News from around the world

England: Small event in Couldson
A small event was held on August 22 in Couldson. Couldson SC were allowed to hold their second tournament of the summer in the same month. The event consisted of a small but dedicated group of three players, Colin Lindsey, Gerald Brightwell and Lee Fenton. The games reached a new level of intensity, as Lee Fenton, started using the Haka before his games, to heighten his intensity and concentration and to physce out his opponents before matches started. Gerald Brightwell, again finished as the winner, with the scores  Colin 1-2 Lee, Colin 0-1 Gerald, Gerald 1-0 Lee, Colin 2-2 Lee, Colin 0-0 Colin, Gerald 2-0 Lee, Gerald 2-0 Lee. All games were very VERY close, and could have gone either way with chances both missed and saved by all players. Gerald commented that both Lee and Colin have devolped considerably over the summer and now play with an intensity and now have developed 'The eye of the Tiger in their games' (Report sent by Lee Fenton)

Greece: Second event at Blades TSC
During his holidays in Greece, Steve Bennett (Scotland) had the chance to meet some players of the greek club Blade TSC in Heraklion. Two small events were held. This time again, Steve proved to be the most experienced player and won the tournament. Hopefully the club of Blade TSC will host more WASPA events in the future with their members.

Hungary: Support for a new club
The new club "Hungária Subbuteo Club" is trying to get funds or material to create something strong in Budapest. The founder, Adrián Száki, is hoping to get help from many people and he has already launched an Internet page to boost interest.
Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hungaria-subbuteo-club

Austria: Experience pays

The first event of the "Austrian WASPA League" took place last week in Vienna. The winner of the tournament was no "Mr Nobody". Erich Hinkelmann (right on the picture) is currently ranked number 3 in the FISTF Veterans ranking and Erich is also a former number 1. It was great to see such a big champion sharing his love for the game with younger and newer players.

Belgium: A globe-Trotter in Japan

Stéphane Lambert (right on the picture) is not only one of the most active players on the WASPA circuit. The Antwerp player is also a real globe-trotter. The member of the English club "Kent Invicta" took part in the FISTF Grand Prix of Japan last week-end and reached the semi-finals. He was the only player to travel from Europe for the tournament.

Indonesia: let's start flicking!

The new club of "Batavia Garudas" started playing this week, once the first table of the club was built. The club member at training for the upcoming Merdeka tournament in Kuala Lumpur. Good luck to them!

Wales: Tournament in Cardiff
The Cardiff Bluebirds TFC will have a tournament on September 1. It will be the first WASPA event in the country since April 2013. Interested players can contact John Lauder at wrkl@hotmail.com

Scotland: First event of the season
There will be a tournament in Arbroath organized by the Tayside Kickers on September 7. This will be the first tournament of the season in Scotland. Contact Steve Bennett at ssb.5c67@yahoo.com for info.

USA: Great job in Georgia
On the Facebook page of the Aerican Subbuteo Association, Sean Mann reported "Subbuteo Club met today for our first meeting of the year at Greenbrier High School in Evans, GA. This is our 6th year. We had 21 kids packed into my classroom with 3 tables going. Looks good for Augusta Subbuteo's plans to host a Nov 8th tourney. 9 freshman joined the GHS Subbuteo club including my son Miko."
Congratulations for the amazing job!

USA: Our thoughts for California
A tournament was in the agenda in Petaluma (in the San Francisco area) last sunday. As you probably know, there was an earthquake in Northern California. Despite some players finally met, no tournament was held as everybody had the earthquake in mind. Our thoughts go to those who had damages. In these moments, subbuteo is certainly not a priority for all and there will be better days!

USA: Visit at Hercules SC

The great Zach Walker visited the newly-born Hercules SC this week and shared his experience and love for the game with Ilias Gikas and Tim Tumminaro.

Canada: action in Montreal
The "Club de Subbuteo de Montréal" is one of the smallest clubs in the world with only two players. Aydin Mir and Pierre Chastenais met this week and played three games. They will start their club league in September and really hope to find more players.

