Western Flickers Christmas Cup

Despite a wave of illness causing a few last minute dropouts - including our original host - a small dedicated group of flickers decided to carry on with our year ending WASPA.

MTFC's Luke Radzminski and Nathan Urbaniak made the trip west to join Pelicans Benny, Benjamin and Peter Benholm in a round robin competition.

Junior Pelican Benjamin continued to show he could contest against Open category adult opponents. He played well to finish 3rd by goal difference over rising star Nathan - the surprise WASPA winner at last year's Melbourne IO. No doubt that given time, Nathan will be competing for trophies against Melbourne's best players. Relatively new player Peter also did well against strong opponents and the experience will help him progress on his table football journey.

As expected, Luke and Benny easily won their games resulting in their match-up in the last round being a "Cup final" of sorts. In a tight game - that was well adjudicated by accredited football referee Nathan - both players had numerous chances to win the game. In the end, Benny edged Luke 2-1 to clinch the final WASPA of 2019.

Thanks to all who came - especially our MTFC friends - and made it another enjoyable event.

GO WEST !

Final placings
1. Benny
2. Luke
3. Benjamin
4. Nathan
5. Peter

WASPA standings of November 2019

Dear all, here is the monthy report of the WASPA circuit. We had 30 tournaments and 2 test matches in November and we have a lot of updates in the rankings.

WASPA Season results 2019-2020
WASPA ranking - November 19

First tournament in Chalkis (Greece)

First of all, welcome to the new organizers. We were glad to have the IJsselmuiden tournament in the Netherlands counting as a WASPA event but also 1. STV Hohenlohe (Germany), Kragerø BFK (Norway) and Ippovotes Chalkis (Greece) held their first events! Special thanks to our friends from Norway who helped to get a new nation in our big family.

We had more than 300 entries this month, which means tournaments had an average of more than 10 players taking part, which is fantastic.

Jon Henning Bergane (left) winner in Norway

Good news also from the Development league with the Central Victoria club (Australia) joining the project and we can see more and more clubs are part of the rankings.

Huge thanks to all organizers who give their continued support and we are hope that many more clubs and players will join this season.

First stage of the Irish Championship in Donegal

Well, that's all for now. 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.

A good turnout of 19 in the Netherlands

Please invite your friends to join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/waspasubbuteo/
We also have a WASPA page here: https://www.facebook.com/WASPA-World-Amateur-Subbuteo-Players-Association-231789816834700/

Keep in mind 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 or vincentcoppenolle@gmail.com

We stay at your disposal for more info.

Yours sincerely,
Vincent Coppenolle

Alberto Di Maggio wins Game of Thrones tournament

Family celebration for Alberto Di Maggio

Silver medal for Yiorgos Karavas

On Saturday, November 30 the much awaited "1st WASPA Game of Thrones" themed tournament took place in Kallithea, Athens, Greece. 24 players from various clubs followed the houses of the TV show in their subbuteo versions in one of the best tournaments ever!

There was a group stage (6 groups of 4), then barrages, quarter-finals, semi-finals and a big final between Alberto Di Maggio (who plays this season for Bologna Tigers and who played for "Unsullied" in the tournament) and Yiorgos Karavas (Greyjoy). Alberto won the game on shots while semi-finalists were Alekos Apatzis and Nikos Psomiadis.

You can find a video of the event here.

Congratulations to the winner Alberto, the finalist Yiorgos and to all the participants for one more great WASPA event.

First WASPA tournament in Chalkis

On November 30, WASPA was more than happy to see another new club hosting a first tournament. In Chalkis (Greece), the "Ippovotes Chalkis" tournament had a good turnout of 12 players with guests from Thessaloniki, Noctuas and Rolligans. The winner was Konstantinos Chanos of the local club after many dramatic games played in the WASPA spirit. He defeated Anastasios Priftis (Rolligans) in the final. The tournament took place in a lovely hall and all players had a great time.

A warm welcome to Ippovotes from the WASPA family and congratulations to all those who attended the event!

