Patrick de Jong wins IJMAC tournament in the Netherlands

Top three of the day with special guest Clifford Graaff

The recent Ijsselmuiden tournament in the Netherlands was a success with a superb field of 19 players including special guest from South Africa Clifford Graaff. Patrick de Jong won the IJMAC tournament after defeating René Bolte in the final. The event was a success also because of the format with 6 groups in the first round, the top 12 playing games for the title with another set of groups and then semi-finals and finals while the seven players out of the first round played a consolation tournament. Nico Marks and Jacob Bijlstra were the unlucky semi-finalists while Jarno Marks defeated Cor Nieuwenhuis in the final of the consolation tournament. In the end everybody had the chance to play at least 5 games, which is great. Congratulations to the organizers and players and keep in mind there will be another tournament in the Netherlands on February 15 but this time it will be held in Hoogezand by the club of GSC de Hyacinth.

Maikel de Haas and Xavier Aret winners in Gouda

In the Netherlands, Maikel de Haas won the "Champion's League" tournament, which was a the final event of the season. The Charleroi player ended on top of a group of five. In the "Europa League", Xavier Aret Took the honors, also finishing on top of another group of five. There will be another competition starting in September in Gouda with hopefully some more players taking part.

Big success for the Dutch championship

Ladies in action

After a few years of low activity, the Netherlands had a great national cup this week-end in Ijsselmuiden where 20 players from all over the country competed in a fair and positive spirit. Besides the open category, there were junior and ladies events. In the ladies, Mirjam de Jong finished on top of a group of three after home and away fixtures. Patrick's daughter could proudly celebrate her victory after being undefeated in four games. In the juniors, there were also three players taking part. Martijn de Jong won the cup after finishing on top of the home and away fixtures with more goals scores than Fedde Aret while both players had three wins in four games.

The Open category was very interesting with some players doing a come-back after a long break but in the end, there was a classic final between Maikel de Haas and Patrick de Jong with Maikel, currently player of SC Charleroi, winning the game 2-0. Fabrizio Cavazza won the game for the third place against Nico Marks.

Congratulations to the winners but also to the organizers for managing to offer superb prizes for the champions.

Dutch players are ready for round 2

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

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

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

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

Nico Marks winner in Hoogezand

In the Netherlands, the 5th edition of the "COBEX Top of Holland Tournament" had only 8 players taking part after organizers had to accept five late dropouts. Despite the sad news, it was a fair and enjoyable day with some good games for everyone and with the visit of local reporters from newspaper and television. You can watch the TV coverage at https://www.rtvnoord.nl/tv/programma/10250/Expeditie-Grunnen/aflevering/21882

The final of the tournament was a good game between Nico Marks and Jacob Bijlstra. Both players had won all their games before that so it was supposed to be a close game but in the end, Nico Marks took the honors after winning 2-0. Erwin Smit won the game for the 3th place against Ard Lukassen (3-2).

Good news also came from the fact there will be a national championship in the Netherlands on June 8. The event will take place in IJsselmuiden and details are available from subbuteonederland@gmail.com
Registrations are possible till June 1.

International meeting in the Netherlands

This Sunday was a special day for the club of "de Hyacinth" in the Netherlands as local players Jacob Bijlstra and Erwin Smit had the visit of two players from Australia, Yago Dzelalija from Hobart TFC and FISTF President Steve Dettre (Northern Falcons). Players had a good time playing each other twice with Jacob finally taking the honors. More importantly, it was a good time to have friendly moments and to speak about our favorite hobby. Probably Yago will be back in the Netherlands in 2020 so there might be some more opportunities for Subbuteo friends to meet again. Thanks to Jacob and Erwin for organising things!

Big flick-off in Gouda

The first leg of the 1st "Simons (vloer&wand) Subbuteo Competitie" took place on Wednesday in Gouda, the Netherlands. It was fantasic to see the revival of the game in this part of the country with old and new names. The competition will consist in a league format. Players will get some WASPA ranking points in the end of the season. Huve thanks to Xavier for the hard work to make things happen and for managing to get a great field of 10 players. The next evening will be played on October 3.

Casey van Os for the third time in Hoogezand

Last Saturday the Dutch club of GSV de Hyacinth was holding the 4th edition of the "COBEX Top of Holland Tournament" and for the third year in a row, the winner was Casey van Os.

Casey defeated Henk Landzaat (1-1 and 3-1 on shots) in a very exciting final while Nico Marks defeated Jacob Bijlstra in the game for the third place. It was a nice day of table football with 15 players of different ages between 9 and 69 years old.

For the first time there was a foreign player taking part, Stéphane Lambert from Belgium. It was nice to see old and new faces and hopefully this successful tournament will be positive for the revival of the game in the Netherlands, hopefully with more collaboration between Dutch players and WASPA.

Congratulations to Jacob Bijlstra and GSV de Hyacinth for a perfectly organized tournament.

2 in a row for Casey van Os

On Saturday the city of Hoogezand in the North of the Netherlands was the right place to have fun around Subbuteo tables. The 3rd edition of the 'COBEX Top of Holland tournament" was very enjoyable with a record number of 17 participants. Unfortunately, organizers had two late dropouts. After an exciting tournament Casey van Os won for the second consecutive year the tournament by defeating in the final Nico Marks 3-0. Kenney Gerrets took the 3rd place by beating, after a 2-2 draw, Paul Brinker after shootouts (2-0).

"We are thinking to host more events like this and we contacted the organizers from Hamburg so that we can visit each other in the future", commented Jacob Bijlstra with the hope there will be some growing activity in the future in the Netherlands.

A first WASPA title for Casey van Os

This saturday, the club of GSV de Hyacinth held the 2nd WASPA tournament "COBEX Top of Holland Tournament". "We have had a nice, cozy and sportive tournament with a good winner Casey van Os", reported Jacob Bijlstra. All participants were Dutch. Casey defeated Michiel Mondria (8-2) in the final. Every player had 5 games, which was great. Congratulations to all.

The final table of the tournament was as follows:
1. Casey van Os
2. Michiel Mondria
3. Kenny Gerrets
4. Jacob Bijlstra
5. Paul Brinker
6. Erwin Smit
7. Ard Lukassen
8. Ronald Ruiter