June 2021: results from the UK

Here is a brief summary of results compiled in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the last few years. We are extremely glad to see great clubs back in action. In some cases, the turnout was not as big as expected but at least it's good to see players getting together and having great games.

Stanway Rovers (England)

The Stanway Rovers club had a tournament played by 5 players on June 2. Alan Lee (FTC Issy) finished on top of the group format after winning three of his four games. Alan tied with runner-up Martin Hodds who also shared points with Kevin cordel.

Final standings:

1. Alan Lee (FTC Issy)
2. Martin Hodds (Dundee)
3. Kevin Cordell (Stanway)
4. Gerry Harrington (Haverhill)
5. Joe Harrington (Haverhill)

East Lancashire SC (England)

Two small events with three players were organized by the East lancashire Subbuteo Club.

Gavin Roper won the first one while Andy Grundy was runner-up and Rob Wilkinson took the third place. In the other tournament, Chris Bedford took the honors while Nick Pearson( London Road SC) was runner-up and Gavin Roper was third.

Surrey Saracens SC (England)

The Surrey boys organized a nice event with six competitors playing a league format. Alan Lee won his five games to claim the trophy while Simon Goodman took the second place.

Final standings:

1. Alan Lee (FTC Issy)
2. Simon Goodman (Surrey)
3. Ian Maskell (Surrey)
4. Dave Croucher (Worthing)
5. Lee Fenton (Surrey)
6. Nigel Pestell (Solent)

Later in the month, the Surrey club held another event with a smaller field of four players. Alan Lee whared points with Dave Croucher but managed to win the tournament.

Final standings:
1. Alan Lee (FTC Issy)
2. Simon Goodman (Surrey)
3. Dave Croucher (Worthing)
4. Ian Maskell (Surrey)

London Road Subbuteo Club (Wales)

It's great to see LRSC back in action. The club has been one of the most active clubs in the WASPA circuit for a few years now. The club held two tournaments in June and Brian Daley took the honors twice. Both events were held in league format. To be noted a few new players took part. Brendan Ashley and Jake Bellis (who is Cayne Matthews's grandson) played for the first time under WASPA banner. Welcome to both of them.

Final standings on June 13:

1. Brian Daley (London Road)
2. Alan Lee (FTC Issy)
3. Cayne Matthews (London Road)
4. Ruby Matthews (London Road)
5. Lucasz Whittle (London Road)
6. Shaun Dunne (East Lancashire Subbuteo Club)
7. Brendan Ashley (London Road)

Final standings on June 20:
1. Brian Daley (London Road)
2. Cayne Matthews (London Road)
3. Ruby Matthews (London Road)
4. Lucasz Whittle (London Road)
5. Jake Bellis (London Road)

Bristol Subbuteo Club (England)

After a long hiatus, the Bristol club managed to attract a great field of 11 players for the tournament organized on June 14. Congratulations to Darren Clark for his win.

Final standings:
1. Darren Clark (Murcia)
2. Alan Lee (FTC Issy)
3. David Lauder (Cardiff)
4. Alan Hounsell (Cardiff)
5. Matthew Rowley (Cardiff)
6. Aaron Skinner (Bristol)
7. John Lauder (Cardiff)
8. Taylor Randles (Bristol)
9. Darren Barnes (Cardiff)
10. Bernard O'Connor (Bristol)
11. Guy Longhorn (Bristol)

Derry City TFC (Northern Ireland)

DCTFC is officially back! There was a good turnout for the club's first official tournament since the end of lockdown, with the ‘Jimmy Watson Memorial Cup’. Special mention to DCTFC’s newest member, Dee Jenkins. 

Final standings:
1. Martinog Bradley (Derry City)
2. Barry Spence (Derry City)
3. Dee Jenkins (Derry City)
4. Lawrence Watson (Derry City)
5. Oisin Mór (Derry City)
6. Jude Morrow (Derry City)

The Derry Summer Cup will be held on July 5 at 7pm.

Cardiff TFC (Wales)

The first Cardiff tournament after lockdown took place in Bristol. 8 players competed in Swiss format and Darren Clarke managed to win his second tournament of the month.

Final standings:
1. Darren Clarke (Murcia)
2. Aaron Skinner (Bristol)
3. Taylor Randles (Bristol)
4. Tony McCann (Cardiff)
5. John Lauder (Cardiff)
6. Tim Mourant (Bristol)
7. Darren Barnes (Cardiff)
8. Stuart Lindsay (Bristol)

Haverhill Rovers TFC

Finally, the Haverhill players met on June 24 and had some great games. Alan Lee finished on top of a group of five to win another tournament.

