More test matches in Norway and Italy

For the second week, we are glad to publish results of two "WASPA lockdown test matches". We are very happy that players show interest for this kind of games and we thank players who send their results.

Destefanis (left) and Brekke

Riccardo De Stefanis (Subbuteo Oslo) played his second test match on Saturday against a new opponent. This time Riccardo had the visit of Svein Arne Brekke (Skien Wildcats). Svein Arne proved to have more experience to win the series. Resutls of the games were as follows:

Svein Arne Brekke - Riccardo Destefanis 6-0 (4-0)

Svein Arne Brekke - Riccardo Destefanis 3-0 (2-0)

Svein Arne Brekke - Riccardo Destefanis 8-0 (4-0)

Svein Arne Brekke - Riccardo Destefanis 7-0 (4-0)

In Italy, the very first "test match" was played on Saturday between Massimiliano Bonomo (Subbuteo Teramo) and Francesco Pochetti (Old Subbuteo Club Giulianova). The games was played on a original Subbuteo pitch from the 70s and results were as follows:

1. Bonomo - Pochetti 0-2

2. Pochetti - Bonomo 2-0

3. Bonomo - Pochetti 0-3

4. Bonomo - Pochetti 0-4

5. Pochetti - Bonomo 2-2

Joburg Open once again produces goals, action and enjoyment

Final between Clifford Graaff and Gary Downs

Sunday the 21st of February saw the playing of the annual Johannesburg Open Subbuteo Tournament. 

This is the oldest official Subbuteo Tournament not only in South Africa but Africa, and dates back to 2008 when the newly formed Johannesburg TFC aka The Joburg Eagles hosted the first official tournament under the auspices of the South African Table Football Association (SATFA).

Unfortunately due to the persistence of the lasting Chinese Covid pandemic, numbers were down. However 8 players joined in the fun with a big welcome to Samora Adams who was playing in his first tournament.

The 8 players were drawn into 2 groups and the top 2 progressed to the semi finals with the remaining players competing for positional places.

Group A saw home town favourite, Clifford top the group by narrowly pipping Gary Downs, who has recently formed his own Subbuteo club in the East Rand area of Johannesburg, namely the Easterns TFC on goal difference.

Group B was a much tighter affair and was called the Group of Death as three top players, namely Angus Begg, Liam Chapman and Jason Kennedy battled for the top 2 positions.

The last group stage game between Angus and Jason basically proved to be a quarter-final tie as the victor, Angus, claimed top spot and relegated Jason to third spot.

The semi finals saw Clifford eliminate the ever improving Liam Chapman by a single goal after a defensive lapse by Liam. The second semi-final was a cracker of an encounter between Angus and Gary. Gary got off to a great start and held a slim lead until minutes before the full-time whistle when Angus carved out an opening and netted a very good equalising goal. Penalties resulted and this was a topsy turvy affair whereby both players took the lead only to allow their opponent to come back. After a marathon penalty session, Gary prevailed by 4 goals to 3 and advance to his maiden tournament final as an Easterns TFC player.

Paul Seemu pipped newcomer, Samora Adams, by a solitary goal to claim seventh place.

Jason Kennedy defeated Errol Meyer by the odd goal in three to capture 5th place.

The 3rd place play-off once again produced a tight game between Angus and Liam which was only settled via penalties. Angus got a slight measure of revenge by losing in the semis by penalties to pip Liam by 1 goal to 0 and claim 3rd place.

The final saw Clifford from the 'Joburg Eagles' take on on Gary from the Easterns TFC. Their earlier game ended in a one-all draw and once again a tight final was expected. The spectators were treated to an exciting game whereby Gary had two great opportunities in the opening few minutes only to see the ball fly wide. This presented Clifford with a few chances to open up the scoring. Gary overshot a defensive flick to let Clifford in for the first goal. Gary then threw everything up front for the equalizer, however he was caught on the break and Clifford netted a second goal to claim another Johannesburg Open title.

Once again, all entrants were treated to some great food in the form of waffles and ice-cream, courtesy of Nita!

Suffice to say, the waffles were greatly appreciated on a very hot February Sunday in Joburg.

