Sotiris Korologos wins Roy of the Rovers WASPA Cup

The 1st "Roy of the Rovers WASPA Cup" took place on May 11 in Athens and 16 players were taking part.

Before the tournament there was an introduction to the world of the comics hero by Manos Kassotakis from the Roy of the Rovers Greek Fans forum.

Afterwards the players following teams from the heros championship played till the final.

The winner was Sotiris Korologos with "Deans Park" as he defeated Giannis Mpougiouris with "Melchester Rovers".

Congratulations to all for a very special event.

Simon Stewart wins Bealtaine Cup

In Northern Ireland, Derry City TFC had a turnout of 7 for this years Bealtaine Cup. A league format was played, which saw Simon Stewart top the table for the title 6 wins out of 6. Martinog Bradley came in runner-up with a goal difference lead over Mark McCrossan.

Final standings

Position - Team - Goals - Difference - Points
1. Simon Stewart - 15:2 - 13 - 18
2. Martinog Bradley - 14:3 - 11 - 13
3. Mark Mc Crossan - 11:3 - 8 - 13
4. Craig Stewart - 4:8 - -4 - 7
5. Brendan Rodgers - 4:10 - -6 - 7
6. Lawrence Watson - 1:9 - -8 - 1
7. Paul Boyle - 3:17 - -14 - 1

May 2019: news from around the world

Here is a quick look at results of several tournaments held in May.

Cranston and Haefke winners in Michigan

Daniel Cranston vs Bryan Arnold

Earlier this month the "Flicko de Mayo" in East Lansing, MI tournament was another success with competitors travelling from several US States to play for FISTF ranking points. Besides the main event, two small tournament were played under WASPA tournament. The Friday event consisted in a group of three where Daniel Cranston from Maryland was the best to claim the WASPA Gideon Smith Cup. Peter Alegi was runner-up while Bryan Arnold took the third place.

Tim Tumminaro vs Eric Walton

On Saturday Erik Haefke defeated Eric Walton in the final of the WASPA consolation tournament. Tim Tumminaro and Paul Pate were also taking part.

The Perth club is still alive
We received some late results from Perth, Australia where three tournament from the last few months had not been recorded yet. The February tournament had a good field of six. After the roud robin, Tan Yew Loy defeated Alan Kimber in the final. In March, Tan Yew Loy finished on top of the table after home and away fixtures. Chris Thorn was runner-up, Hugh Best was thrid and Ron Byrne was fourth. In April, only four players were taking part and Tan Kok Wee from Singapore was not only the special guest of the day but also the winner of the tournament after defeating Tan Yew Loy in the final.

Promotional tournament for Michaël Ponthieux

Michaël Ponthieux receiving his prize from Wamme president Jean Grosdent

In Bande, Belgium, after the "Cup of Province of Luxemburg", a WASPA promotional tournament was played with Michaël Ponthieux finishing on top of a group of four to claim the title. Daniel Boistelle, Philippe Thys and Lulani Verhoeven were also taking part.

Simon Stewart wins Sporting 18 tournament

Players at the Sporting 18 tournament

In Northern Ireland, Simon Stewart took the honours at the Sporting 18 'May Day Cup', but the day was really about introducing two new club members to the game. Dana Stitt looked like she could have a real natural ability for the game as she finished 2nd, beating fellow debutant Claire Sweet with a flowing attack from kick-off and then pipping club legend Lochlin Bradley thanks to a last minute equaliser.

After a break the four played off in the 'May Day Shoot-Out Penalty Cup', a simple shoot-out competition across the shooting line. Claire took that title with three straight wins with Dana finishing second. Stewart and Bradley were left to slug it out for the wooden with Stewart edging it thanks to a 2-2 draw.

A great afternoon was had by all, Dana has taken temporary possession of Simon's pitch and a few teams and we're hoping to get another round of flicks in soon.

