A good evening of play at SC Flanders

Frank Lannoy, Geoffrey Marain and Jos Ceulemans

This monday evening 11 players met in Hofstade-Zemst for the monthly tournament of SC Flanders; This time only one French-speaking player made the trip to the Flemish club but Geoffrey Marain won the event after winning his four games. Jos Ceulemans was runner-up with 9 points while Frank Lannoy had 8. Johan Lourdon and Stéphane Lambert had 7 points. The ranking was continued as follows: 6. Eddy Beernaert (6), 7. Geert Leys (6), 8. Bert Feyens (6), 9. Danny De Greef (6), 10. Bart Van de Vliet (3), 11. Willy De Bandt (1).

Chris Thomas wins in Cardiff

Chris Thomas (left) and Colin Lewis

Last sunday the Cardiff Bluebirds club organized a tournament in Llanishen. Chris Thomas was the final winner, taking the honors after winning the final against Colin Lewis. David Lauder and Dave Samuel reached the semis while Gareth Thomas beat Darren Barnes in the Plate final.

Dave Pawsey wins the English national league

On November 14 and 15, the English Subbuteo Association ran a great week-end of subbuteo in Enderby. The winners were as follows:
Division 1 - Dave Pawsey
Division 2 - Martin Blanchard
Junior Division - Kye Arnold
Saturday Cup - Andy Boyer
Sunday League - Rob Ramsay

As decided with the organizers, the events also counted for the WASPA circuit. The Division 1 was a "regional" tournament, with the division 2 and the Junior section counted as B-events. The Saturday Cup and the Sunday League were promotional tournaments. Congratulations to the organizers and to the winners.

A few pictures of the tournament

Anas takes the honors in Singapore

Jurong Central Subbuteo Club (JCSC) League 2014/15 (Friday 27 November 2015) WASPA

It was the final league day for the JCSC League 2014/15. The results of this tournament would also be included in the SG ranking points. The JCSC league table leader, Rudy Hesty, decided to sit out for this WASPA tournament as he had a comfortable gap to the 2nd place competitor. Hence 14 club players competed in this Final League Day WASPA Tournament.

Group Stage
The players were split into 4 groups, with the top seeds (according to the SG Ranking table) assigned to each group. The rest of the players were drawn into their respective groups.
The draw resulted in a “group of death” in Group C, with competitive players, namely Fauzi, Rizal Taib and Vikas in the same group. The groupings are as follows:
Group A: Noor Haikal, Simon, Quan Feng
Group B: Anas, Yew Seng, Bolkiah
Group C: Vikas, Fauzi, Rizal Taib, Ding Heng
Group D: Nic, Amin, Dylan, Ah Liang

After the group round, the top seeds for each group (Haikal, Anas, Vikas and Nic) comfortably topped their respective groups by winning all their games.

The top 2 players from each group proceed to the quarter finals while the rest of the players would enter the Plate Payoffs.

Plate Playoffs
After a long knockout round, Group A 2nd runner-up, Quan Feng, met Group C 2nd runner-up, Rizal Taib in the plate final. With experience under his belt, Rizal managed to secure a convincing 3-0 win to win the plates.

Quarter Finals
QF 1: Haikal vs Fauzi
Haikal managed to score a sneaky long shot goal, and the score remained at 1-0 as Fauzi failed to overcome Haikal’s strong defence strategy after the first goal.
QF 2: Anas vs Amin
After several shots and relentless pressure from Anas towards Amin’s defence, Anas finally managed to sneak a goal past Amin’s goalkeeper to secure a 1-0 win.
QF 3: Vikas vs Simon
In a battle between two veterans, Vikas managed to secure a 2-1 win over his old rival, Simon, who just recently came back to playing Subbuteo again.
QF 4:  Nic vs Yew Seng
With his amazing shooting skills, Nic managed to secure a comfortable 4-0 win over Yew Seng.

Semi Finals
SF 1: Anas vs Haikal
In a battle between two youths, Anas managed to score 3 goals to secure a spot in the final.
SF 2: Vikas vs Nic
In what seemed like a closely fought match, Vikas managed to score the winning goal against Nic to secure a 2-1 win.

Final
Anas vs Vikas
Although Anas managed to score an early goal with his fast paced game play, he could not maintain the scoreline with Vikas’ fearsome long shots, with one of them finding the back of the net.
With the game tied at 1-1 at full time, sudden death penalty shootout followed. Anas managed to score a goal while saving Vikas’ shot, hence ending the game with Anas securing victory.

