WASPA Around the World - July 2026

We have received results from South Africa, England, Italy, and Australia. It is always encouraging to see flickers from around the world competing under the WASPA banner. We hope to continue receiving even more results from across the globe in the months ahead.

Regional Tournaments

Johannesburg, South Africa – July 11, 2026

The latest Easterns TFC tournament was held on Saturday, with four local players taking part. Ian Clarke confirmed his status as South Africa's leading player of the moment by winning all of his matches.

Position	Player
1	Ian Clarke
2	Gary Downs
3	Craig Smith
4	Rui Dos Santos

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Bristol, England – July 11, 2026

The FISTF Satellite of Bristol was a great success. Congratulations to the Bristol team for organizing an excellent tournament, and special thanks to Richard Roper for helping to run the consolation events under the WASPA banner.

Eight players took part in the Plate competition. Rob Fitch defeated Malcolm Jamieson in the final, while Gage Badger overcame Richard Roper in the Shield final.

Plate Semi-finals

• Rob Fitch 2–1 Joe Parody
• Chris Shilling 0–4 Malcolm Jamieson

Plate Final

• Malcolm Jamieson 1–2 Rob Fitch

Shield Final

• Gage Badger 2–1 Richard Roper

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Melbourne, Australia – July 5, 2026

There was a great afternoon of table football last Sunday as Northern Phoenix TFC hosted its July WASPA tournament at the East Ivanhoe Bowling Club.

Fifteen matches were contested in a FAST-15 round-robin tournament featuring six players representing three of Victoria's four clubs.

In the end, Western Flickers TFC's Benny Ng claimed victory on goal difference ahead of Adrian Connolly of Melbourne TFC. Nathan Urbaniak edged out Christos Garagounis on goal difference to secure third place.

As Christos Garagounis reported:

"Lots of fun and great to keep Subbuteo action in this state well and truly kicking along."

Position	Player	Club
1	Benny Ng	Western Flickers TFC
2	Adrian Connolly	Melbourne TFC
3	Nathan Urbaniak	Melbourne TFC
4	Christos Garagounis	Northern Phoenix TFC
5	Nathan Heard	Northern Phoenix TFC
6	Benjamin Ng	Western Flickers TFC

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Old Rules Event

Grottaferrata, Italy – July 11, 2026

ASD Alba Subbuteo Roma held its Classic Subbuteo tournament in Grottaferrata. Luca Di Lullo claimed the title, with Andrea Alfonsi finishing as runner-up and Ernesto Poncetta taking third place.

Position	Player
1	Luca Di Lullo
2	Andrea Alfonsi
3	Ernesto Poncetta

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Congratulations to all participants and organizers for another weekend of outstanding WASPA and Subbuteo action around the world.

WASPA Tournament Round-Up: England & Netherlands (June–July 2026)

 The summer WASPA calendar continued with six tournaments across England and the Netherlands, producing a mix of familiar winners and new names at the top of the standings. Lee Hatfield claimed victory at Morecambe Bay, Casey van Os topped the field in Rijnmond, and Mark West took the title in Dagenham after defeating Gary Gladwell in the final. Nick Pearson enjoyed an excellent week, winning in North Shields before also reaching the final in Chesterfield. Meanwhile, Jason Christopher led a strong Solent contingent to victory in Finchampstead.

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Morecambe Bay, England – 26 June 2026

Final Standings

1. Lee Hatfield
2. Luca Lanzani
3. Keith Carman
4. Perry Sinacola
5. Max Brookes
6. Rob Wilkinson
7. Steven Dobinson
8. Tom Eddington
9. Henry Eddington

Lee Hatfield finished top of the standings ahead of Luca Lanzani and Keith Carman.

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Rijnmond, Netherlands – 1 July 2026

Final Standings

1. Casey van Os
2. Jerrel van Keimpema
3. Rinaldo van Dijk
4. Xavier Aret
5. Martijn de Jong
6. Jan-Willem Wind

Casey van Os emerged victorious in Rijnmond, finishing ahead of Jerrel van Keimpema and Rinaldo van Dijk.