Sven Schilling wins in Pretoria

Saturday 7 December 2019, Pretoria, South Africa
The 2019 Pretoria season came to an end this weekend, and PFC was honoured by the visit of German player, Sven Schilling from St Pauli SC.

A cold, wet & rainy December day saw 8 participants compete for the 2019 PFC Copa del Clausura - we had two Groups of 4 players, where the top 2 from each Group were to progress to the knockout rounds. The bottom 2 from each Group would go on to contest the Plate section.

Group 1 delivered no surprises as Sven Schilling and Jayden vd Merwe progressed to the Copa del Clausura knock-out round. Perhaps the only surprise was that Kegan vd Merwe ended 3rd in Group 1 as he battled to find the superb form he had shown over the past 3 months. The pick of Group 1 action was the final Group match which ended Sven 1-1 Jayden. A match where Sven took the lead, and Jayden (patient as always) got the equaliser. In real time, it appeared as if Sven got the winner late on for a 2-1 win - with what seemed as if the ball struck the inside netting on it's way out again, but VAR operator (Bevin Reed) intervened to clearly point out that the ball struck the upright on it's way out instead! All academic in the end as both players were happy with the draw to progress to the semi finals.

Group 2 delivered a "mixed bag" of results, with Bevin Reed and Gary Downs progressing to the Copa del Clausura knock-out round. But there was enough drama in this Group - as Gary showed excellent goalkeeping skills to post an unbeaten run to justify his progression to the semi final. In Match 7, Julian vd Merwe caused an upset by dispatching of Chessray Jooste by 1-0. In Match 11, Chessray took a 1-0 lead over Bevin, but Bevin got the equaliser to top the group and confine Chessray to a Plate semi final!

The Plate Semi Final 1 produced an epic clash between Kegan vd Merwe and Chessray Jooste - with Kegan taking the lead after 5 min of play, for Chessray to equalise 2 min later. Chessray then took the lead with 5 min left to play, with Kegan getting the equaliser 3 min from the end. In the end, Chessray progressed by 2-1 on penalty shots. The Plate Semi Final 2 only came to life in the last 5 min of play as both Julian vd Merwe and Conway Julie started probing and attacking - drama unfolded as Julian got the winner with just 3 seconds left to play to progress to the Plate Final!
In the Plate Final, both Chessray and Julian made some good saves to keep the score at 0-0, then one defensive error by Julian allowed Chessray in to clinch the Plate Final by 1-0. Perhaps some "revenge" for Chessray as he overturned the 1-0 Group 2 loss to Julian!

The Cup Semi Final 1 saw Gary Downs score a stunner to take the lead over Sven Schilling after 9 min of play, with Sven producing an immediate response to score on 11 min and then on 13 min again to progress to the Cup Final. In the other Cup Semi Final, Bevin Reed scored after 6 min of play, with Jayden vd Merwe equalising 4 min later to force the match into a shoot-out. In the end, Bevin prevailed by 3-2 on shots over Jayden, for Bevin to set up a Cup Final against Sven.
A tense Cup Final then unfolded, with Bevin holding his own against our German visitor, but in the end Sven scored twice in the last third of the allocated time to run out as 2-0 winner, and in so doing Sven Schilling captured the 2019 PFC Copa del Clausura title!

In the end, a memorable and enjoyable day as the curtain drops on the 2019 PFC Season!

Individual acknowledgements on the day :
"Goal Blitz" : Sven Schilling ended the day as the top scorer, including the fastest goal on the day - timed at 45 sec vs Conway Julie
"Safe Hands" : Gary Downs for good goalkeeping skills all day
"Moment of the Day" : Kegan vd Merwe had the goal of the day in his final Group 1 match vs Conway Julie
"Player of the Day" : Bevin Reed - posting an unbeaten run on his way to the final vs Sven Schilling

As always, a big thank you to all who attended to make the day a great success. A BIG thanks goes out to Sven Schilling for competing in his first Pretoria event !!!!
Next - the PFC 2019 Season Awards on Saturday 14 December 2019.