Statistics: Italy on top!
Since September 1, 2013, 246 tournaments have already been organized under WASPA banner. Italy was the main organizer with 53 tournaments (whille England and Belgium held 33 events). Rome (9) and Fiumicino (6) have been the 2 hot places. The challenge for the new season is to see more regular series and hopefully more tournaments in cioties like Bari, Firenze, Catanzaro, Genova, Macerata, Manoppello, Pescara, Viareggio,... Hopefully more clubs and more cities will join the WASPA circuit. Any help to try to get Italian clubs involved woud be appreciated!

WASPA Facebook group
We have reached the amazing number of more than 1400 members. Thanks to everyone for the great support.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/waspasubbuteo/?fref=ts

Written by Vincent Coppenolle on August 28, 2014 -> Contact: vincent.cop@rsca.com

The news of the week (36)

Tournament in Singapore - There will be a tournament this sunday in Singapore. Belgium's Stéphane Lambert will be the first european player to compete in a WASPA tournament in Asia. Good luck to all the competitors.

Tournament in Belgium - The next tournament in Belgium will take place on March 15th in templeuve. the event will be played in the evening (kick-off at 7.00 pm). Details are available from vincent.cop@rsca.com

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- February 10 - Tournament in Attard, Malta
- February 24-26 - Tournament in Cincinnatti, Ohio (USA)
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- March 15 - Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium)
- March 25 - Tournament in Singapore - 'LBH' tournament at Jurong Green Community Centre
- Tournament in Adelaide (Australia) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Trenton, Ontario (Canada) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from the US, Italy, Austria, canada, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Singapore, Greece.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (35)

Two events in Singapore - The tournament scheduled in Singapore on March 4th has recently been postponed to March 25th. Due to Stephane Lambert's visit in Singapore, there will be another tournament on March 4th as well. Details are available from Rudy Norita. As for the tournament of March 25th, some of the local top players such as Den Mulia, John Ho and Erza Aripin have already confirmed their attendance.

News from Canada - There are some good news from Canada as Shane hoopfer is trying to rebuild the association. Hopefully there will be some WASPA tournaments in Calgary in the near future. There are also hope to have some events in Ontario soon.

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- February 10 - Tournament in Attard, Malta
- February 24-26 - Tournament in Cincinnatti, Ohio (USA)
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- March 25 - Tournament in Singapore - 'LBH' tournament at Jurong Green Community Centre
- Tournament in Adelaide (Australia) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Trenton, Ontario (Canada) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, Singapore, Greece, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (34)

When Japan & Singapore meet - Last week Singapore's Christopher Soh paid a visit to the local club of Yokohama in Japan. Three members of the local clubs took the time to play some games with Christopher and the group ended the evening around a few drinks.
Pictures are available on the Subbuteo Japan blog at http://chuchaissubbuteomania.blogspot.com/

Revival in Canada (2) - The CSTFA has not only renewed their website at http://cstfa.webs.com/
Shane Hoopfer has also started a group of Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/293672447359191/
Hopefully it will help to get players together and to organize some tournaments in the near future.

News from the FISTF circuit - There were 2 FISTF tournaments last week-end. Chris Thomas won the Open of teesside (England) while Nikos Beis won the Open of Athens (Greece).

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- February 10 - Tournament in Attard, Malta
- February 24-26 - Tournament in Cincinnatti, Ohio (USA)
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- Tournament in Adelaide (Australia) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Trenton, Ontario (Canada) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from the US, the UK, Italy, Greece, Germany, Canada, France, Spain, Finland and Belgium.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (33)

Revival in Canada - After a few months, Shane Hooper managed to clean up the CSTFA website and hopefully it will help to reboost the activity of the game in Canada. For more about subbuteo table football, check http://cstfa.webs.com/

Big turnout in Frameries - The FISTF Major of Frameries confirmed to be the world's largest tournament with 224 individuals and 44 teams. The Greek team of Atlas won the team event while Vasco Guimaraes from Portugal won the Open category. It's already the 8th victory of Guimaraes in a Major. Other winners were Joe Mifsud (veterans), Luigi Di Vito (U19), David Gonzalez (U15), Trisha Baumeler (ladies) and Marco Di Vito (U12).