Chris Kaberry wins WASPA Cup in Ponteland

Stephen, Dave, Nick, Chris

The first WASPA Cup mini tournament of 2019 under the North Shields STF banner was held in Ponteland last night 26th May.

Two hard fought semi finals with new boy Nick Pearson flicking-off his first competitive game in 30 odd years with a win. The goal coming 2 minutes from time. Chris got lucky in game two when he was able to shoot into an empty net after a keeping error. On form Dave took his equalizer well and then defended stubbornly to take the game to a shoot out. Chris edged it 2-0.

The 3/4 and final were a little one sided with Stephen not having his best night and Nick struggling to keep pace with Chris. However, he took his goal well and it shouldn't be too before he's competing with the best of us up here in the North East of England. Well done lads!

Abagnale winner in Angri
Finally, in Angri (Italy), the club of Castello Doria CT held a good day of table football with six players taking part. Gianpaolo Abagnale defeated Francesco de Angelis (5-3) to win the title. This was the club's second tournament with hopefully many more to come.

Kent Invicta back in action

After a 6 month break, the Kent Subbuteo League returned with a 6 player session with no surprises in the outcome with Kye victorious in an unbeaten 5 game run. There were some fantastic play through the evening resulting in super goals and also good situations that deserved some goals, in particular from Louis who despite coming 5th actually dominated much of the play in his games but was desperately out of luck in front of goal. Rob scored arguably the goal of the night with a screamer against Terry and although the latter was on top into the last round, Kye stepped up a gear, as usual in the last game to convincingly go top of the table at the end of the night.

All players KIV. All Veterans apart from Kye & Louis both U19’s

Results:-

Round 1:
Kye 2-0 Paul
Louis 0-0 Rob
Terry 3-0 Mel

Round 2:
Kye 1-0 Mel
Terry 1-0 Louis
Paul 1-1 Rob

Round 3:
Mel 2-2 Paul
Terry 3-1 Rob
Kye 0-0 Louis

Round 4:
Kye 1-0 Rob
Mel 1-0 Louis
Terry 1-1 Paul

Round 5:
Kye 4-1 Terry
Rob 3-3 Mel
Louis 0-0 Paul

Table:
1. Kye Arnold +7 13pts
2. Terry Arnold +3 10pts
3. Mel Stanford -3 5pts
4. Paul Frank -2 4pts
5. Louis Singh -2 3pts
6. Rob McCormick -3 3pts

Action in Wales: results from Drury and Knighton

Players at the London Road tournament

The final between Brian Daley and Richard Stock

Several tournaments have recently been held in Wales. The London Road club had a great regional tournament last Sunday with a good fuield of 8 players. Brian Daley defeated Richard Stock in sudden death to win the final. Mark Tilling and Danny Bird made it to the semi-finals while Ruby Matthews defeated her father Cayne to win the plate final.

In Knighton, the 8th and 9th regional tournaments of the season had many good games. The first tournament was won by danny Bird who finished on top of a group of 5 while Tom Taylor was runner-up. Rory Gittoes, Matt Booth and Kenny Evans were also taking part. On week later, the same five players were joined by Dan Nicholls. Danny Bird claimed the honors once again but Dan Nicholls was runner-up.

Finally last week and promotional tournament was played in Knighton with this time Tom Taylor finishing on top of a group of four.

Congratulations to all the players and to the organizers for their great work.

A new project in Greece

From times to times we are happy to see new project to attract new players. We have been informed that our firned Christos Kotrotsos, member of the Roligans club in Greece, decided to start a table football project in the Tavros professional & technical school where he's a teacher.

The school organised for the first time a club for indoor sports like table football and table tennis. The name of the amateur club is Tavros Technical School Indoor Sports Club and the emblem is the "bull" and the school logo. The club is going to organise tournaments through the year.

The first table soccer tournament took place on Monday with 15 players in 5 groups of three, celebrating the end of the school year, a few days before the examinations period.

