A third WASPA trophy for Christian Haas in Vienna

Thomas Eppensteiner and Christian Haas

After a day of hard games, sixteen players joined the WASPA regional tournament held during the FISTF Grand Prix of Austria in Vienna. Some new names entered the WASPA world ranking on this day and with the Czech Republic we have a new subbuteo nation on the WASPA circuit. Besides local representatives and a Czech, players from Germany, Hungary, Italy were also taking part. Organizers decided, to play the event in a knock-out system and there was no surprises at all. In the semi-finals Thomas Eppensteiner won again Andreas Jung Junior after shots while Christian Haas had a safe 2-0 victory over Christoph Gerbasits. In the final Christian Haas was clearly the better player and had no problems to win 1-0 against Thomas Eppensteiner.

(Report with the help of Thomas Eppensteiner)

Another trophy for Marcos Kalopsidiotis

The 4th leg of the Cyprus Open circuit took place on tuesday with 19 players taking part. There was no real surprise in the first rounds but in the semi-finals, there was a big game between Marcos Kalopsidiotis (Salamis Famagusta) and George Zangylos (Famagusta TFC). The game ended on the amazing score of 5-5 and Marcos won on shots. In the other semi, Giorgos Stylianou (Limassol City) defeated clubmate Marinos Mitellas (2-1). There was no surprise in the final as Marcos Kalopsidiotis won the game 3-0 against Giorgos Stylianou to claim his 6th WASPA title. Marcos Kalopsioditis is the leader of the circuit with 30 points. The other top 5 players are Georgios Zangylos (28), Kostas Kalopsidiotis (17), Giorgos Stylianou (14) and Marinos Mitellas (12).

The final

The big semi between Marcos and George

Alex Batacchi wins in Florida

Alex Batacchi and Zach Walker before the final

After a long hiatus, there was Subbuteo action again in Florida where 7 players met last sunday in the premises of Tampabay TSC. Among the visitors, Zach Walker from Colorado and Jody Schaaf from Georgia had travelled a long way and it was good also to meet Dario and Sacha Passadore who live in the Miami area. Dario was playing in Italy 20 years ago and was glad to start playing again. All players played each other and after the group stage, Zach Walker and host Alex Batacchi qualified for the final. The decisive game was close but Alex won (1-0). "A Mourinho style performance", commented Alex Batacchi after the game. Hopefully there will be more events like this in the future in Florida.

The final

David Baxter wins in South Queensferry

Kevin Christopher, David Baxter and Mike Burns

The first Subbuteo event of 2015 in Scotland took place in South Queensferry on Saturday 3rd January as 17 players including 4 former Scottish Champions and a raft of Scottish Internationalists converged to fight it out in the inaugural Christmas Baxter Subbuteo tournament for the grande trophy and the prize money for the top 3 players! The tournament, run by Scotland’s and possibly the UK’s top organisers was named in honour of one David J.C Baxter without whom no-one in this country would still be playing our crazy game. As Dave was returning to Scotland for the Christmas period it seemed a fitting tribute to name this event after him.

Of the 17 players who turned up, 3 had never (or not for a very long time at least) played in an event before so it was good to see Vince Fitzpatrick, junior player Connor Douglas and female player Ashley Allen make their competitive bow in a WASPA event, hopefully they can be encouraged to keep coming back for more. 2 or 3 late call offs hampered numbers a little but 17 is still very strong.

The day started off in strange fashion, the original start time of 12pm was delayed as the dude who was opening up the Bowling Club decided to go to the bookies beforehand to put a tenner on the Hibs v Hearts match then someone bought him a pint because it was his birthday. However, he turned up not long after and things got underway around 12.30pm.

Swiss System was order of the day and the first round draw saw none of the so called big guns come up against each other as unfortunately our two Scouse guests from Yorkshire Phoenix drove all the way up only to play each other in the first round! Former Scottish Champ Brian Daley came to the event with high hopes of winning. Notable results from the first round would be Kevin Christopher defeating Malc Lees and Vince Fitzpatrick getting off the mark with a 3-1 win over Baver Bari.