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- February 10 - Tournament in Attard, Malta
- February 24-26 - Tournament in Cincinnatti, Ohio (USA)
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- Tournament in Adelaide (Australia) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Trenton, Ontario (Canada) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from the UK, the US, Italy, Germany, Greece, Spain, Singapore, Russia, Canada and Finland.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (32)

There isn't much going on this week as there was no tournament in the WASPA circuit in the last few days. Looks like plaers are concentrating on some of the world's top events in the FISTF circuit. Good luck to all the players involved.

News from the FISTF circuit - 62 players from 4 nations competed in the FISTF Open of Madrid (Spain). Carlos Flores confirmed his world supremacy by winning the Open title. he beat Juan Noguera in the final. The talented Màxim Aguirregabiria took the veterans title while David González (U15) and Caridad Vázquez (U12) were the other winners. The Italians took the honors int he team event when the Fiamme Azzurre squad beat Real Murcia in the final. In the Satellite of Rome, the legend Francesco Mattiangeli wont he Open title while Andrea Strazza won the veterans and the club of Brasilia Chieti won the team event.

Frameries is the center of the world - The FISTF Major of Frameries will be played for the ver first time in a new modern hall, replacing the old venue of Mons. 45 teams and 240 players are registered for the world's largest tournament to be played this week-end. More details can be found at www.ashennuyer.be

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- February 10 - Tournament in Attard, Malta
- February 24-26 - Tournament in Cincinnatti, Ohio (USA)
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- Tournament in Adelaide (Australia) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Trenton, Ontario (Canada) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from the Germany, the UK, the US, Italy, Russia, Greece, France, Ireland, Malta and Singapore.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (31)

Daniele Spadaro wins in Malta - The finals of the Attard tournament finally took place on tuesday. Daniele Spadaro had to wait the shoot-out to beat Simon Gauci in the semi-final. In the other semi, Hector Scerri beat Gordon Caruana and qualified for his first final. In the final, Spadaro gave no chance to Scerri and won the game on a clear 2-0.

On the picture, the Mayor of Attard Mr Stefan Cordina presenting the trophy to Daniele Spadaro.

Daniele Spadaro back as number 1 - Thanks to his recent victory in Attard, Daniele Spadaro is the new leader of the WASPA ranking again. Daniele was already leading the table in August but he had to admit Darren Bezzina's supremac from September till December. The full rankings are available in the download section.

No luck for subbuteo in Connecticut - The bad weather had terrible consequences on last sunday's Connecticut Open to be organizd in Wallingford. Many players were unable to travel and therefore the number of entries dropped from 9 to 3. Andrea Gasparini won the trophy but unfortunately the tournament will nout get the WASPA status due to the low turnout (less than 4 players).

A Belgian in Singapore - Stéphane Lambert (SC Flanders) will be the first Belgian to travel to Singapore for table football in March. The guy from Antwerp will be playing the FISTF Satellite over there and will hopefully be able to play some WASPA games during his stay in Asia.

Big success for the Subbuteo relaunch in London - This tuesday was a great day for the beautiful game of Subbuteo as the spanish company Netcam officially presented the new version of the game. Former international football player John Barnes was there to present the new material that will be available in the shops in the UK in March. Hopefully many other nations will be able to find distributors in the next few months. The relaunch of subbuteo matches with the European Football championship to be played next summer in Poland and Ukraine. Youc an read an article from the Sun at http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4083286/Subbuteo-news-Footie-ace-John-Barnes-launches-game-comeback.html and some pictures of the presentation at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomgrovesphoto/6755242867/

FISTF world cup cancelled or relocated? - The FISTF Board has decided to cancel the FISTF World Cup to be played on July 21 & 22 in Athens, Greece. The Board explained the economical crisis in Greece doesn't guarantee the tournament could take place in good conditions. Hopefully an alternative solution will be found in the next few days so that the world cup will take place in another country. Having no world cup this year would be a total disaster for the game and for those who are working with young players in order to be ready for the most important competition of the season.