Final standings:
1. Alan Lee (FTC Issy)
2. Joe Harrington (Haverhill)
3. Gerry Harrington (Haverhill)
4. Jason Mitchell (Haverhill)
5. Marco Barqueiro (Haverhill)

The next Haverhill tournament will be play on July 4 at "the Culina Hub".

The Templeuve club is back

After 16 months of lockdown, the Templeuve group was back in action last Friday with 9 players (including two French players) competing in the most active Belgian club in the WASPA circuit. There were some great games but Geoffrey Marain was the winner once again. The AS Hennuyer player won his four games to claim his 110th WASPA trophy. Stéphane Lambert finished in fourth position but remained undefeated after winning one game and sharing points in the other three matches. There will be more tournaments in the future and there are hopes to see more players joining in future meeting.

Final standings (all Templeuve players and Belgians unless noted):
1. Geoffrey Marain (AS Hennuyer)
2. Vincent Coppenolle
3. Matthias Averlant
4. Stéphane Lambert (OSC Yokohama)
5. Didier Moons
6. Eric Caillaux (FRANCE)
7. Benjamin Marain
8. Sébastien Sorge (FRANCE)
9. Jordan Bonte

Benny Nuger wins the Cicada Open

Benny Nuger (AS Hennuyer) defeated Daniel Cranston(Black Rose) 2-1 in the final of a 5 man event that saw Maryland return to action. The event took place during a time of a world renowned Cicada emergence. The players completed a 5 man group, with newcomer CJ Thompson securing a semi final spot in his first tournament.

Overall standings were:

1. Benny Nuger (AS Hennuyer)
2. Daniel Cranston (Black Rose)
3. Paul Eyes (Black Rose)
3. CJ Thompson (Maryland)
5. Claudio Santos (Maryland)

(Report by Paul Eyes)

Gary Downs takes the Eagle 21 Trophy

Sunday the 23rd of May saw the Johannesburg Eagles host their Eagle 21 Trophy at Randburg AFC.

Initially a large field than 8 was expected, however the effects of the Chinese Covid pandemic affected the field with at least 4 players withdrawing due to Covid scares.

The Eagles were also proudly displaying their brand new banner and playing all their games on the bespoke fields brilliantly produced by Gary Downs from Easterns TFC. 

The final was played on the iconic 'Loftus Road' home ground to the famous Queens Park Rangers.

However the participating 8 players from the Joburg Eagles, ETS Subbuteo Club and the newly formed Easterns TFC had an enjoyable Sunday of fun, action, goals and the usual football banter.

Group A produced the first major shock when Fernando Rodrigues accounted for an out of sorts Clifford Graaff. Ian Clarke, from Easterns TFC and only playing in his second tournament, showed great form and composure to defeat Fernando and claim top spot in a tight Group A.

Fernando secured the runners up spot to claim his first semi-final showdown.

Group B saw Gary Downs from Easterns TFC produce some great table football to remain unbeaten and claim top spot. Jason Kennedy, still smarting after his beloved Sheffield Wednesday's relegation to the third tier of English football, although remaining unbeaten, struggled for a win and finished in the runner ups spot. 

Gary continued his fine league form to produce a scintillating semi final performance to defeat Fernando by 2 goals to nil and claim his final berth. Ian Clarke, whose rise up the Subbuteo chain has been meteoric, accounted for Jason Kennedy in a tense penalty shoot-out to claim his maiden cup final appearance.

The Eagles 21 Final saw two Easterns TFC aka The Knights, namely Gary and Ian battle for the Eagle Trophy. The final was a tight affair with both players showing some neat touches in build up play only to be thwarted by some very good defending by their opposition.

The final remained scoreless which meant the dreaded penalty shoot-out. Gary's experience stood him in good stead as he scored a close but deserving maiden Cup Final victory at the Joburg Eagles.

Thanks must go to everyone for attending and especially to Clifford's better half, also known as Mrs Subbuteo - Nita -  for the delectable delights on tournament day.

(report by Clifford Graaff)

A quick look at tournaments held in May 2021

We have not had the cance to publish reports of all events held in May. Among the tournaments taking place last month, we can have a look at several events that deserve a mention.

Wales: London Road is back

The London Road club was back in action on May 23 with 12 players taking part. there were experienced players, some new faces and a few players of the Wolverhampton club. Justin Scott proved to be in a great day and defeated brian daley in the final. Mick Hammonds and Martin Blanchard made it to the semi-finals. Ruby Matthews won the consolation tournament after defeating Gaz Oates in the final.