Australia: latest results from Brisbane, Perth and Sydney

Brisbane Subbuteo Club held the on Sunday the 6th Club Anniversary/ WASPA Tournament postponed last month due COVID. Six Players turned up at the new venue in Caboolture. There were many goals and many exciting matches. Giuseppe Tardiota defeated Gus Gillespie in the final. Gareth Whalley won the game for the 3rd place against Kevin Halliday and Wayne Miller defeated James Gillespie to take the 5th place.

Action in the new venue of the Brisbane club

In Perth, the tournament played on Sunday attracted seven players cometing in a round robin. Alan Kimber and Ross McNulty finished with 15 points but Alan won the decisive game against Ross (2-1) to win the tournament. The finals standings were as follows:

1. Alan Kimber
2. Ross McNulty
3. Brian Pearson
4. Mick DeVincentis
5. Hugh Best
6. Noel Mani
7. Chris Thorn

Finally, it was great to see the Sydney boys back in action at the Northern Falcons game night on Monday. "Some rusty players but a fun evening. The highlight - or possibly the lowlight - was the almost interminable shoot-out in the semi final between Tony and Geoff, which was 1-1 at full time. We had earlier decided to go straight to shots in the event of a draw, rather than extra time, to "save time".... little were we to realise the multi-part drama that was to follow! It was 0-0 after 5 shots, with the keeper, the post and the fans behind the goal kept busy by our two protagonists. Tony finally broke the deadlock with his 9th shot, only for Geoff to bloody equalise, of course. The drama of non-scoring continued until the 14th shot, when Tony finally got a second and Geoff narrowly missed. Phew!! It had only taken about 15 minutes!", reported a very enthusiast Eliot Kennedy. Eliot won the final against Tony Credentino (Sydney TFC) to claim the trophy!

Daniele Spadaro wins inaugural tournament in Naxxar

This Sunday the Maltese club of Naxxar Subbuteo Club held a inaugural tournament with five players taking part. Players respected the sanitary restrictions and competed in a round robin. Daniele Spadaro finished on top with four wins while Joseph debono was runner-up. Claude Cuschieri, Brian Aquilina and Christopher Spiteri were also taking part. Thanks to the Naxxar club for the great effort and hopefully there will be further developments in the near future. There will be another tournament in Naxxar in March but the exact date is still to be confirmed.

First WASPA lockdown test matches in Belgium and Norway

Earlier this week we announced the creation of the first "WASPA lockdown test matches" and we got very positive feedback from several players. We are pleased to receive the first results from Belgium and Norway.

Stéphane Lambert (left) and Jos Ceulemans had the first games in belgium

In Antwerp, Jos Ceulemans (SC Flanders) and Stéphane Lambert (OSC Yokohama) met on Tuesday. Games ended with the following scores: 1-0, 2-2 and 2-0. Jos won the series.

Riccardo Destefanis (left) and Terje Ellefsen met in Oslo

On Saturday, there were also games in Oslo, Norway, between Terje Ellefsen (Kragerø BFK) and Riccardo Destefanis (Subbuteo Oslo). Results were 11-0, 7-0, 5-0, 5-0 with Terje winning the series. This was also the first appearance of the Subbuteo Oslo club in the WASPA scene.

We are looking forward to getting more results from other test matches played around the world!

Results can be sent to vincentcoppenolle@gmail.com

Lockdown test matches are now a reality

Clinton Gahwiler (South Africa) and Peter Alegi (USA) in a former International test match

We recently received messages from many players from many countries who say they can't wait to start flicking again. Many players just have training sessions with friends and try to find motivation for when things will restart.

Here at WASPA we are thinking it could be good to create a special "challenge" like the "WASPA test matches" but for players from the same country, just to give the possibility to those who can only meet one player at the same time...

The idea is that a player can have a maximum of 3 "test match" sessions per month.

A "test match" would consist in a session of 3 games to 7 games. In the end the winner gets 3 WASPA ranking points, the loser gets 1 point.

In no case a player can have the same opponent in a period of 1 month.