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- February 10 - Tournament in Attard, Malta
- February 24-26 - Tournament in Cincinnatti, Ohio (USA)
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- Tournament in Adelaide (Australia) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Trenton, Ontario (Canada) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from the UK, the US, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Singapore, Canada, Greece, Belgium and Cyprus.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (31)

News from Malta - Two weeks ago, the tournament played in Attard had to be stopped due to the illness of organizer Joe Debono. The semi-finals and finals of the event will take place on January 24. Daniele Spadaro, Hector Scerri, Simon Gauci and Gordon Caruana are the remaining competitors and hopefully there will be many good games over there. Good luck to all of them.

News from the US - The second US tournament under WASPA banner is taking place this sunday in Connecticut. About 10 plaers will be competing including ASA President Massimo Conturso and Andrea Gasparini, winer of the Yokohama tournament (in Japan) in September. Good luck to all competitors.

News from Canada - This week we had good contacts with Steve Whitehead, organizer of the Eastern Ontario Subbuteo club based in Trenton. Steve said there is some interest to hold a tournament soon. The exact date and location should be announced shortly.

News from Australia - Ron Shipp (ronshippau@yahoo.com.au) is trying to set up a tournament in Adelaide, SA. Interested players should drop him a line.

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- January 22 - Tournament in Wallingford, connecticut (USA)
- February 10 - Tournament in Attard, Malta
- February 24-26 - Tournament in Cincinnatti, Ohio (USA)
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- Tournament in Adelaide (Australia) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Trenton, Ontario (Canada) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from the UK, the US, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Finland, Australia, Canada, Malta.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (30)

Quiet period - First of all, sorry for the delay. the newsletter is out a bit later than expected due to too much things to do at work. There is also a very calm period but hopefully there will be more great news soon.

A tournament in Connecticut - The Connecticut Open is going to have a strong field and Massimo Conturso was happy to announced the tournament could reach the double digit. Jim Taylor will be back in action after more than one year of the circuit and there will be players coming from Massachussets and New york. Good luck to everyone!

Possible tournament in Ohio - Steven Laskey will be holding a tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 24th through the 26th. Interested players can drop a line to Steven at queencitytsc@gmail.com

Sad news from Malta - Last week's tournament in Malta has been stopped due to Josep Debono's illness. Joe had to go to the hospital and we wish him a quick recovery. The last games of the tournament will be played shortly.

New FISTF forum - FISTF has launched a new "official forum" at http://fistf.com/fistfforum/
We wish them good luck.

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- January 22 - Tournament in Wallingford, connecticut (USA)
- February 10 - Tournament in Attard, Malta
- February 24-26 - Tournament in Cincinnatti, Ohio (USA)
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from Russia, italy, Spain, the US, Germany, Malta, Belgium, Singapore, Finland and Greece.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (29)

Happy new year - 2011 wa a great year for WASPA but hopefully 2012 will be even better. We hope to have a growing circuit and we would be very happy to reach the number of 25 tournaments over the next 12 months. We wish all players a great year full of good surprises, renewed enthusiasm for the game and more importantly a good health!

A tournament in Connecticut - The Connecticut Open to be played on January 22 will be a WASPA tournament. There will be a good turnout and the local club will be meeting players from different States of the East Coast. Looks like it will be a great tournament!

Possible tournament in Ohio - Steven Laskey will be holding a tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 24th through the 26th. Interested players can drop a line to Steven at queencitytsc@gmail.com

Attard SC in great shape - Joseph Debono has announced that Attard SC Will be holding two more WASPA events in January and February. The event played on February 10th (Saint-Paul Day is a public holiday in Malta) will hopefully attract many players from different maltese clubs.