(Report by Anas)

Thorn and Kimber winners in Perth

Players from left to right; Alan Kimber, Chris Thorn, Ross McNulty, John Harty

News has come through earlier this week at ATFA HQ that Perth Subbuteo has succesfully staged their 3rd and 4th WASPA tournaments respectively over the last two months.

Growing from an initial player base of just Chris Thorn and John Harty in 2014, the club has now expanded to four players with Ross McNulty and Alan Kimber joining the fray. We have also been told two more players are expected in the new year bringing the total up to 6.

In the meantime, the club has followed suit with fellow Australian clubs and has purchased their own club shirts (red and blue as seen in above photo).

Now to the tournaments. In September it was Chris Thorn who came out on top undefeated in his 6 games:
1. Chris THORN (16)
2. Alan KIMBER (10)
3. Ross McNULTY (5)
4. John HARTY (3)

And in October Alan Kimber took his first WASPA title, well done Alan!
1. Alan KIMBER (11)
2. Ross McNULTY (8)
3. Chris THORN (8)
4. John HARTY (6)

(Original report from http://subbuteoaustralia.com/?p=2048)

Jürgen Dreyer wins in Dachau

Last monday the first WASPA tournament of "Subbuteo Club München" took place in Dachau. The tournament was exclusively geared towards the needs of newcomers to our sport. So four players battled on Monday evening for the win. The established players of "Subbuteo Club München" were active as referees. The level of our players was very balanced. That increased for all participants the excitement and the fun.

At the end of the day, Jürgen Dreyer sat with 5 points and won his first WASPA tournament. Second place went to the absolute novice Jörg Lappöhn who surprised his opponent with exceptional feeling and strong shots. He managed to get 3 points. Third place went to our team's Manfred Guth, who also ended with three points. Unfortunately, he used his many shot opportunities not consistently. For him there would have been even more. Also an extraordinarily good performance delivered from Peter Seebach, with 2 draws and only one defeat scored 2 points and were referred only very scarce on the 4th Place.

In sum can be stated clearly that any player could win this tournament, since the power levels were nearly identical.

Noteworthy was for us as organizers that all involved players necessarily want unsubscribe again a tournament of this kind. We will seek a bigger tournament of its kind for our newcomers to organize.

The newcomer Peter and Jörg äussertensich that you would also like to visit our club evenings in Subbuteo Club München 2014 us. We would be happy about it very much.

(Translated from thre German - Report from SC München)

The 2015 Turkey Shoot for Peter Alegi

The 2015 Turkey Shoot, a Michigan subbuteo tradition, held on Sunday was the first hosted by the new Grand Rapids Table Soccer Club (http://grtsc.wordpress.com). The number of players was smaller than expected due to some last-minute withdrawals, but it was still a good Sunday of flicking. Many young soccer players watched the competition and tried Subbuteo for the first time on the demonstration table. Peter Alegi defeated Mike Ewer in the final while Paul Pate and Brian Lambert shared third place.

For full results go to: https://grtsc.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/2015-turkey-shoot-tournament/

Isaac Lim wins the Merlion Cup Plate event 2015

After rounds of exciting matches in the Preliminary Rounds of the Merlion Cup Open Event, players who were knocked out of their groups proceeded to play in the Plate Event, which amidst all the action in the Knockout Rounds, was equally exciting as the players competed for the consolation prize of Plate Champion.  The latter saw a total of 9 players, all who finished either 3rd or 4th in their respective Preliminary Groups participating in the event.

The players were then placed in 3 groups of 3 players each with Isaac, Ming Liang and Dylan in Group A; Quan Feng, Luke and Ding Heng in Group B; and Hashim, Yew Seng and Bolkiah forming Group C.  The players had to play group matches to determine who finishes top in each group and the best player to finish second among all groups.

In the Plate Semi-finals, the winner of Group A will then go on to face his counterpart in Group C whereas the winner of Group B will then face the best player to finish second.  The winners of each semi-final match will go head to head with each other in the Plate Final to compete for the title of Plate Champion.

Plate Preliminary Rounds:
The Plate Preliminary Rounds saw players putting in their best efforts to enter the semi-finals.  After a couple of group matches, Isaac, Quan Feng and Bolkiah went on to top Groups A, B and C respectively; while Luke ended up as the best player to finish second.  The above four players then progressed to play in the Plate Semi-finals.