When 2 players send their results, they must also send a picture. We will publish once a week the "results of the week".

The important thing is that:

- players continue to play without disrecpecting the lockdown rules;
- we at WASPA show that the game is still alive;
- rankings are not really affected by those games
- local lockdown rules are respected.

Players should send their results and pictures to vincentcoppenolle@gmail.com

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Wins for Barducci and Bonciani in Firenze

The club of Firenze was back in action this week-end with 2 events run under WASPA banner. The first event was played by six competitors divided into two groups before the knock-out stage. Stefano barducci won the final against marco Bonciani (2-1). The other event had five players competing in a round robin and Marco Bonciani won his four games to win the tournament! More than results, the important thing for the Firenze was to meet again and to have a great time together!

WASPA standings of January 2021

Dear Subbuteo friends,

first of all I hope all is well for you and your families.

Excel file (rankings)
PDF file (results)

Tristan Fenech and John Zammit in the recent tournament in Bormla (Malta)

Here are the updated WASPA standings. We had 11 tournaments in January and we are glad to wish a warm welcome to the club of SC Terni 2014 (Italy). Our Italian friends had a great debut with several small events but there are good hopes to see larger events when the situation will be better. We also received results from Malta, Australia, South Africa and Greece. We hope to see more action from other nations in the near future.

Players in Johannesburg, South Africa

No need to say more. Many clubs around the world tell us they can't wait to have meetings again but for the moment, we all need to respect the sanitary restrictions from the local governments.

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 or vincentcoppenolle@gmail.com

Have a great week-end.

Vincent Coppenolle, vincentcoppenolle@gmail.com

Johannesburg: New Years Tournament provides goals, action and fun!

Sunday the 31st of January saw the playing of the annual New Years Challenge Subbuteo Tournament hosted by the Johannesburg TFC aka 'The Eagles'.

A field of 8 players participated and were divided via a random draw into two groups of 4 players. A bigger field  

was expected, however the continued rain in Johannesburg prevented a few additional players from attending.

Group A proved to be the group of death as three of the top 4 players on the day were drawn together.

The results proved this as three players, Jason Kennedy, Liam Chapman and Carl Bolweg all ended on 6 points.

The two qualifying players were decided on goal difference, and this saw Jason emerge as group winner, followed by Liam and Carl in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

It was welcoming to see 2 newcomers entering a WASPA tournament for the first time in Errol Meyer and Bradley Roulston.

Play-off positional games were played insuring the maximum amount of games were played especially by the newbies. 

Paul Seemu from Malawi claimed 7th place and his improvement has been really good and this must go down to him entering various Solo leagues in South Africa and England.

Carl Bolweg, who unluckily was eliminated from the final qualifications through goal difference, easily accounted for Bradley Roulston who was playing in his maiden tournament to end fifth.

The semi-finals saw an ever improving Liam Chapman, also exposed to our game via the SANSSL solo league, take on Clifford in what proved to be a tight affair. Unfortunately,one defensive lapse by Liam allowed Clifford a tight 1 nil victory. 

The second semi saw Jason defeat newbie Errol Meyer by 2 goals to nil.

The third place play-off saw Liam exact some form of revenge by beating Errol by 3 goals to nil.

The final pitted good friends and adversaries Jason and Clifford against each other in yet another Final.

The final proved a cagey and tight affair with clear cut chances at a premium. Nobody broke the dead-lock and the dreaded penalty shoot-out ensued.

Jason appeared to have left his scoring boots at home and missed his first three penalties. Jason also gifted Clifford a goal by dragging the ball into his net after performing a great save. Clifford converted his third straight penalty to take an unassailable lead and capture his first title of 2021. 

The day was rounded of with a braai where banter and chirps were once again the order of day and also lamenting the current state of affairs due to the bastardly chinese covid pandemic.

However, on a brighter note, everbody enjoyed themselves and the two newbies will definitely be returning for future tournaments.

A special thanks must also go to Clifford's missus, Nita for making a delicious potato bake and salads that were wolfed down after a 'tiring' day of exciting table football action.

The Joburg Eagles look forward to hosting their next tournament, the Johannesburg Open in February!