General States of Table Football - FISTF has announced that the meeting about the "General States of Table Football" scheduled in Paris this week-end has been postponed to March 17 & 18 due to the poor attendance of the representatives of the different national associations. We at WASPA are very curious to see what will happen during this meeting as several important decisions might be taken by FISTF.

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- January 22 - Tournament in Farmington, connecticut (USA)
- February 10 - Tournament in Attard, Malta
- February 24-26 - Tournaint in Cincinnatti, Ohio (USA)
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from Spain, Malta, Germany, Italy, the UK, Greece, the US, Finland, Belgium and France.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (28)

2011 back in the mirror - 2011 has been a good year for WASPA, not only because it was the first year of the new association. We had 15 tournaments organized by 9 different clubs from 8 different countries and 135 players from 14 countries (from the 5 continents) took part in the tournaments. There were small events with 4 players but also larger tournaments with up to 30 players. The beginning has been very positive. It will be important to continue to work and to increase the number of tournaments in 2012. Hopefully more nations, clubs and players will join in the next few months.

End of the year and number 1 players - As the year 2011 is going to end in a few hours, we can already announce the names of the different "number 1".
WASPA number 1 player: Darren Bezzina (Malta)
WASPA number 1 nation: Malta
Number 1 player in Asia: Rudy Hesty Roselan (Singapore)
Number 1 player in Africa: Clifford Graaff (South Africa)
Number 1 player in North America: Andrea Gasparini & Wayne Smith (USA)
Number 1 player in Oceania: Bob green (Australia)
Number 1 player in Europe: Darren Bezzina (Malta)

News from Attard SC - the club of Attard recently organized their Christmas cup. Daniele Spadaro Spadaro won the final on shots against Hector Scerri.W ell done to both players.

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from Spain, Germany, Singapore, Italy, Portugal, the UK, Malta, Sweden, Belgium and Finland.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (27)

Merry Christmas - Just a quick note to wish everyone a great christmas period. Family and friends should have a special attention at this time of the year and we hope all WASPA players and friends will have a great Christmas.

Updated results file and rankings - The "Golden book" is updated int he download section. Results from Attard and Singapore are included as well as the new rankings. 143 players are now involved. Darren Bezzina is still the number 1 in the individual table.

Another tournament in Singapore - Rudy Hesty has just confirmed there will be another WASPA tournament in Singapore on March 4, 2012. There are hopes that by announcing the event early in advance, there will be some players from abroad. Details are available from Rudy at norrud@singnet.com.sg

Templeuve tournament - It's Christmas period and it's a calm period for subbuteo players. The templeuve United club (Belgium) had a national tournament last saturday counting for the belgian circuit. 29 players took part, which is a poor turnout comparred to previous similar events. There were some good players taking part though and David Leroy (Rochefort TS) took the title after beating Alain Jadot (SC Charleroi) in the final. other winners were Stelio Tsangouris (Open B), Joffray Laurent (Open C), Jody Henrioul (U19), Kenny De Schuyteneer (U15), Corentin Bouchez (U12) and Olivier Dubois (veterans).

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- March 4 - Tournament in Singapore
- Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from Spain, Germany, Malta, Singapore, the UK, France, Sweden, Belgium, Canada and Italy.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (26)

Some more pictures of the Attard tournament - On the attached pictures, you can see the young Nicolai Cini with his father Michael along with the Minister of Health Dr. Joseph R.Cassar during the presentation of the trophies. Congratulations also to the young players of the San Andrea School who took part to their first tournament.

A world number 1 - The Attard tournament was very special because the winner of the event, Joseph Mifsud, is the current world number 1 int he FISTF ranking of the veterans. Congratulations to Joseph for his victory and a huge THANK YOU for taking part in a WASPA tournament.