Hibs v Hearts was now on the large screen TV and the match was in full swing as the majority of the roomed were screaming for a Hibs win. The bar being open and the drinks flowing added to the excitement of event!

Into the second round and the winners start meeting each other. Dave Allen and Mike Burns clashed at the top, Dave Baxter came up against Vince and Kevin took on the might of Brian Daley. Mike edged a 2-1 victory to stay on course for a 2nd consecutive WASPA victory. To the outsiders shock of the round would be Kevin “scraping” a draw against Brian. However to those that know the Ronnie O’Sullivan of Subbuteo, this is no shock as we are well aware of his capabilities, if truth be told it was Brian that was lucky to escape without a defeat as he equalised with more or less the last flick of the game! Vince came down to earth with a bump as Dave Baxter gave him a 6-0 tanking to give him a massive goal difference advantage. Its tough at the bottom as debutants Ashley and Connor were now finding out, Ray who hasn’t played for a while just couldn’t started at all and an off colour Baver sunk to a heavy defeat against Malc Lees.

The third round is when it really starts, the top bombers start coming up against each other in make or break ties and there was excitement in the air as the pizzas were imminent! Dave Baxter turned over Mike 2-0 in the top clash. Leading 1-0 for a long time Mike tried to push for an equaliser but it was realistically never coming and Dave capitalised on the The Rangers like defending by Mike to finish the game as a 2-0 winner. Neil Christopher came up on the blindside in the first 2 rounds to push himself into contention. Neil was aiming to emulate his brother and get a result against Brian Daley but alas his flair was not enough as Brian won 2-0 to push himself back up the table. Kevin, Dave Allen and Connor all won their respective matches to make things pretty congested at the top going into the last round.

Before the final round started though the pizzas arrived and this was what everyone, especially Craig Lynch was waiting for. Seven 14” unbelievable pizzas from La Favorita turned up on time and piping hot. These pizzas have to be tasted to be believed and as a couple of people didn’t want any it meant more for everyone else and they were scranned up in double quick time. The rocket and prosciutto that came in a separate packet was supposed to be applied to one of the pizza’s but weren’t sure which one so Terry Brown took charge of the situation and just applied it to all of his pizza slices, this led to Terry proclaiming “GRANDE PROSCIUTTO!!!” After this, the empty boxes were cleared away and order was brought back to the room after the pizza banquet.

Dave Baxter could at worst finish 3rd so was guaranteed to be in the money. Brian would have to defeat Dave to give himself or Kev any chance of winning. Neil, Mike, Connor and Dave Allen, all on 6 points had a chance of getting a trophy and some prize money if they took care of business and hope other results went their way. In the first session of the fourth round Mike beat Neil 2-0 in what could only be described as “scrappy”. Mike had laid down a marker and was now in contention for the prizes but it still depended on what happened in 3 other matches in the final session. In the top match, Dave beat Brian 1-0 to finish with a perfect 4 wins from 4 and zero goals conceded and take the title, this result meant Brian was out of the prize money. Kevin beat Dave Allen to take an amazing 2nd place and consign Dave’s trophy hopes to the dustbin. 3rd place ultimately came down to what Connor could do against Craig Lynch. Connor ultimately won 1-0 with a fantastic goal but it wasn’t enough to finish in the money as Mike just pipped him on goal difference, it was an exciting end to a great day of Subbuteo where sportsmanship was in abundance and Rule 1.1 was never broken!!!

Hot Club took the top two spots in a superb Subbuteo showing coming ahead of Yorkshire and Perugia’s finest. Although, for Dave Baxter to win his own tribute tournament is a bit silly!

Some special mentions have to go to the following…
· Astonishing Pizzas
· EVERYONE for turning up and making it a great day
· Brian and Connor for coming all the way up from Liverpool for the day
· Connor for finishing above Brian!!!
· Terry Brown for fighting through the pain barrier to play, great to see the big guy back on his feet after his bad injury and being ably assisted by his Sportslagers

On now to the Crème Egg Open sometime around Easter, date to be confirmed!