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North Shields, England – 3 July 2026

Final Standings

1. Nick Pearson
2. Ben Staples
3. Tom Heslop
4. Rob Heseltine
5. Nigel Lamond
6. Dan Gosling

Nick Pearson took first place, with Ben Staples and Tom Heslop completing the podium positions.

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Finchampstead, England – 4 July 2026

Players from the Finchampstead and Solent clubs

Final Standings

1. Jason Christopher (Solent)
2. Andy McGovern (Solent)
3. Paul Izard (Solent)
4. Simon Hawley (Finchampstead)
5. Steve Smith (Solent)
6. Nigel Morgan (Solent)
7. Roger Duckworth (Solent)
8. Dave Legg (Finchampstead)
9. Adrian Butt (Finchampstead)
10. Jon Patten (Finchampstead)
11. Alan Cutler (Finchampstead)
12. Shaun Ellis (Finchampstead)

Solent players dominated the event, claiming the top three places through Jason Christopher, Andy McGovern and Paul Izard.

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Chesterfield, England – 5 July 2026

The final

Nick Pearson and Colin Fletcher advanced through closely fought semi-finals to reach the final, where Fletcher claimed the title. Trevor Allen won the Plate Final against Andrew Forster-Fake.

Semi-finals

• Nick Pearson 0*–0 Jeremy Boothman
• Ian Sharp 0–0* Colin Fletcher

Final

• Nick Pearson 0–0* Colin Fletcher

Plate Final

• Trevor Allen 1*–1 Andrew Forster-Fake

Final Ranking

1. Colin Fletcher
2. Nick Pearson
3. Jeremy Boothman
4. Ian Sharp

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Dagenham, England – 8 July 2026

Mark West (right) receives trophy from Gary Gladwell

Mark West defeated Gary Gladwell in the final to secure first place.

Final

• Gary Gladwell 0–1 Mark West

Final Standings

1. Mark West
2. Gary Gladwell
3. Adam Jackson
4. Martin Colwell
5. Billy Attwood
6. Samantha Levy
7. Paul Bailey
8. Michele Claydon

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Summary of Winners

Tournament	Winner
Morecambe Bay (26 Jun)	Lee Hatfield
Rijnmond (1 Jul)	Casey van Os
North Shields (3 Jul)	Nick Pearson
Finchampstead (4 Jul)	Jason Christopher
Chesterfield (5 Jul)	Colin Fletcher
Dagenham (8 Jul)	Mark West

Notably, Nick Pearson recorded a tournament victory at North Shields and followed it with a runner-up finish at Chesterfield just two days later, while Solent players occupied five of the top seven places at Finchampstead.

WASPA rankings of June 2026 - Monthly report

WASPA rankings as per June 2026 are now available. We added 31 regional tournaments, 2 tournaments playe with old rules and 1 promotional tournament in the records!

The tournament in Karlsruhe, Germany was certainly
one of the most excising WASPA events in June

PDF file with results: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K2fk4r1tDOPA4d6e955tUpPIWrgBLcz0/view?usp=sharing

Excel file with rankings and statistics: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRpNBAOkhiBRK2ssZnlAFbC5awNhzC57Myu5X8zocdyAKCM6K6KU65LxS_lnp2WVw/pub?output=xlsx

A few interesting patterns emerge.

Fred Elesbao won the Derry WASPA tournament, which was also
the consolation tournament of the Northern Ireland Grand Prix (FISTF tournament)

Recent tournament activity

1. The UK remains the centre of WASPA activity

• The largest concentration of regional tournaments was in England, with events spread across numerous clubs and regions.
• Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland also contributed regularly.
• The English circuit is notable not only for the number of events but also for the depth of competition, with several different clubs producing winners.

Players at the latest Perth tournament in Australia

2. Strong international spread Beyond the UK, there was significant activity in:

• Belgium
• Italy
• Australia
• South Africa
• New Zealand
• Netherlands
• Malta
• Austria, Germany, France, and Switzerland

This shows that WASPA remains a genuinely international circuit, even if many tournaments are club-based and local in nature.