Go ahead Singapore - The Eastern Elias club will host a tournament in Singapore next sunday. It's a last minute addition to our calendar but it's more than welcome. Well done to the Singapore guys for this great idea.

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- December 18 - Tournament in Singapore
- December - Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- December - Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) in 2012 -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from Spain, Malta, Greece, Germany, Belgium, the US, Singapore, Sweden, Russia, the UK.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (25)

Souvenir of the Barcelona tournament - The Barcelona tournament will remain as the largest WASPA tournament till now with 30 competitors. Here is a picture of the finalists, Flavio Watzka (runner-up) and Luis Benito (winner).

Attard tournament - The Attard tournament will take place on friday evening. It will already be the 5th tournament being played in Malta.Good luck to all competitors.

WASPA players in FISTF events - Several WASPA players took part in different FISTF tournamrents over the last few days. In the Grand Grix of Germany in Berlin, Marcus Tilgner (who won the first Stockholm tournament) was the organizer. Despite he didn't do well in the team event, he had the satisfaction to host a nice tournament with 68 players from 12 different countries! Saverio Bari from italy won the Open final.

In the Open of Msida (Malta), Angelo Borg (winner of the 3rd Attard tournament) won the U19 category. The finalist was Darren Bezzina (number 1 in the WASPA ranking). The club of Attard took the 4th place in the team event. Samuel Bartolo beat Massimo Cremona in the Open final.

In the Singapore Satellite, Hong Kong's Antonio Carabillo (finalist of the Yokohama tournament) lost in the semi-final. John Ho beat Mohd Ezan in the final.

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- December 9 - Tournament in Attard (Malta)
- December - Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- December - Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) in 2012 -> Details coming soon

Go 20000 - This week the blog passed the interesting number of 10.000 vists. Thanks to all visitors for contributiing to this success story!

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors came from Spain, Germany, the US, Italy, Malta, Russia, Greece, Singapore, Australia and Finland.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (24)

Hello, here is another newsletter

30 players in Barcelona - The very first tournament in Spain was more than successful as 30 players were taking part last sunday. They were dropped into six groups of five players and the winner of each group qualified for the play-offs round. In the final, Luis Benito won the title on shots against Flavio Watzka. Competitors were coming from three different clubs (Palomar FT, Lleons de Girona SC & Subbuteo La Selva) while 19 players were not member of any club. This was therefore a great day for the table football community and for WASPA in particular.

Promotion of the Barcelona tournament - You can see a great video promoting the Barcelona tournament BY CLICK HERE

Big moves in the new rankings - After the Barcelona tournament, there are now 118 players in the ranking. Darren Bezzina is still leading the table with 70,50 points while Daniele Spadaro is second and Nicholas Sciberras is third. Luis Benito is the most improved player this month as the newcomer from Spain is already 4th is the ranking. Spain is also coming second in the ranking of nations while Malta remains the leader.

14 entries already for the Attard tournament - There are already 14 players registered for the Attard tournament to be played on December 9. Players can still register till December 5 by contacting Joseph Debono at jmdebono@onvol.net

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- December 9 - Tournament in Attard (Malta)
- December - Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- December - Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Stockholm (Sweden) in 2012 -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors were from Spain, Malta, Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Finland, Greece, Cyprus, the US.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (23)

Hello, here is another short newsletter

Tournament in Spain - The very first WASPA tournament will take place in Barcelona on sunday. Organizer Flavio Watzka said about 30 players will be competing in the different categories. 12 of them will have the privilege to play for the WASPA title. Good luck to everyone.

Fan of Lille? - Some football fans are also subbuteo fans. Don't miss the link of Florent, a guy from Lille who is also a big fan of the Lille football team. Check this great link at http://florent-subbuteomania.blogspot.com/

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- November 27 - Tournament in Barcelona (Spain)
- December 9 - Tournament in Attard (Malta)
- December - Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- December - Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors were from Germany, Finland, the US, Russia, Ital, Greece, France, Spain, Sweden and Belgium.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (22)

Hello, here is another short newsletter

Results of the survey - The huge majority of people who answered the survey think WASPA and FISTF should not merge. Only 16% of votes say both associations should merge. Thanks for your comments!

