taylor took the honors after taking 10 points in four games. Dan Nicholls was runner-up while Danny Bird took the third place.

Kenny Beggs wins Ulster Championship final round

Derry City TFC hosted the 5th and final round of this season's Ulster Championship on 7th April. 10 players from across Ulster took part although the overall title had already been won by Dublin’s Mark Farrell. Kenny Beggs triumphed on the day following a 1-0 thriller with Martinog Bradley. Barry Spence took 3rd place honours and Simon Stewart took home the plate.

Group A
1. Kenny Beggs
2. Martinog Bradley
3. Simon Stewart
4. Oisin Mor
5. Lochlin Bradley

Group B
1. Mark McCrosssan
2. Barry Spence
3. Craig Stewart
4. Lawrence Watson
5. Paul Boyle

Semi-finals
Mark McCrossan 0 Martinog Bradley 0 (1-2 shots)
Kenny Beggs 2 Barry Spence 2 ( 5-1 shots)

3rd place play-off
Barry Spence 1 Mark McCrossan 0

Final
Kenny Beggs 1 Martinog Bradley 0

Champions get their trophies

Plate semi-finals
Simon Stewart 2 Paul Boyle 0
Lochlin Bradley 1 Craig Stewart 3

Final
Simon Stewart 2 Craig Stewart 1

Western Flickers Handicap Challenge 2019

It's a wrap on WFW33 (Western Flickers WASPA) Handicap Challenge!

Open category winner Benny (left) being presented
with the winner's certificate by last year's
event champion Anthony Madiona

In another successful Western Flickers event, we had a great turnout of 14 flickers - including 5 players competing in their first WASPA (World Amateur Subbuteo Players Association) table football tournament !

Besides the usual Open category, we also had a special "Rising Stars" category for newcomers to the game.

As this was our annual handicap challenge tournament, it made for some unpredictable results in the Open category. In the end, Beth Eveleigh faced off with Benny who managed to overcome his heavy handicap to reach the final. Beth was playing in her first WASPA final and was hoping for a winning final debut, but Benny managed to snatch the victory.

Rising star category winner Josh

Ladies of Subbuteo

In the "Rising Stars" category, Benedict surprised all to reach the final becoming our youngest ever WASPA finalist at only 6 years old ! In the final, he matched up with talented Josh who was also playing in his first WASPA event and improving markedly with every match. Whilst Benedict and Josh drew their group stage match, Josh proved too strong in the final and comfortably won 2-0.

Thanks to everyone for attending WFW33 and helping to make this event such an enjoyable on.

GO PELICANS !

Mike Sakell wins in San Diego

Congratulations to Mike Sakell for winning the San Diego TSC April 2019 tourney, undefeated performance, great skills! Mike won three games and tied once to finish on top of a group of five.
Welcome to the club to him and to Colin Taylor, too. The next meetup will take place on May 5.

WASPA records of March 2019

Dear all, here are the WASPA rankings of March 2019 with updated statistics and records of the events added in the archives.

WASPA ranking - March 19
WASPA Season results 2018-2019

In March we had a lot of events: 43 regional events, 1 tournament with the old rules, 4 promotional tournaments.

Northern Phoenix tournament in Australia

We had once again a great work together with the FISTF organizers of the Major of Frameries and the Grand Prix of England but also the Satellite of Huy and the Singapore Open.

In Hamburg, Germany the St. Pauli club had an amazing tournament with 20 players and everyone had 6 games played in Swiss system and we were pleased to have Danish players taking part but also some players from Northern Ireland and England. Besides this event, there was also a small tournament in Berlin played under WASPA banner.

Tournament in Thessaloniki (Greece)

Cyprus we on fire with 3 events. 9, 23 and 18 players were taking part. The great news is that many juniors took part, many of them now appear in the WASPA ranking of Juniors but also three clubs from Cyprus appear in the Junior ranking of clubs!

South Africa had 2 events and it was a pleasure to see England's Justin Finch paying a visit to the Cape Town club.

Subbuteo players in Virginia (USA)

The Netherlands sent us the results of the big league held in Gouda with 10 players taking part and some good players among the competitors. All ideas to revive the game in the Netherlands deserve support!