Australia: events in several cities

Once again Australia was one of the most active nations in the circuit with events in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Sydney TFC had a small event with 6 players and Fabrizio Coco defeated Tony Credentino in the final to claim his 36th WASPA title.

The Northern Falcons played the AGFA Cup with a great turnout of 14 entries. Eliot Kennedy won his 5th AGFA Cup, beating first time finalist Adrian Elmer 2-1. Semi-finalists were Adrian Grunbach and Raffaele Lombardi. Johnny Ball beat Jonty Brenet (1-0) in the final of the consolation tournament.

Giuseppe Tardiota was the king again in Brisbane, defeating Gus Gillespie in this month's tournament. 5 players were taking part with the hope to see a bigger turnout in June.

In Perth, 8 players had a great day and Ross McNulty was definately on fire to win the final (5-1) against Brian Pearson. Mick deVincentis and Alan Kimber made it to the final 4 while Hugh best won the consolation final.

England: Daley does it again

The East Lancashire club had a great event with 12 players divided in three sections. Chris Bedford won the main event, finishing on top of a group of 4 while Brian Daley was runner-up. it was great to see Manchester TFC's Danny Lilley taking the tird players. Gavin Roper won the B tournament while Dave Scholes won the novice section.

In Haverhill, Alan Lee (FTC Issy) finished on top of a group of three to win another title. Gerry Harrington was runner-up and Joe Harrington took the third place.

Alan Lee also won the Worthing tournament where Dave Croucher was runner-up and Nigel Pestell was third.

Mick Hammonds won the Wolverhampton tournament, finishing on top of a group of 4 with Justin Scott being runner-up.

Singapore: another win for Rudy Hesty

Played under strict conditions SG players organised a mini WASPA at the home of HK Dragons den on May 29, 2021. Players played with experimental teams during the two legged encounters where Rudy came up tops after end of the 6 matches. Praying hard for end of the pandemic but lets continue to keep alive the passion of flicking. 

Rudy Hesty was the winner, Nic Tan being runner-up and Michel Choong taking the third place.

Malta: Josef Camilleri on top

The Naxxar club held another tournament on May 30. Josef Camilleri (Bormla) defeated Jurgen Balzan (Stembert) in the final with some other great players taking part in the tournament. Congratulations to all players involved.

Greece: the Lions are back

The Lions Zante held a tournament with 8 players divided into two small groups. Nikos Monos won all his games to win the main event while Dimitris Stravolemos was runner-up. Kostas Argiris was also the best players, winning his six games to win the B-category.

Italy: a very active groupe in Terni

Finally, we would like to thank the Italian club of Terni for the great job. Their players already played 12 WASPA tournaments this season but continue to held regular events. You can follow results on the club's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SUBBUTEOCLUBTERNI2014THYRUS.

WASPA records of May 2021 - Subbuteo results, rankings and statistics

Dear Subbuteo fans, hope all is well. We are very excited to see things coming back slowly to normal after a very busy month with 18 tournaments played under WASPA banner in May 2021. We were glad to collect results from Australia, Wales, Spain, England, Singapore, Malta, Greece and South Africa and we see now more and more nations preparing events for June (the US, Belgium, Northern Ireland,...) so we are eager to see more and more clubs organising tournaments.

You will find in the enclosed files the updates results and rankings.

Before commenting on the news, please have a look at the story we published on the WASPA blog regarding the "10 years of WASPA tournaments". You will find the link here: https://waspa-circuit.blogspot.com/2021/05/2011-2021-10-years-of-waspa-tournaments.html

Once again, thanks to all those who contributed to the success of the circuit over the last 10 years.

Great games in a nice venue in Spain

We are happy to see tournaments being played in the last few days in more locations. Our friends from Barcelona FT organized a tournament with 9 players in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia and it was fantastic to see the first event in the country for a long time.

A good turnout for the AGFA Cup in Sydney

Australia has an impressive number of tournaments with active clubs in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and local players continue to do a great job to keep things growing.

Presentation of the trophies in Naxxar, Malta

We were glad to see a good event in Naxxar, Malta with some excellent players taking part.

We also take to opportunity to thank our partners:
- Victory kits at https://www.victorykits.co.uk/
- Flicks for Kicks at http://shop.flickforkicks.com/
- MAD ABOUT GAMES at http://subbuteo2012.co.uk

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

Also the Lions Zante in Greece made their come-back

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/

Fellow flickers in Singapore

Keep in mind WASPA is also looking for new 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.

Vincent Coppenolle, WASPA organizer