Western Flickers TFC Present the Victorian Championships 2018

The Victorian Championships returned for its 2018 version with The Ngs, Benny and Benjamin, looking to retain their Open and Junior titles. They were joined by 9 other Open players and 7 other juniors making 18 players in total at the Coburg Athletics Track clubrooms.

The Open players were split into 3 groups. Group A comprised defending champion Benny Ng, Kevin Grant and Anthony Madiona from Western Flickers. With Benny defeating both players, it was left to the other two gentlemen to provide the game of the tournament. Anthony swiftly took a 3 nil lead, but true to the form of the Liverpool team he plays with, he choked and by half time Kevin had pulled back 2 goals. The 2nd half promised so much and delivered a tighter contest with neither player able to add to their first half tally. Thus Benny advanced to the semi finals and Anthony to the Barrage, with Kevin going to the Plate.

Group B comprised Luke Radziminski from Melbourne TFC, Christos Garagounis from Northern Phoenix and Arjuna Hanafi from Western Flickers. As with Group A, Luke won his 2 games advancing to the semi finals. Arjuna and Christos battled for 2nd place in the group and another tense battle ensued. However, neither player could break the others defence down and a 0-0 result meant that Christos advanced to the Barrage based on his 1-0 loss to Luke.

Group C was a 4 person group with seeded Simon Briffa, Steve Wright and new lady Juliette Littlewood from Western Flickers and Beth Eveleigh from Northern Phoenix. 6 games, 6 results, 4 by the narrow 1-0 score line.  At the end of the group Simon and Steve progressed with Simon topping the group courtesy of a 1-0 win over Steve. Beth finished 3rd and Juliette in only her 2nd tournament performed admirably with some really close games.

The Barrage round was set with Simon against Anthony and Christos against Steve. Simon cruised to a 2 nil victory, while Christos and Steve played a tense 0-0 draw that could not be settled after a further period of extra time.  A controversial shot shootout ensued which Steve eventually won 2-0.

The competition moved into semi finals. Luke outclassed Simon 4-0. Steve took a 2-1 half time lead but could not hold on in the second and Benny came from behind for a 3-2 win.

The final was another tight affair, with both Luke and Benny having their chances. However, Benny managed to take 2 of his and ran out as a 2-0 winner and secure his 2nd consecutive Victorian Championship.

The 8 junior players were split into 2 groups of 4. In group A, Benjamin secured 3 wins to top the group without conceding a goal. Billy started with a 2 nil win over Liam and a 2 nil loss to Benjamin. With Liam defeating Jayden 1 – 0, it left Billy needing a point with Jayden to secure advancing to the semi finals and he achieved that with a dramatic goal. Newcomer Liam secured his first win in a WASPA and played well in his other games.

In Group B, The Briffa brothers once again met in the qualifying rounds and they played out a 1 – 1 draw. With Charlotte losing to Alex 1-0 and both players defeating Crystal, it left Alex qualified and Charlotte needing to beat Harrison to advance to the semi final. Despite a tense game, she was unable to break the deadlock and Harrison advanced. Crystal managed goals against her two brothers and played really well and is developing her game.

Semi finals matched Alex and Billy and Benjamin and Harrison and both group winners eased through 2-0. The final was another tense affair with many chances but no opportunities taken. A 0-0 result meant that the game went to sudden death extra time, first goal wins, and after about 2 minutes, Benjamin managed to craft himself an opening and take the game with a 1-0 win.

So both father and son Ng managed to defend their Victorian Championships in 2018 and we await another exciting chapter next year.

I must thank the following for their assistance in running the championships; Kevin for his tireless efforts with boards and Tony for bringing mini-Anfield; Arjuna and Kevin for the interval BBQ; Simon for getting the trophies and Adrian for organising the schedule. And thanks to the three Victorian clubs for being represented and making the Championships a success.

Subbuteo Parramatta Autumn Junior WASPA Tournament Report

It has been exactly one year since Good Games Bella Vista played host to Subbuteo Parramatta for the first time. Before the store was even officially opened, it enthusiastically let the club hold a Junior WASPA tournament during the April school holidays. And, so, one year on, the Junior players were back for an anniversary tournament. With 8 players in attendance, the tournament was the largest Juniors only tournament the club has held to date.