Plate Semi-finals:

Semi-final 1 (Isaac vs Bolkiah):
The first match of the Plate Semi-finals was a face-off between the winner of Group A, Isaac and the winner of Group B, Bolkiah, both who secured top 4 spots in the Merlion Cup U19 Individual Category the previous day.  The match was rather tight with both players engaged in a battle of wits and accuracy to fight for a well-deserved spot in the final.  Despite the good fighting spirit that both players put up, Isaac managed to secure a 1-0 victory against Bolkiah to take the lead and earn a spot in the final.

Semi-final 2 (Quan Feng vs Luke):
Just like the preliminary match which saw Quan Feng beating Luke by a 2-1 scoreline, both players played against each other once more in the semi-finals.  This match was rather exciting as both sides had an equal amount of chances to score goals but could not capitalise on them, resulting in a goalless 0-0 draw and the game taken to a round of shots.  The result still remained the same after countless attempts to score from shots which saw the game being brought to sudden death where Luke managed to net in a goal to secure a spot as one of the two finalist.

Plate Final (Isaac vs Luke):
The day drew down to this match for all Plate Event participants.  It was a match that decided who will emerge victorious and be crowned Plate Champion and who would return from the competition as Plate Runner-up.  The Lim brothers, consisting of Luke and Isaac were to compete for the champion’s title in this very match which despite the ongoing Merlion Cup Open Final, was also a nail-biting affair of both skill and accuracy.

The match was literally an adrenaline rush for both players who were playing to their limits and not planning to show any signs of mercy to the opposing side.  However, despite the pressure both sides were putting in for their opponents, Isaac was more accurate with his touches and more clinical with his shots, thus allowing him to defeat Luke with a whopping 5-0 victory.  Congratulations, Isaac!!!

Once again, a big congratulations to all players who stayed on to play in the Plate Event despite their defeats in the Main Event.  We hope to see you in action once more at our next tournament!

(Report by Luke Lim and Isaac Lim.)

Second trophy for Pascal Droeven

The podium of the tournament!

Due to several circumstances, only four players attended the second tournament of Semois Subbuteo Club this sunday in Vresse, in the South of Belgium. Every player played seven games and in the end, Pascal Droeven took the honors, defeating Renaud Parisel in the final. Patrick Vanderlinden was third and Gregory Berte ended fourth.

A second tournament win for Rik Bland

Ajouter une légende

The 10th Brisbane Subbuteo Club Cup was a hotly contested affair in more ways than one. Played in steamy conditions of 34 degrees, the league was a very close run thing. Arch rivals Giuseppe and Rik were tied in the first round. It was Giuseppe who took the 3 points with a comfortable 5-2 win. In the second round, Gus managed his first ever competitive victory over Giuseppe, with a very tight 2-1 win. As the temperature increased so did the competitiveness. Round 3 saw four of the big guns fight out draws. This left Gus on top of the table with maximum points.

Round 4 was also a close run thing with 2 draws and a 3-2 win to Andrew B over Giuseppe. Round  5  finally brought Gus's undefeated run to an end at the hands of a ruthless Rik. Adam also stepped up the pressure with a 4-2 win over Andrew B. Unfortunately our veteran Rob had to retire after round 5, as the heat took its toll.

Round 6 was to prove a costly one for Giuseppe who fell to a 2-1 loss to Andy R, this ultimately cost him a place in the semi-finals for the first time. Gus managed a very narrow victory over Andrew B which was a great comeback after his wooden spoon performance in October.

Round 7 was a decisive one for the 2 Andrews who were battling out for a place in the final 4. Andy R just needed the draw, but Andrew B found his shooting form and notched up a very convincing 4-1 win with his new Man United team, and an awesome looking George Best. Adam beat Rik to finish top of the league table, Gus coming second followed by Andrew B and Rik 4th.

The first of the semis was a close battle between Andrew B and Gus. Andrew B took the lead early in the first half with Gus equalising just before half time. Andrew proved to be the stronger though scoring again in the second half. Despite a late flurry from Gus Andrew held out to reach the final.
The second semi-final was fought out between last month’s finalists. With Rik losing to Adam in his previous 2 matches, Adam was the favourite to progress. However, Rik had found his form and pulled off a very credible 3-0 win.

The final between Rik and Andrew B started off with both players being very careful. It soon hotted up though and Rik carried on with his rich vein of form by leading 2-0 at half time. Rik scored again to increase what looked like an unassailable lead but Andrew scored from a quickly taken throw in. The comeback wasn't to be however, and Rik secured his second trophy success with a late goal to win 4-1.