The George Best trophy for Alberto Gagliardi

The 6th edition of the "Trofeo Subbuteo George Best" took place on Saturday in Tolentino (Italy) and was organized by the club of Macerata. This tournament played with the old rules had a good turnout of 15 players with a majority of players from the home clubs but also representatives from Giulianova and Ancona. After the group stage played in three groups of five, the tournament was decided in knock-out games. Alberto Gagliardi (Macerata) defeated clubmate Mario Marcolini to win the title. Adriano Iobbi (Giulianova) and Alessandro Battistoni (Ancona) reached the semi-finals.

Number 3 for Suguru Fujino

On Saturday six players met in Sakura Living, Yokohama City to play the tournament organized by the club of Sakuragicho TFC. Suguru Fujino (Sakuragicho TFC) won this tournament after extra-time in the final game. Taichi Kato (Yokohama OSC) lost the final and was therefore runner-up!
the next WASPA tournament in Japan will be hosted by OSC Yamato and will be held on July 29.
Thanks to Hideaki Wada for sending regular reports of the activity of the game in Japan.

WASPA standings of June 2017

Dear Subbuteo friends, you will find in the attached file the monthly rankings of June 2017. Sorry for publishing less info in the last 2 weeks but it has been a busy time at work and some other recent happenings didn't help to do all I had to do for Subbuteo and WASPA.

The link to see the rankings

I have attached the Excel file with the main rankings and statistics. The Golden Book should be available from the WASPA blog in a couple of days.

More than 1000 different players have attended WASPA tournaments since the beginning of the season so we can very proud of what has been achieved. We had a bit less tournaments than last month but we still had:
- 21 regional tournaments
- 2 tournaments with old rules
- 2 tournaments with advanced rules
- 1 national cup
- 1 test match.

Great turnout of 18 for the event of the Flaming Flickers

Welcome to the 5 new organizers: Northern Phoenix (Australia), SC Seraing (Belgium), NoVa Union SC (USA), Subaleague International and South Staffs TSC (England).

Huge thanks to our Czech friends for running their second national cup under WASPA banner.
The tournaments with advanced rules were a success with 27 and 20 players taking part (!)
Northern Ireland held a tournament with the old rule sin Derry City with 10 players.
Australia and Belgium still had 5 different events this month, which is impressive.

Subbuteo in Virginia, USA

A quick look at the ranking of nations tells us Australia and Cyprus gain one place in the top 10 while Czech Republic gains 8 places! Unfortunately Brazil is down to the bottom of the table with just one player left.

Top clubs: nothing special to say but we still try to compile ideas to make it a more exciting ranking, maybe with 2 or 3 divisions. All ideas are welcome.

Great turnout of 27 in Cheshire

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

Keep an eye on the WASPA blog at http://waspa-circuit.blogspot.com as there are updates almost every day.
The FISTF website can be found here: http://www.fistf.com

Regular events are organized in Yokohama, Japan

WASPA is also looking for 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

Ideas to develop the WASPA circuit or to make things more attractive are always welcome. We stay at your disposal for more info.

Well, have a great summer (and if you're in the South, have a great Winter) and keep on flicking!

Yours sincerely,
Vincent Coppenolle (vincent.cop@rsca.com)

Alekos Apatzis wins in Kallithea

The 24th WASPA tournament of the Flaming Flickers SC took place on Saturday, June 17 at "X77" in Kallithea. 18 local players had a great time using modern equipment and FISTF rules. The winner was Alekos Apatzis after a close final against Costas Meleas. Giorgos Karavas took the third place. Congratulations to the winner and thanks to all the participants for a great tournament in the WASPA spirit.

Michaël Dupret wins in Templeuve

11 players attended the recent tournament held in Templeuve. This time Geoffrey Marain could not make it to work commitments so the fight for the title of the evening was very open. Two players ended with 10 points but Michaël Dupret won the event thanks to a better goal-difference. Steffen Despretz is runner-up. Congratulations also to Frédéric Cyganek for playing his first tournament ever.

Standings of the evening (all Belgians unless noted)
1. Michaël Dupret (Magic Team Tournai)
2. Steffen Despretz (AS Hennuyer)
3. Corentin Boltz (SC Eugies)
4. Matthias Averlant (Templeuve)
5. Vincent Coppenolle (Templeuve)
6. Eric Caillaux (FRA/Templeuve)
7. Frédéric Cyganek (AS Hennuyer)
8. André Boltz (SC Eugies)
9. Franck Santer (FRA/Templeuve)
10. Laurent Calonne (AS Hennuyer)
11. Jérôme Cyganek (SC Eugies)