The Northern Falcons brought along a strong contingent to join some of the Subbuteo Parramatta regulars and a couple of new players. Oliver and Æowyn were the highest two ranked WASPA players and so took the seeded positions in each group. The other 6 were then drawn randomly into the two groups.

Round One saw Oliver battle his sister, Hermine, the far more experienced older brother taking the honours 3-0. Meanwhile, their club mate Jonas played brand new Subbuteo Parramatta player, Ethan, in his first ever tournament. Ethan put up an excellent showing, but Jonas pipped him 1-0. In Group 2, none of the four players could find the goal. The Elmer sisters hadn’t played since their outing in last September’s Sydney International Open and it was showing as relative newcomer, Angela, playing her second ever tournament, and youngster Moritz, were both able to hold them to scoreless draws.

The second round was a repeat performance in Group Two, with different player combinations. This time, Imojjen and Æowyn played out a scoreless draw, as did Moritz and Angela. In Group One, Hermine put in an excellent showing, also holding Jonas to a scoreless draw. Tournament favourite, Oliver, put 2 goals past Ethan, the result showing that Ethan was picking up the finer points of the game very quickly.

In the final round, Group One took its turn to go entirely without troubling the scorer as 2 very close games ended in 0-0 draws. Organisers were sweating over some results in Group Two, however, as further draws could have led to a 4-way shootout to determine group positions. In the end, however, both Moritz and Imojjen were able to slip goals past Æowyn and Angela respectively to make the table clear cut.

In the Semi Finals, Moritz played well against Oliver but Oliver’s finishing proved the difference with 4 unanswered goals. Meanwhile, Jonas managed a solitary goal against Imojjen to take his place in the Grand Final. The lower placed players also enjoyed consolation friendlies against each other, with all 4 tables in constant action.

In the 3rd/4th Place Play-off, Moritz and Imojjen played out another 0-0 draw, both agreeing their play had taken a turn for the worse as the day was fading. They were declared equal 3rd place getters. After their goalless draw during the group stage, the Grand Final between Oliver and Jonas was shaping up as yet another close affair. Midway through the first half, Oliver took a lead after dominating much of the play. However, Jonas took this as his cue to renew his efforts and began to carve out chances for himself. Over the course of the rest of the game, both players had a few chances to score but couldn’t dominate. In the end, the early goal proved to be the difference, with Oliver taking the title.

Many thanks again to Good Games Bella Vista for their hospitality, and to Hermann Kruse from the Northern Falcons for bussing the Junior Falcons across the extreme reaches of Sydney and refereeing at the tournament. Well done to all the players who all performed with the camaraderie and fair play that they have come to be known for.

(report by Adrian Elmer)

Second tournament win for Sandro Ceppi

On April 27 the 11th WASPA tournament in Trieste was played by 7 players divided into two groups. Furio Segnai won group A while Sandro Ceppi (DLF Gorizia) finished on top of group B. Ceppi later qualified for the final and met Gianfranco Grahonja for the tile. The Gorizia player won in extra time to claim his first WASPA title. Furio Segnani won the game for the third place against Gianluca Venturini.
Huge thanks to the club of trieste for their efforts of promotion. The next event will be played on May 25.

Bevin Reed retains the Founders Cup

Saturday 14 April 2018, Pretoria, South Africa
After a 2 month break, the second event on the 2018 Pretoria calendar saw 10 players battle it out for Founders Cup honours. Bevin Reed survived a day filled with upsets to lead the standings from start to finish - the triumph even made more special by a hard fought 1-0 victory in Round 4 over the much fancied Chessray Jooste.
Starting a new trend for this event, the following individual accomplishments were also acknowledged :
"Goal Blitz" : went to Bevin Reed ending the day as the top scorer.
"One to watch - Player of the Day" : went to Gary Downs with an impressive 2nd place overall, as he pushed Bevin all the way right up until the final match in Round 4, making Bevin work for his title!
"Tough as Nails" : went to Osvaldo van Niekerk who displayed great goalkeeping skills to shut out Jayden vd Merwe in their Round 3 encounter, and record a massive upset by beating Jayden by 1-0!
"Moment of the Day" : went to Imtiaz Ahmed for a well executed low & fierce shot in Round 2 to overcome Sherwin Reed by 1-0!