At the table soccer tournament the winner of open category was Christos Kotrotsos and the winner of U-19/students and finalist was Hodo Angelos. Semi-finalists were Simopoulos Giorgos and Islami Hermes.

Good luck to Christos and his students for the new project!

Hermann Kruse wins the 20th AGFA Cup

Hermann Kruse won a sensational 20th AGFA Cup, his first major event, and quite possibly his last in Australia as he and his family prepare to return to Germany.

Hermann won a tense final against Northern Falcons teammate Eliot Kennedy 1-0 at the end of a fantastic day with 17 participants from all four Sydney clubs.

He was presented with the AGFA Cup by Willoughby Councillor Brendon Zhu, who was largely responsible for getting the Northern Falcons into the Willoughby Park Bowling Club as our new home. We should also thank Willoughby Park President Roger Womersley and Manager Marcus Creais for their ongoing support.

Hermann was also presented with a special commemorative plaque celebrating our late brother Harley Ullrich by Harley's sister Zoe, in the presence of Harley's family. The plaque was made by Kevin Grant and will be a permanent reminder to Hermann, Oli, Hermine, Hagen and Claudia of their links with the Northern Falcons family in Australia.

The day was a celebration of all that is good with our game: a great tournament, great spirit, a fantastic BBQ, celebrations with friends and family, and some poignant reminders of our past.

As is customary with the AGFA, it was an open draw (not seeded), which threw up some challenging groups.

Additionally, the lightning 15-minute matches, and re-starts from a goalflick, not a flick-off, allowed for consistent action.

In group 1, the match between Johnny Ball and Steve Dettre was a rematch of the very first AGFA Cup final in 1977, with Steve coming out on top 2-0. There were a few twists and turns in the group, with Adrian beating Steve, then in the final matches it was the stubborn resistance from Johhny Ball that was Adrian's undoing as he went out on goal difference.

The surprise in group 2 was Neil's second place after a 2-0 win over Catherine and a 0-0 draw with John, while Tony claimed top spot.

In group 3, Jonty surprised Adrian Grunbach with a 1-0 win, while Torben held Oli 0-0, then drew with Jonty to give himself a good chance of qualifying, but fell 4-0 to Adrian as they both went out.
Group 4 was the five player 'Group of death', which started explosively as Raffael beat Eliot 4-1, before Paul Magee beat Jeremy Simpson. Fabrizio Coco and Raff played out a typical derby 0-0, then Fab had the second of his 3 0-0 draws against Paul. In the last match, Eliot held on to edge out Fab into second place.

The quarterfinals were played before a growing crowd at the Willoughby Park club, as patrons and visitors became absorbed in the action.

Herman despatched Jonty 2-0, while Raff was in devastating form to beat Neil 5-0, and Eliot overcame Tony 2-0, before it took a dramatic shootout for Oli to beat Steve 4-3.
The semis were equally tight, with both finishing 1-0, before the dramatic final.

A final thanks to Zoe and the Ullrich family for attending the whole afternoon and especially for running the BBQ.

Made it a truly special day and added to the sense of community within our table football family.

(Report by Steve Dettre)