Subbuteo Art Print - If you like table football and art, this is for you. Thanks to Gareth Christie, you can now have beautiful subbuteo pictures on your wall. Check the links at http://presentspotter.com/presents/subbuteo-art-print & http://www.table-football-wall-art.com/

Attard league - The maltese club of Attard is not only the most active club in the WASPA circuit, they also have a strong league. The current table of the league puts GordonC aruana on top win 18 points in 7 games. The next players are Marco Mifsud (15-6), Timothy Spiteri (13-6), Joseph M. Debono (11-6), Robert Azzopardi (10-5), Simon Gauci (9-3), Clint Abela Wadge (5-5), Brendon Borg (4-8), Sharlon Barbara (4-12), Daniele Spadaro (3-1), Hector Scerri (3-3), Lon Joseph Cachia (3-3 and Mario Spiteri (2-7).

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- November 27 - Tournament in Barcelona (Spain)
- December 9 - Tournament in Attard (Malta)
- December - Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- December - Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors were from Germany, the UK, the US, Finland, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain, Belgium and Malta.

Have a great week-end and keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (21)

Hello, here is another short newsletter

Is there an issue for FISTF? - Last week, I was ratjer enthusiast about the future of FISTF because the end of Piero Capponi's presidency and the hope to have elections in February was very positive for the future of the sport. Of course, many things need to be built again from scratch but there was a strong hope that good people could build a strong future by working hand in hand. Unfortunately, things change very fast and not always in the right direction. Laurent Garnier, the General Secretary of FISTF, was named President of FISTF and, by surprise, he was "confirmed" as being president till the next Congress... in 2015. The simple fact that there might be no elections in February proves the people int he FISTF Board only think about their own interests and not about the good of the game and the needs of the community. Having a Board working against the basic principles of democracy and against the expectations of the players and the national associations will prevent out community to work serenely.

In such a situation, WASPA might take more and more importance because I expect many disappointed players to look for "something else" and hopefully WASPA could give a positive answer to the questions of the players who are unhappy with FISTF. As several national associations have already written to Laurent Garnier to say they are unhappy about the latest changes, we hope that the FISTF Board will answer to the expectations of the players and that good sense will prevail. Until possible elections, a lot of things might happen. Wait & see...

The priorities of WASPA - Right now, there isn't much going on in the WASPA calendar. There is only one tournament to be played this month but there are good plans to have more tournaments in the next few months. Hopefully more events will take place in December and in 2012. Having more tournaments and more nations involved is definately the top priority of WASPA for the next few months.

Competion: create the new WASPA banner - I recently had several messages from players telling me the WASPA blog is fine but they don't like the picture on top of the blog. So there is an open competition to give the possibility to everyone to send proposal for a new banner. All ideas are welcome. The banner can just be a picture but the WASPA logo can also be included. All proposals should be sent by e-mail to Vincent.cop@rsca.com
Thanks in advance!

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- November 27 - Tournament in Barcelona (Spain)
- December 9 - Tournament in Attard (Malta)
- December - Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- December - Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors were from Germany, the US, the UK, Spain, Finland, Greece, Belgium, Russia, Malta and Australia.

Keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (20)

Hello everyone, here are the news of the week.

What future for FISTF? - Important facts happened in the last few days in FISTF. After the European cups played in Slovenia, president Piero Capponi decided to resign and he was followed in his decision by Sports Director Stefano De Francesco. Both men had an important role in the FISTF Board and their decision will probably involve a lot of important changes in the future. Piero Capponi said elections should be held in February at the Major of Mons but this has to be confirmed. Whatever happens, it will be difficult for FISTF to get back on the right track after all the mess of the last two years. Since a few people decided to take over things after the world cup in the Netherlands in 2009, a lot of promises have been made to change the main international body. The new Boards, firstly led by Malta's Silvio Catania and later by Spain's Piero Capponi, wanted to make a more professional game, to introduce professional rules and to get more media coverage and sponsors. Even if some ideas were good, they were probably not realistic and the community is not ready to change his attitude. It's not only about the game itself but new rules about the size of the figures have not been appreciated by many players and there were some incidents last week-end in Slovenia when players were told they were not allowed to play because the figures were smaller than 27 mm.