Another "Moment of the Day" candidate worth mentioning has to be the Round 1 result which saw Conway Julie upset Chessray Jooste by 1-0 : a result which obviously spurred Conway onto his way for an impressive 3rd place finish overall!
This triumph for Bevin Reed marks his 11th WASPA title to date, but equally important is his successful defence of his Founders Cup title to maintan the bragging rights for another year - it is also worth mentioning that no other player has won this cup more than once in the 6 editions that it has now been staged !

Finally, a special Thank You to Gary Downs for his generous donation of the mini plaques used to acknowledge the individual accomplishments on the day !

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

(report by Julian vd Merwe)

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

Western Flickers Promotional WASPA

Western Flickers Promotional WASPA
April 6, 2018 – The Good Games Experiment

Western Flickers TFC held a promotional WASPA on Friday 6 April 2018 at Good Games in Greensborough, located in the north eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Good Games are one of the official distributors for Subbuteo in Australia and the club decided to attempt to establish links to assist growing the game in Melbourne.

Six Open players and 7 juniors attended to play and thus the format decided was a Swiss System with each player playing 4 games. The games themselves were played over 1 x 10 minute period with draws being decided by a sudden death shot shootout. It is a fast action format that allows multiple games to be played where there are limited tables and was used successfully at the recent Illawarra Open WASPA warm up.

In the Open competition, the key result was a 1-0 win for Simon Briffa over Steve Wright which ultimately led Simon to his 3rd WASPA win. He won 3 of his 4 games and won the shootout in his 4th game. Steve won 3 games to finish 2nd. Arjuna Hanafi finished 3rd over Beth Eveleigh from Northern Phoenix TFC purely on the basis of scoring more goals in the competition, with both players winning one game, winning a shootout, losing a shootout and losing a game. Kevin Grant finished 5th and new girl Juliette Littlewood played her first WASPA tournament and played some great games with 3 narrow losses.

Open standings:
Simon Briffa 11
Steve Wright 9
Arjuna Hanafi 6
Beth Eveleigh 6
Kevin Grant 3
Juliette Littlewood 1

In the Junior competition, the same format of competition was utilised. The tournament was a high quality tournament which all competitors enjoyed immensely. Alex Briffa rolled into his 4th WASPA win with 3 wins and a shootout loss to Benjamin Ng who finished 2nd. Siblings Charlotte and Billy Wright finished level on points and separated only on goal difference despite Billy beating Charlotte in a shootout. New player Liam Browne was 5th with some creditable efforts against much more seasoned campaigners. Aiman Arjuna was 6th, resuming competition after a short break and he showed some real improvements in his game. Lastly, new player Sean Browne was 7th although he managed to take 2 experienced players to a shootout following a hard earned draw.

Juniors standings:
Alex Briffa 10
Benjamin Ng 9
Charlotte Wright 7
Billy Wright 7
Liam Browne 4
Aiman Arjuna 3
Sean Browne 2

(Report by Steve Wright)

Fernando Gomez wins again in Javea

Earlier this month the club of Marina Citerior was holding a tournament in their premises of Javea. there was a small turnout of six due to last minute droputs. Fernando Gomez and Pedro Benavent travelled from Valencia to play.

The group stage saw some surprises and the Valencia players easily qualified but also scored less goals against novices than against experienced players and contributed to see Alex Iliev and Stefka Pirova qualify for the semi-finals. In the end, there was no surprise.

Fernando Gomez won the final against Pedro Benavent.

Huge thanks to Marina Citerior Subbuteo Club for their efforts. Hopefully they will have some more new players joinging soon.

The first tournament in Saint-Petersburg

Russia made a real effort this Sunday to organize the first WASPA tournament in the country. The event was hosted by "Lakhta Subbuteo", a family and friends club. Unfortunately, for the first event, only three players were taking part but this is a real important way to see some more developments in the future. After all, we all need a beginning at some point. Evgenii Vlasov and Andrey Vlasov had previously attended several Subbuteo tournaments but for Vasilii Nikolaenko, this was a real "premiere". Andrey Vlasov finally won the tournament, Evgenii Vlasov being runner-up and Vasilii Nikolaenko took the third place.
Huge thanks to our friends in Russia for making this first tournament possible!

Results:
Evgenii Vlasov - Vasilii Nikolaenko - 2:0
Andrey Vlasov - Vasilii Nikolaenko - 4:0
Andrey Vlasov - Evgenii Vlasov - 1:0

A fresh new start for Farrer Park Flickers

0n 20th Apr 18, Friday club flicks began again after a month absence.  A fresh beginning with a new club name (Farrer Park Flickers) & venue (Pek Kio Community Club) attracted 6 senior club players.