Full results below

Round 1
Connor Bowden 0-2 Brian Daley
Ashley Allen 0-0 Connor Douglas
Baver Bari 1-3 Vince Fitzpatrick
Mike Burns 4-0 Richard Douglas
David Baxter 4-0 Terry Brown
Kevin Christopher 3-1 Malcolm Lees
Neil Christopher 1-0 Craig Lynch
Dave Allen 4-0 Ray Davis

Round 2 
Dave Allen 1-2 Mike Burns
David Baxter 6-0 Vince Fitzpatrick
Kevin Christopher 2-2 Brian Daley
Neil Christopher 3-0 Ashley Allen
Andreas Drewer 4-0 Connor Douglas
Baver Bari 2-7 Malcolm Lees
Connor Bowden 1-0 Richard Douglas
Andreas Drewer 0-0 Craig Lynch

Round 3 
David Baxter 2-0 Mike Burns
Neil Christopher 0-2 Brian Daley
Kevin Christopher 1-0 Andreas Drewer
Dave Allen 3-1 Malcolm Lees
Terry Brown 0-2 Connor Bowden
Craig Lynch 3-1 Vince Fitzpatrick
Connor Douglas 0-4 Richard Douglas
Ray Davis 0-4 Baver Bari

Round 4 
David Baxter 1-0 Brian Daley
Connor Bowden 1-0 Craig Lynch
Richard Douglas 2-1 Baver Bari
Vince Fitzpatrick 1-1 Terry Brown
Michael Burns 2-0 Neil Christopher
Kevin Christopher 1-0 Dave Allen
Andreas Drewer 0-5 Malcolm Lees
Ray Davis 0-3 Connor Douglas

Final placings
1 David Baxter
2 Kevin Christopher
3 Mike Burns
4 Connor Bowden
5 Brian Daley
6 Dave Allen ...
7 Malcolm Lees
8 Richard Douglas
9 Neil Christopher
10 Craig Lynch
11 Andeas Drewer
12 Terry Brown
13 Connor Douglas
14 Vince Fitzpatrick
15 Baver Bari
16 Ashley Allen
17 Ray Davis

(report by Mike Burns)

Already 12 titles for Jos Ceulemans

Bart Van de Vliet, Jos Ceulemans and Geoffrey Marain

10 players attended the monthly WASPA tournament of SC Flanders in Hofstade-Zemst on monday. Besides the 8 Flemish players, Geoffrey Marain and Vincent Coppenolle travelled from the Tournai area for the event. It was something special as since January 1st, WASPA tournament also counted for the belgian national ranking. After the four sessions of the swiss system, Jos Ceulemans and Geoffrey Marain shared the first place with 10 points. As both players tied in their game, Jos won the title on goal-difference. Bart Van de Vliet, who lost his first game but then took 7 points, ended in third position.

Final table of the evening:
1. Jos Ceulemans (SC Stembert) - 10
2. Geoffrey Marain (SC Eugies) - 10
3. Bart Van de Vliet (SC Flanders) - 7
4. Eddy Beernaert (SC Flanders) - 6
5. Johan Lourdon (SC Flanders) - 6
6. Vincent Coppenolle (Templeuve United) - 5
7. Geert Leys (SC Flanders) - 5
8. Frank Lannoy (SC Temploux) - 4
9. Albert Feyens (SC Flanders) - 3
10. Steven De Greveleer (SC Flanders) - 0

A first trophy for Sofoklis Mougis

The 5th leg of the Cyprus U15 circuit took place this sunday in Limassol with a good field of 9 entries. After the two recent wins of Kyriakos Stylianou, there were some other names in the final. Sofoklis Mougis (Erimi Limassol) won his first tournament after being in the last 4 in the first four events of the season. Mougis was on fire, defeating Marios Themistokleous in the semi (1-0) and Marinos Mitellas in the final (4-0). Constantinos Paraskevas was the other semi-finalist. Hereunder some other pictures of the day (credit to Mr Zangylos for the pictures).