Julian vd Merwe wins the 2017 League 1 Cup

Saturday 24 June 2017, Pretoria, South Africa:
The event started in explosive fashion when Chessray beat 2016 defending champion Bevin by an emphatic 3-0. Jayden's bad form continued as he suffered a 1-0 first round loss to an in form Kegan. In the match Conway v Neilon, it was Conway who dominated the possession stakes, but Neilon snuck the winner on full time - with his first and only chance in the match : a real sucker punch for Conway! Julian then dispatched of Osvaldo by 2-0 to join Chessray at the top of the standings after Round 1 play.
In Round 2, Julian had to rely on a counter attack move on the right flank to press the equaliser against a rampant Chessray to draw the match 1-1. Kegan then moved to the top of the standings, thanks to a 1-0 victory Neilon. Jayden moved into the top 4 with a 2-0 victory over Osvaldo and Bevin salvaged some pride with a 2-0 victory over Conway!
Chessray & Julian then moved back into pole position after 1-0 victories in their respective Round 3 encounters. Kegan surrendered the top spot after a 0-0 draw against Conway, whilst Bevin & Jayden also produced a 0-0 stalemate.
In Round 4, Julian went top for the first time on the day after producing a 2-0 win over Conway. Then, newcomer to the PFC circuit, Osvaldo scored his first ever goals and registered his first ever win by way of a 2-0 victory over Neilon! Jayden then held the much fancied Chessray to a 0-0 draw - a game where Chessray was unlucky to hit the post after beating Jayden's 'keeper, but the draw was enough to hand Julian the honours of 2017 PFC League 1 Cup Champion!
In the final match, Kegan secured 2nd place overall by way of a convincing 3-1 victory over Bevin - actually Kegan fell short of securing the title by 1 goal! That's how tight and exciting the competition proved to be all day!

As always, a big thank you to all who attended to make the day a great success.

The PFC website & facebook page will be updated shortly with photo's & news content at :
http://pfctest.leaguerepublic.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PFC-SA/519566284755728

(report by Julian vd Merwe)

Christophe Dheur wins in Verviers

On June 16 the club of Verviers-Herve was hosting a WASPA tournament in their premises. Christophe Dheur (Charleroi) defeated local player Philippe Roufosse (4-1) in the final.

Kevin Beckers (JSC Rochefort) and Jean-Michel Cuenca (Verviers-Herve) made it to the semis. 11 players were present. Thanks to everyone for making things possible!

Western Flickers tournament - The Nostalgia Round

A concept that has been long discussed amongst local Melbourne flickers finally took place over the weekend – the first ever Nostalgia Round!

The Nostalgia round is essentially a WASPA event conducted with modern FISTF rules but with a small exception – all players MUST use retro old school 80s Subbuteo figures! It is a Western Flickers tribute to the golden years of Subbuteo when the games popularity was arguably at its peak.
The event piqued the interest of many local players especially those who played back in the day as kids. Taking out the old teams from storage and dusting them off, there was a great turnout of 9 Open players – including MTFC players Luke Radziminski and Beth Eveleigh – and 5 junior flickers.

With the top ranked WASPA players – Benny Ng, Adam Deverell and Luke Radziminski – struggling to reach the same quality of their normal game with the old wobbly figures, the opportunity was ripe for the rest of the field to take advantage. It was to be a test to see which player could transition their game best from modern flat bases to the old Subbuteo teams.

David Simpson took full advantage of his experience with the old teams to take out the title, finishing the day undefeated and beating pre-tournament favourite Benny along the way. This was his first WASPA win in almost 2 years.

Simon Briffa was the surprise package of the day. He only got into the game recently and has improved with each tournament. On this day, he played extremely well and also finished without a loss as well. However, Simon just lost out to David due to one too many draws.

In the Junior category, there were a lot less surprises with the results aligned with the WASPA rankings. The kids adapted surprisingly well to the old teams. So much that it looked like they have been playing with old figures for years! In the end, Australian and Victorian junior champion Benjamin Ng took out the honours again, followed closely by the Briffa brothers.

 
Results aside, it was really a day of reminiscing and the atmosphere was jovial and relaxed. The participant enjoyed the trip down memory lane thoroughly and had loads of fun - which on a day like this, is what really matters. The Nostalgia Round has turned out to be such a great success and everyone agreed that it should be a permanent addition to the Western Flickers annual events calendar!
Thanks to all who attended for helping to make it another memorable Western Flickers WASPA event. GO WEST !!

The final tournament standings are:

Open Category
1. David Simpson
2. Simon Briffa
3. Benny Ng
4. Luke Radziminski
5. Adrian Connolly
6. Kevin Grant
7. Adam Deverell
8. Beth Eveleigh
9. Chris Hirst

Junior Category
1. Benjamin Ng
2. Harrison Briffa
3. Alex Briffa
4. Charlie Hannington
5. Aidan Deverell

P.S. If anyone is interested in taking part in future Western Flickers events or just popping by for chat and look-see, please visit the Western Flickers Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WesternFlickers/) and send us a message.

Hideaki Wada wins in Yokohama

Last Saturday the club of OSC Yamato was hosting a WASPA tourament in thir premises of Sakura Living in Yokohama city, Japan. The tournament attracted 6 players. Hideaki Wada (OSC Yamato) defeated Suguru Fujino (Sakuragicho TFC) in the final (1-0). Takafumi Tokita and Eiko Yoneda made it to the semi-finals.

Sakura Living is located near the famous sightseeing spots "Minato Mirai" in  Yokohama City. We can see the Landmark Tower from Sakura Living (second picture, left-side highest building).

(Report received from the organizers)

Massimo Conturso wins test-match

There was a WASPA test-match this Sunday in North Bergen, NJ where Andrea Gasparini met Massimo Conturso (Connecticut). Score were 3-0, 0-3 and 0-2 so Massimo won (1-2). Andrea also won a friendly game with old rules (1-0). Because of his job, Andrea will soon move back to Italy but will be back in the US from times to times. "So more than a goodbye, yesterday was an Arrivederci", said Massimo.