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)

November 2019: news from around the globe

Here is a brief summary of several events held around the globe in November.

In Northern Ireland there was a very small turnout for Derry City TFC' 3rd anniversary cup and a venue mix up led to a fantastic evening of craic in the DCTFC spiritual home ‘The Shed’. 4 players battled it out in a league format with Derry’s Martinog Bradley the winner on the night. Brendan Rodgers took runner-up. Brilliant fun for our 4th November meet!

Our friends of Perth Subbuteo Club in Australia held their monthly gathering on November 16. Only 4 players could make it this time but there were many close games. Ross McNulty finished on top of a group of 4 thanks to more goals scored than Chris Thorn. Adam Taylor was third and Ron Byrne was in 4th position.

In Canada, Toronto players met also once against and Mike Sgro managed to end Howard Christie's winning strek by winning the final by a clear 3-0. Richard Ruffolo and Mike Chieffallo were the other players taking part. The first full year of Toronto Subbuteo Club action finishes off on December 28th!

The Western Flickers in Melbourne (Australia) held a tournament with five players competing in a round robin. Benny Ng finished on top of the league while Benjamin Ng was runner-up. Peter Benholm, Jayden Truter and Benedict Ng showed great improvement. The Western Flickers are working hard at growing the club again and already got a couple of new players. So onwards and upwards with WTF 2.0!

The Norhern Falcons in Sydney also held a tournament this month with a smaller turnout than usual but with some great games. Fabrizio Coco finished on top of a group of 5 to bring back the trophy to sydney TFC while local player Eliot Kennedy was runner-up. Torben Pfister, Adrian Grunbach and Benedetto Forcina were also taking part.



Finally, during the recent International Open of Rochefort (Belgium). There was a WASPA tournament besides the FISTF Open. Greek player Yannis Salamouris (Noctuas Athens) was the only of the 12 players to win his three games to lift the title while French player David Zaki (Issy) was runner-up. Among the competitors there were five French players of FTC ST Symphorien sur Coise who made their WASPA debut. Thanks to JSC Rochefort for a great week-end and for having some games under WASPA banner.

Full standings:
1. Yannis Salamouris (Greece)
2. David Zaki (France)
3. Thierry Magermans (Belgium)
4. Mickael Blanc (France)
5. Hervé Fino (France)
5. Frank Lannoy (Belgium)
7. Jean-Pierre Genart (Belgium)
8. Daniel Polsinelli (France)
9. Geert Leys (Belgium)
10. Mathieu Marlair (Belgium)
11. Daniel Guyot (France)
12. Rudi De Smet (Belgium)

Ilias Galanopoulos winner in Thessaloniki

The Greek Club of Panorama Thessaloniki held a WASPA tournament on November 20 with 8 players taking part.

Ilias Galanopoulos (AEL TFC) took the honors after defeating Nikiforis Giapoutzis in the final.

Thanks to the Panorama players for their continuous support!
There will be more results from Greece coming soon.

Jon Henning Bergane and Christian Schulze win first WASPA events in Norway

Jon Henning Bergane (on the left) Astro Cup 2019 winner. On the right is Frode Ellefsen who was the main organizer of the tournament together with Terje Ellefsen and Svein Arne Brekke. Photo taken by Martin Eikeland.

Last week-end was a very important date for the WASPA circuit as the first WASPA tournaments in Norway took place in Kragerø. over the week-end, two tournaments with seven players each but a total of 11 different players were held. It was nice to see representatives of different Norwegian clubs as Kragerø BFK, Skien Wildcats, TFC Wildgrizzlys but also Yorkshire Phoenix (England).

The "AstroCup '19" (for "elite" players) saw the domination of national Legend Jon Henning Bergane who defeated Svein Arne Brekke in the final while semi-finalists were Christian Schulze and Terje Ellefsen.

The "Lumbago Cup '19" (for beginners and players making a comeback) had Christian Schulze dominating the games and winning the final against Birger Hokholdt (2-1). Semi-finalists were Geir Kristian Aabøe and Fredrik Sørensen.