A round of 4 format was adopted with several expected results occurring, where end of the rounds, Rudy came up tops followed by Nic Tan. Irregardless of the results, the players all had fun flicking.

Hope to see more players in the coming Friday’s.

4 Rounds (Results)
Rudy 2 - 0 Anas
Nic 1 - 0 Rizal T
Vikas 1 - 0 Fauzi
Rudy 0 - 0 Nic
Anas 3 - 0 Vikas
Fauzi 3 - 0 Rizal T
Nic 2 - 0 Rizal T
Fauzi 2 - 2 Anas
Rudy 4 - 0 Vikas
Rudy 2 - 0 Fauzi
Rizal 1 - 3 Anas
Vikas 1 - 1 Nic

Final Standing 
1- Rudy 10pts +8
2- Nic 8pts +3
3- Anas 7pts +3
4- Fauzi 4pts +2
5- Vikas 4pts -6
6- Rizal T 0pts -8

Lincoln Flickers Eostre Cup

WASPA event 4 - April 15, 2018
Andrew Garbutt claims a second win in the fourth Lincoln Flickers WASPA of the season against the tournament favourite Jez Boothman. The game finished goalless with an extra time hit and run the difference in the end. Andrew Garbutt had initially lost to Jez in the groups after another close contest. a An earlier goalless draw in the final deciding game against Andy Boyer was enough to see Andrew Garbutt to the final after Boyer had lost 0-3 to Jez who won all his games to the final.
The Eostre Cup (Easter Cup) is named after the pagan Spring Goddess in Anglo-Saxon. This fourth WASPA was played under Old Subbuteo rules with HW players and wibbly wobbly bases in the hope of encouraging some external players and to mix things up a bit. However, just four Flickers contested the Cup with two pulling out on the day. This leaves Andrew Garbutt in a strong position to clinch the Flickers WASPA league on 42 points with Andy Boyer and Jez Boothman both on 33 points. Newcomer Clint Simpson lost all his games today despite some accomplished play. His 7 points takes him equal sixth with John Devaney in the league standings.

The final

Results:
Andrew Garbutt 0 : 1 (0) Jeremy Boothman
Andy Boyer (1) 3 : 0 Clinton Simpson
Andy Boyer 0 : 3 (2) Jeremy Boothman
Andrew Garbutt (1) 2 : 0 Clinton Simpson
Andrew Garbutt 0 : 0 Andrew Boyer
Jeremy Boothman (2) 5 : 0 Clinton Simpson

Jeremy Boothman W3, 6 points (+9 gd)
Andrew Garbutt W1 D1, 3 points (+1 gd)
Andy Boyer W1 D1, 3 points ( - gd)
Clinton Simpson L3 (-10 gd)

Third Place Play-off:
Andy Boyer (1) 2 : 0 Clinton Simpson

Final:
Jeremy Boothman 0 : 1 Andrew Garbutt aet

Kye Arnold and Colin Tarry are winners in Kent

Action in the playing room

Kent Invicta recently held three tournaments under WASPA banner.

On March 9, Kye Arnold finished on top after defeating Nicky Chappell in the final. Kye, who is currently number 1 in the WASPA Junior ranking, was a in a good day and won the final on shots.

Final Standings:
1.  Kye Arnold
2. Nicky Chappell
3. Dave Collier
4. Terry Arnold
5. Paul Frank
6. Mel Stanford
7. Tony Whitelock

Adrian vs Kye

On March 16, there was another good field of 7 players. After the group stage, the were no surprises and Kye arnold defeated Terry Arnold in the final.

Dave vs Tony

Final Standings:
1. Kye Arnold
2. Terry Arnold
3. Paul Frank
4. Rob McCormick
5. Mel Stanford
6. Ian Galloway
7. Chris Galloway

The event run on April 6 had 10 players competing and saw Colin Tarry and Adrian Davies back in action. Tarry defeated Davies on shots in the final to offer the title to his club of TSPA White star.

Paul vs Colin

Final Standings:
1. Colin Tarry
2. Adrian Davies
3. Nicky Chappell
4. Kye Arnold
5. Josh Foreman
6. Terry Arnold
7. Dave Collier
8. Tony Whitelock
9. Rob McCormick
10. Paul Frank

The next tournament in Gillingham will be held on April 27.