So what will be the direction of the new Board? Will people continue to dream about a professional game or will we get back to a more "human scale" where the game remains the priority? Should we insist on having large venue with perfect tables or should we just insist on having tournaments with many games for every player and a better organisation of games? There were no scoreboards at the Europa Cup and nowhere to have a drink or something to eat in the hall and this is certainly not what players expect from a major tournament, in particular when they travel thousands of kilometers to play.

It will take some time before elections are held and before new people take over things again from scratch. The fact the next world cup will be held in July in Greece involves it will certainly be one of the worst events in terms of attendance. The new Board has there to take the right options to make the world cup something special and a priority for all players who are qualified to play.

The future of WASPA will of course depend on the future options of FISTF. Some voices say both FISTF and WASPA should merge and an amateur circuit should be organized under FISTF banner. This will only be possible if the new Board is able to make a difference between the players who just play for fun and those who play to win.

For the moment, WASPA is still taking its own way with a small circuit of tournaments and hopefully more clubs and nations will join the circuit in the next few weeks. Ideas and suggestions are always welcome so please don't hesitate to send your views by e-mail at vincent.cop@rsca.com

Another tournament in Malta - The next tournament to be organized by Attard SC will take place on December 9 in the evening and details are available from Joe Debono at jmdebono@onvol.net

Congratulations Pisa and Bologna - The WASPA community wold like to congratulate the team of Black & Blue Pisa, winner of the Champion's League, and the team of Bologna Tigers, winner of the Europa League. Both tournaments took place last week-end in Nova Gorica, Slovenia.

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- November 27 - Tournament in Barcelona (Spain)
- December 9 - Tournament in Attard (Malta)
- December - Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- December - Tournament in Templeuve (Belgium) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors were from Finland, Spain, Italy, Greece, germany, Singapore, the US, Canada, France, and Malta.

Keep on flicking,
Vincent

The news of the week (19)

Hello everyone, here are the news of the week.

Darren Bezzina is number 1 - The new rankings have been published (you can take a look on the "Golden book" available in the download section) and Darren Bezzina (right on the picture) remains the number 1 in the WASPA ranking. The player of the italian club SPQR Roma won last friday's tournament in Attard (Malta). He also became the first player to win 2 tournaments since the creation of the WASPA circuit. Well done.

More projects in Malta - After the last tournament in Malta, local organizer Joe Debono confirmed Attard Subbuteo Club will host another tournament in the next few weeks. Details will be announced soon.

Results of the survey - It seems like there is no enthusiasm to try to play with different rules. Therefore the project to play a tournament using the rule fo the direct free kick will not come to reality.

Good luck - The WASPA community wishes good luck to all the plaers who will be travelling to Slovenia this week-end to play the FISTF Europa Cups. European Cups remain some of the most exciting events in the world and it's always an honor to be part of the show.

Forthcoming events - Here is a list of the forthcoming WASPA tournaments. We hope many more will be added in the near future. You can see the contact person for every tournament in the section "forthcoming events" (on the right column).
- November 27 - Tournament in Barcelona (Spain)
- November - Tournament in Attard (Malta) -> Details coming soon
- December - Tournament in Johannesburg (South Africa) -> Details coming soon
- Tournament in Nicosia (Cyprus) -> Details coming soon

Top 10 nations this week on the blog - This week the bigger number of visitors were from Malta, Finland, Belgium, Italy, the US, the UK, Greece, Canada, Spain and Germany.

Keep on flicking,
Vincent