3. Special formats remain healthy

• Old Rules 352 (Norfolk) was won by Adam Nekrews (England).
• Old Rules 353 (Solent) was won by Jason Christopher (England).
• Promotional Tournament 212 (Lamezia, Italy) was won by Francesco Pujia (Italy).

These events illustrate two different strengths of the circuit:

• Old Rules events help preserve the heritage of the game.
• Promotional events help bring in new players and develop local scenes.

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Nations organising tournaments

Finchampstaed SC is one of the emerging clubs in England

The most active organisers during this period were:

Nation	Observation
England	By far the busiest organiser, hosting a large share of regional events.
Italy	Frequent organiser of both regular and promotional events.
Belgium	Consistently active with well-established clubs.
Australia	Remarkably regular programme despite geographical distance.
Ireland/Northern Ireland	Strong local circuits and cross-border participation.
South Africa	Smaller calendar but very consistent activity.
New Zealand	Continues to support a stable tournament scene.

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Nations producing winners

A clear link exists between activity and success.

England

• Produced the largest number of tournament winners.
• Names such as Jason Christopher, Adam Nekrews, Richard Roper, Malcolm Jamieson, and others feature prominently.
• English clubs benefit from frequent competitive opportunities.

Italy

• Strong winners in both regional and special-format events.
• Players such as Francesco Pujia, Marco Perotti, and Simone Perotti continued to achieve success.

Belgium

• Belgian players were very competitive and regularly reached finals and podium places.
• Organisers and players are often the same core community, helping maintain a strong local scene.

Australia

• Players such as Giuseppe Tardiota and Alan Kimber collected multiple victories.
• Australia may be geographically isolated, but its competitive level is very high.

Irish circuit tournaments are always great events

Netherlands, Ireland, Malta, South Africa and New Zealand

• Each produced regular winners within their domestic circuits.
• Their success shows that strong local communities can thrive without large player pools.

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Romania: a growing local scene with strong domestic participation

Tournament 4289 was held in Bucharest on 15 June 2026, organised by Subbuteo Bucharest. The event was a completely Romanian affair, with the top four places occupied by Romanian players: Massimo DalPrà, Cezar Stoilescu, Bogdan Panait and Ciprian Necula.

Small turnout but great games in Bucharest

This is noteworthy because earlier in the season Bucharest events were often won by visiting players from Italy, England or Cyprus. In June, however, Romanian players occupied the entire podium, suggesting that the local player base is becoming increasingly self-sufficient and competitive. 

Finland: a rare example of international competition

Tournament 4290 took place in Helsinki on 16 June 2026, organised by Hesu PJK. Unlike many WASPA tournaments that are largely domestic, this event produced an interesting international podium:

• Winner: Eliot Kennedy (Australia)
• Runner-up: Teemu Sihvola (Finland)
• Semi-finalists: Robert Green (Australia) and Kari Hakkarainen (Finland)

International friendship at the latest tournament in Helsinki

The Helsinki event therefore became one of the more international tournaments of the month, with Australian and Finnish players sharing the top four places. It also highlights Finland's continuing role in WASPA through its long-established player base and dedicated clubs. The season results include a separate Finnish Rules national championship, showing that Finland maintains its own strong traditions alongside standard WASPA events.

What these events add to the June story

If England dominated the calendar by volume, Finland and Romania added diversity:

• Romania showed the strength of a developing national scene, with local players filling all podium positions.
• Finland hosted one of the month's most international regional events, bringing together leading Finnish and Australian players.
• Together they demonstrate that WASPA's activity is not confined to the traditional powerhouses such as England, Italy, Belgium and Australia; smaller national circuits are also capable of producing competitive and interesting tournaments.

Overall conclusion

Players in H'Attard, Malta

The last few months highlight a healthy balance between concentration and diversity:

• England remains the dominant force in both organisation and victories.
• Italy, Belgium, and Australia form a strong second tier of activity and success.
• Ireland, the Netherlands, Malta, South Africa, and New Zealand continue to punch above their weight relative to their size.
• The promotional and old-rules tournaments demonstrate that WASPA is supporting both growth and tradition at the same time.