We are always pleased to see many clubs in Australia, Greece, Belgium, Singapore and in the UK supporting the WASPA circuit. These nations do a good job.

A good day of subbuteo in Vercelli, Italy

The 69ers club held their second tournament under WASPA banner in Vercelli, Italy and they had a great turnout of 18 players with 6 juniors among them.

Malta, the US, Ireland, Spain and Canada also had some WASPA events and we were glad to see the first tournament of the season in Helsinki, Finland with possible another event to be played on April 28.

Huge field of 20 players in Hamburg, Germany

As for the rankings, there are no many changes. Congratulations to Martinog Bradley for reaching the top 10.

We are sad that we lost Switzerland in the ranking of nations but hopefully they will be back soon.

The Flaming Flickers SC are still on top of the Top Clubs rankings and the Northern Falcons have the best juniors.

Justin Finch paid a visit to Cape Town players in South Africa

In case some results are missing, please don't hesitate to drop me a line!

If some juniors (born in 2002 or later) don't appear in the ranking, it means we don't have their birthdates so please send your feedback.

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

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/

Players of all ages in Bande, Belgium

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, vincent.cop@rsca.com

Subbuteo news from Cyprus, Australia, England and Austria

Here are the last stories with results from March.

The final in Limassol

Cyprus was definately the nation on top in March as the Famagusta tournament held on March 31 was a big success with 18 players taking part. There was yet another winner as Kyriakos Stylianou won the 8th stage of the national circuit after defeating Marios Nikolaou in the final (4-1). Panagiotis Panaretos and Demetris Bekos reached the semis. To be noted there are a lof of Juniors involved int he national circuit in Cyprus and the clubs of Erimi Limassol, Famagusta TFC and Erimi Limassol will appear in the "WASPA ranking of clubs for Juniors" to be out in the next few hours.

In Heckmondwike, two WASPA tournaments have been held during the recent FISTF Grand Prix of England. 29 players were involved. Open players competed in a knock-out event with Cypru's Paul Andreas defeating Aaron Skineer from Bristol in the final. Brian Kinrade (Isle of Man) and Richard Badger (England) made it to the semi-finals. In the Veterans, England's Craig Heward took the honors after defeating italy's Pasquale Carrassi in the final. Robert Ramsay (Scotland) and Kevin Adderley (England) also reached the final 4.

Nice people in Melbourne

In Australia, the Northern Phoneix Club had a great event with 9 players involved. Luke Radziminski from Melbourne TFC was in a great day and defeated local organizer Christos Garagounis in the final. Paul Mercer and Anthony Madiona made it to the semi-finals while Steve Wright defeated Beth Eveleigh on shots in the game for the 5th place.

Finally, Austria had a tournament in March with six players meeting in Ebenfurth. David Busch finished on top of the league while Horst Deimel took the second place. We are very happy to see action in Austria and we were also very glad to see Thomas Eppensteiner's comeback in the Ebenfurth tournament.

March 2019: news from around the world

Here are some late reports of events held in March. We didn't have the time to publish all the news so here is a summary.

the final four in Attard

The club of Attard in Malta held another tournament in March. 12 players were involved and experienced players took the best as Joseph M. Debono defeated Claude Cuschieri on shots in the final while Walter Attard and Natalino Tanti were the semi-finalists.

In Spain, the Marina Citerior club had two small events with 3 players involved. Pasquale Carrassi won two time with David Mc Aulay finishing as runner-up on both days.

Martinog bradley winner in Derry

In Derry, Northern Ireland, there was a small turnout of 4 players on March 19. We played a round robin league format with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd for the semi-finals. Martinog Bradley took the honors. Oisin Mor put on an impressive display for someone so recently playing the game, reaching his first final after a sudden death shoot out with Donegal’s Brendan Rodgers. Great fun!

Leonidas Koutromanos won the latest Pireas Lions tournament in Greece after defeating Stamatis Syrmos on shots in the final. Lambros Tekos and Andreas Eleftheriou were the semi-finalists.

Players at the sydney TFC tournament

Fabrizio Coco won the latest Sydney TFC event, finishing as best of 6 players and defeating Tony Credentino in the final.