Exciting Challenge Cup event in Pretoria

Saturday 18 May 2019, Pretoria, South Africa :
The "usual suspects" gathered for the 2019 edition of the Pretoria Challenge Cup whereby 6 players battled it out for the 2019 title. As compared to last month's low scoring event - we actually witnessed about a 67% increase in the number of goals scored this time round! A very exciting event unfolded - from start to finish, and in the opening round we saw 2018 Challenge Cup defending champion Bevin Reed dispatch of Kegan vd Merwe by 1-0, whilst Jayden vd Merwe set the early pace with a 3-0 win over Gary Downs. A 1-0 win for Julian vd Merwe over Conway Julie meant that Julian would occupy 3rd place at the end of Round 1 matches.
It was actually Julian who consistently managed to occupy 3rd spot most of the day - but both Kegan and Conway were hot on his heels all day long!
When Kegan beat Gary by 2-0 in Round 4, and against all odds Conway frustrated Bevin (yet again) to a 0-0 draw - these 2 players (Kegan and Conway) appeared favourite for 3rd place, especially after Julian suffered back to back losses (2-1 to Bevin in Round 3 and then 1-0 to Jayden in Round 4).
In Round 5, the battle for 3rd place intensified - firstly, Conway had to come from behind to secure a 1-1 draw against Kegan. Julian then capitalised on two defensive errors by Gary to take a 2-0 lead, before Gary pulled one back to hand Julian a 2-1 win to clinch 3rd place overall!
As fate would have it, the final match saw the top 2 players (Jayden & Bevin) play the title decider - Bevin needed a win to hold onto his Challenge Cup title, whereas a draw would be enough for Jayden to wrestle the title from Bevin!
Before the match, Bevin openly disclosed what his approach would be : score first and then defend for all his worth! Bevin did exactly what he predicted - taking the lead after 4 minutes of play and then went ultra defensive. Jayden then played a cautious match - not over committing as he would open himself to a counter attack from Bevin that would put the match truly out of his reach! Jayden's patient approach was rewarded as he found an opening to fire in the equaliser with 30 seconds left to play!
The draw confirmed Jayden as 2019 PFC Challenge Cup winner - an unfortunate and "cruel" way for Bevin to surrender his 2018 Challenge Cup title!
This triumph marks Jayden's 21st WASPA title to date!

Individual acknowledgements on the day :
"Goal Blitz" : Jayden vd Merwe ended the day as the top scorer
"Player of the Day" : Julian vd Merwe for consistently maintaining 3rd place all day
"Moment of the Day" : Conway Julie for holding BOTH Jayden and Bevin to a 0-0 scoreline
"Pressure Pot" : Bevin Reed, constantly under pressure to maintain his 2018 Challenge Cup title and actually fighting back through the rounds, only to concede an equaliser to Jayden in the last 30 seconds of the last match of the 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://www.facebook.com/pages/PFC-SA/519566284755728

(report by Julian vd Merwe)

A fantastic tournament in Wolverhampton

Great news from the UK, where players from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all came together for a fantastic full weekend of Subbuteo in Wolverhampton.

Open final between Malcolm Lees and Brian daley (Rudi Peterschinigg as refereee)

Saturday saw the 3rd Roy Holden Trophy in honour of the man who ran the original Wolverhampton club back in the 80's and 90's.  The individuals event saw 31 players battle it out, with Glasgow TFC's Malcolm Lees the eventual winner over London Road TFC's Brian Daley.  Glasgow TFC's Tom Burns took 3rd place.

Game for third place between Tom Burns and Mick Hammonds (Justin Scott is the referee)

The plate event was won by Dave Gladman also from Glasgow TFC.  Ruby Matthews of London Rd took the Junior Trophy with stunning results all weekend.  Gage Badger won the Roy Holden Fair Play award.

Plate final: Neil Doherty - Richard Badger (ref) - Dave Gladman

Sunday's play was the 3rd Inter Club Cup, created by London Road, Glasgow TFC, Derry TFC and Wolves TFC.  This year also featuring Lincoln Flickers TFC by invitation and several B teams.  All 7 teams played each other in league format.

London Road TFC won the team event

Despite Glasgow's dominance on Saturday, it was a 3 way battle for supremacy which London Road TFC won.  Glasgow took second with Wolverhampton TFC level on points in 3rd (decided on games won).  Lincoln Flickers first event saw them finish 4th.

The whole weekend was played in tremendous spirit at a wonderful venue.  Both events continue to grow, as does the rapport between the clubs, and are sure to return again next year.

Jos Ceulemans winner in the Flanders

The latest tournament of SC Flanders had many close games but Jos Ceulemans was the final winner of the evening with 10 points in four games. Geert Leys was runner-up and Frank Lannoy took the third place. Stéphane Lambert, Johan Lourdon and Danny De Greef were also taking part!