Report of December 2014 - Updated results file - Review of 2014

Hello everybody, first of all, happy new year to all the flickers around the world. I hope 2015 will give you the chance to achieve all your goals in your personal life but also in the Subbuteo world.

Here is the monthly results file of the WASPA circuit. I hope you will like it.

LINK TO THE FILE. CLICK HERE!

This month, despite 77 players attended a WASPA tournament for the first time, we don't have a real increase in the number of ranked players because we had some huge tournament in December 2012 but many of the players of that time haven't played in the WASPA since then and therefore they have been removed of the ranking. We are happy to be now up at 1469 players from 38 different nations.

December was also a very good month because we had the first tournament in Japan after three years, the first tournament of the season in Malta, the second tournament in France and some good numbers from some nations with 2 events in the US, 3 in Australia, 3 in Belgium, 3 in Cyprus, 3 in South Africa (in 3 different cities) and 4 in England (in 4 different cities). We were also happy to see tournaments in Italy in Firenze and Catanzaro but the big question for the future is to know how to attract more subbuteo clubs in Italy. Italy is the power of table football with more than 100 clubs and it remains small in the WASPA circuit, which is very sad. The last important point for December 2014 is that besides 22 regional tournaments, 5 "promotional" tournaments have been played, which is also positive.

Of the first 4 months of the season, we can be very positive because 22 nations have already organized WASPA events and the 93 tournaments have attracted 541 different players. Hopefully we can continue to grow in 2015.

We can also remember positive things about the year 2014. More than 230 "regional tournaments" have been played. New nations have joined and we are glad that subbuteo is taking off in Malaysia and Indonesia. WASPA tournaments have also been held for the first time in France, Hungary, Switzerland and Austria. WASPA is having a major role in nations such as Australia, Scotland, South Africa, Cyprus, Singapore and the US and we are very happy about it. The hopes for 2015 is to have more presence in the different nations of Southern Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Greece) and to get tournaments in new nations such as Norway, Israël, Czech Republic, Brazil and Argentina, maybe also a come-back in Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, FInland) and Canada.

WASPA is trying to become stronger but we will need ideas of everyone to keep on growing.

We are very happy to work together in a very positive way with FISTF. Thanks a million times to Mr Alan Collins, the FISTF President, who has understood that WASPA and FISTF are not rival associations and that both bodies should work together for the good of the game.

Keep in mind for any request about the WASPA circuit and for sending results, you must use the following e-mail address: vincent.cop@rsca.com

Please check the blog as often as possible as it is updated almost every day.

The FISTF website is http://www.fistf.com

Have a great week-end,

Vincent Coppenolle and the WASPA Board

Some images of the month

Action of the U15 circuit in Cyprus

Templeuve national tournament: the club was celebrating its 25th birthday

Action in Singapore with Anas Rahamat's first victory

A big show in Johannesburg, South Africa

Good fun in Puylaurens, France

The Holiday Silver finalists in maryland

WASPA is back in Japan

Tournament in Augusta, Georgia (USA)

Kent Invicta TFC had a good event last week-end

First WASPA tournament in Japan

16 players attended the first WASPA tournament held in Japan on December 31. It wasa great tournament with 12 players who are now competing for less than one year. The tournament was played in Swiss system with finals for the placings. Takafumi Kido (Shonan OSC) defeated Karibu Miwa (Yokohama OSC) 1-0 to claim the title. Kenzo Koi was the organizer of the event but he was not playing to pass his experience to the beginners. Congratulations to all and welcome to Japan in the WASPA family!

Happy new year

Andrea Pagano wins the New year tournament

There was a Subbuteo "New year" tournament in Catanzaro, Italy on December 30 with a turnout of six players competing in Swiss system of three sessions. Andrea pagano won his three games and therefore won the tournament while the rest of the final table was as follows: Ugo Custo, Vittorio Giummo, Giuseppe Gesualdo, Florestano Girolami and Sandro Vasapollo. It was good to have CS Catanzaro in action again under WASPA banner and we hope to see more flicking action from many different clubs in Italy in 2015.