In Wales the club of Knighton TFC held a WASPA tournament on March 3. Five players were taking part and Danny Bird finished on top of a group of 5 with Tom Taylor ending as runner-up.

A great day of Subbuteo in Ireland

In Ireland, Derry’s Martinog Bradley won ‘Europe’s most westerly’ WASPA tournament. Many thanks to Donegal Subbuteo and Brendan Rodgers (who was also runner-up) for hosting and organising a great event and a great days craic.

Some words finally from Finland where four players met to play a very international tournament. George Papadopoulos from Greece finished on top of a group robin with Australi's Robert Green finishing second. Finnish players Kari Hakkarainen and Jarkko Lindholm were also taking plart. there are already plans to organize another tournament in Helsinki on April 28.

TFAS Cup 2019 Plates WASPA

The Plates category for the TFAS Cup 2019 was held on 24 March 2019, after the group stages of the main FISTF IO tournament had ended. The participants consisted of players who were knocked out from the main Open tournament of the TFAS Cup.
Nine players competed for the Consolation Plates. There was a draw, followed by a plate barrage round to decide the final 8 players for the knockout stages.
In the end, Vikas Chandiramani came out triumphant after defeating Isaac Lim in the final and wins the Plates!

WASPA support for Testicular Cancer Awareness Month

April is Testicular Cancer Awareness Month. The ATFA (Australian Table Football Associatipon) President Adrian Connolly is undergoing Chemotherapy to fight the illness. Thought April ATFA is encouraging each Table Football Club in Australia to run a WASPA tournament this month and for participating players to make a donation to Movember. Adrian’s Oncologist has worked with the charity to create resources to educate people on what is the most common cancer in young men globally. See the link below to donate to Adrian’s page. Donations are tax deductible as applicable under law.

People from other nations are more than welcome to support the project. If your club is ready to make a donation, it will be much appreciated!

Link for more details here

Help stop men dying too young.

#awarenessdownunder

Michael Sgro wins again in Toronto

And after 20 minutes of regulation, 10 minutes of Overtime, and a Shootout, Michael Sgro defeats Howard Christie in a thrilling Finals to take the March Tournament and the CanadaFlicks Cup 3-1 after penalties!!

Thank you to all our players who came out to this month's tournament and everyone who tuned in to the event's Live Stream! See you all next month in April's rendition of the CanadaFlicks Cup!

Confirmed date for next event is on April 27.

Link: Facebook page of Subbuteo Canada

Dutch players are ready for round 2

This season was important for the game in the Netherlands as Xavier Aret decided to organize the "Simons Vloer&Wand Subbuteo Competitie", a league with 10 different players involved. Players had the chance to meet during several evening ans in the end, Maikel de Haas became the champion.

The standings of the competition were as follows:
1. Maikel de Haas (Charleroi) 25 points
2. Patrick de Jong (Duch Legends) 23
3. Henk Landzaat (Murcia) 22
4. Nico Marks (Duch Legends) 18
5. Fabrizio Cavazza (Gorizia) 15
6. Michel Van Hout (Duch Legends) 10
7. Chantal de Jong (Duch Legends) 7
8. Xavier Aret (Duch Legends) 7
9. Martijn de Jong (Duch Legends) 4
10. Fedde Aret (Duch Legends) 0

As the league was a success, the next tournament started this week. 11 players are involved with the top 5 players competing in a "Champions League" while 6 other players will play the "Europa League".

To be noted the national championship will be held in Ijsselmuiden on June 8. Registrations are possible by e-mail at SUBBUTEONEDERLAND@GMAIL.COM

Marcos Kapsabelis wins Copa del Rey

16 players attended the "WASPA Copa del Rey" organized by the Flaming Flickers club earlier in March.

As always, there was a group stage and a knock-out round. The winner was "Atletico Madrid" of Marcos Kapsabelis (Flaming Flickers) who defeated "Sevilla" of Manolis Papadakis (Atlas) in the final.

Alekos Apatzis and Chris Panagiotides reached the semi-finals.

Congratulations to Marcos for another trophy and to all the participants for the great tournament.