The most striking feature is probably how many different countries are still regularly hosting and winning tournaments, showing that the WASPA network remains globally connected despite being driven largely by local clubs.

WASPA Round-Up: International Action Across the World

The latest round of WASPA tournaments saw players competing under both modern FISTF rules and traditional old rules, with events staged across Europe and South Africa.

Terry Arnold winner in Worthing

In Italy, Marco Perotti claimed the Regional Tournament title in Rome, while England hosted no fewer than three FISTF events. Terry Arnold topped a 26-player field in Worthing on June 28, before Brandon Lavender won a second Worthing event the following day. Meanwhile, Richard Roper emerged victorious in Stourbridge.

Players in Attard

Malta's tournament in Attard was won by Robert Farrugia, ahead of Stanley Farrugia, while Ektoras Bartzis triumphed in Achaioi, Greece. In Ireland, David Elton took first place in Tralee, and Jason Kennedy was the winner in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The traditional game was represented by the Solent tournament in England, where Jason Christopher finished first ahead of Steve Smith and Nigel Morgan.

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Final Tables

Regional Tournament – Roma (Italy) – June 28, 2026

FISTF Rules

Pos	Player
1	Marco Perotti
2	Giuseppe Cascioli
3	Luca Pasquini

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Worthing (England) – June 28, 2026

A nice venue in Worthing

FISTF Rules

Pos	Player
1	Terry Arnold
2	Danny Gregory
3	Simon Goodman
4	Shaun Allison
5	Malcolm Jamieson
6	Connor Gregory
7	Adam Wells
8	Joe Parody
9	Gary Gladwell
10	Daryl Radwell
11	Mark West
12	Hadley Chapman
13	Steve Taylor
14	Joe Currey
15	Chris Shilling
16	Simon Hawley
17	Thomas Lacey
18	Andy McGovern
19	James Palmer-Jones
20	Nathan Holley
21	Joel Palmer-Jones
22	Allan Ewart
23	Nigel Pestelle
24	Riccardo Castagna
25	Ian Maskell
26	Simon Neale

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Attard (Malta) – June 27, 2026

FISTF Rules

Pos	Player
1	Robert Farrugia
2	Stanley Farrugia
3	Mark Baldacchino
4	Vincent Mifsud
5	Luke Xerri
6	Walter Attard

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Achaioi (Greece) – June 20, 2026

FISTF Rules

Pos	Player
1	Ektoras Bartzis
2	Panagiotis Vasilopoulos
3	Dimitris Mallias
4	Emmanouil Sotiropoulos
5	Dimitris Sotiropoulos
6	Georgios Verganelakis
7	Theodoros Mitropoulos
8	Paris Papadopoulos

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Stourbridge (England) – June 26, 2026

FISTF Rules

Pos	Player
1	Richard Roper
2	Arthur Collins
3	Andy Pountney
4	Leo Harrison
5	Kirk Harrison
6	Matthew Reynolds

Junior player Leo Harrison

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Tralee (Ireland) – June 29, 2026

FISTF Rules

Pos	Player
1	David Elton
2	Cian Hogan
3	Roisin Hogan
4	James Murphy

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Johannesburg (South Africa) – June 27, 2026

FISTF Rules

Pos	Player
1	Jason Kennedy
2	Fernando Rodrigues
3	Johan Niewenhuis
4	Chris Dimmer
5	Shaun Majendie

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Worthing (England) – June 29, 2026

FISTF Rules

Pos	Player
1	Brandon Lavender
2	Malcolm Jamieson
3	Nathan Holley
4	Marco Castagna
5	Joe Currey
6	Shaun Allison
7	Nigel Pestelle
8	Daryl Radwell
9	Riccardo Castagna

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Solent (England) – June 24, 2026

Old Rules

Pos	Player
1	Jason Christopher
2	Steve Smith
3	Nigel Morgan
4	Rob Piggott
5	Simon Hawley
6	Andy McGovern
7	Paul Izard
8	Jon Lee
9	Tim Hill

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A total of 8 tournaments played under FISTF rules and 1 under Old Rules were completed during this period, highlighting the vitality of both formats within the worldwide WASPA circuit.