Both tournaments counted as NBFF events but also got WASPA status as decided by the Kragerø BFK representatives.

Also the big news in Norway is that Norwegian table football players now have a new president: Thomas Flaaten Fredriksen. The whole community has to thank Anders Grorud for his 26 years as president of the NBFF.

Link to the official article: http://bordfotball.no/article/1506

Huge thanks to Terje Ellefsen for making things happen and for the constructive talks with WASPA. We hope to see more events like this in the future in Norway!

Mark Farrell wins first stage of the Irish Championship

1st Round of the Irish Championship – Falcarragh, Co. Donegal Saturday 30th November 2019

A new name for the Championship for this new season as we expand out of Ulster and head south to Leinster with Dublin set to host a round later in the season. No change though in the host county for the opening round, as once again Donegal welcomed some of the best players on the island. Eight players headed to Falcarragh on the far west coast for Europe’s most westerly Subbuteo competition with Kenny Beggs and Mark Farrell the favourites to take the title. As well as Irish Championship points at stake, the tournament also doubled as a WASPA competition so it was also an opportunity to make inroads on those world rankings.

Group Stage

Group A hosted last season’s champion Mark Farrell, the current all-Ireland champion Kenny Beggs, last seasons 4th place championship finisher Martinog Bradley and newcomer Brian McCorkell who was playing in his first competition since childhood. Beggs and Farrell won their opening two fixtures with relative ease making their final group game largely academic with both already qualified for the semi-finals. But there’s always pride at stake when the two best players go head-to-head and Mark was looking for revenge following his defeat to Kenny in the final of All-Ireland Championships hosted in September. In a tight high-quality game Mark edged it 1-0 to top the group. Bradley meanwhile won his wooden spoon game 3-0 against McCorkell to finish 3rd. The debutant was handed the hardest imaginable group containing 3 of last year’s top 4 players, and he performed well to only go down 4-0, 3-0, 3-0 to high quality opposition.

New Derry City TFC player Jude Morrow was also making his first appearance at competition, this time in Group B alongside Oisin Mor, Brendan Rodgers and Strabane’s Mark McCrossan. Brendan started well beating Jude Morrow 3-0 in his opening fixture and then edging McCrossan 1-0 to top the group, but the top-spot was thrown into doubt when Oisin Mor beat him 2-1 in the final group game. How Oisin must have rued his 0-0 draw Jude as a win there would have seen him tied on points with Brendan and Mark. In the end it was Rodgers who topped the group courtesy of his 1-0 win over McCrossan who finished second on the same points.

Knock-out Stages

Mark Farrell faced Strabane man Mark McCrossan in the first semi-final who was hoping for his first win over the Dubliner. The pair met in the semi-final of last season’s Strabane round of the championship in a game that Farrell won 1-0, and there was to be no change in winner with Farrell this time romping home 4-1. In the other semi-final Beggs beat Rodgers 3-0 to setup yet another final decider between Beggs and Farrell. In the third place playoff McCrossan and Rodgers locked horns for a second time. This time however there was to be no winner in normal time, both players scoring good goals to take the game to shots after a 1-1 draw, but it was Rodgers who landed the points winning the shoot-out 2-0. The final saw Farrell hold lots of possession in the first half, possession he turned to his advantage as he took a 1-0 lead into the second half. In the second period Kenny called himself for a finger-foul when lining up a shot that could have seen him equalize. It was a piece of sportsmanship that demonstrates why we call him “The Legend”, and acts as a reminder to all of us about the spirit in which we play the game. It was also perhaps Kenny’s last chance as Mark took advantage and added a second goal to ensure he would see out the game and be re-crowned “High King of Donegal Subbuteo”. In the plate Derry City TFC’s Martinog Bradley beat club mate Oisin Mor 5-0 in the Plate Final to make sure he stayed in touch with the top four going into the second round in Strabane in January.

Geoffrey Marain and Didier Moons winners in Templeuve

Players in the regional tournament

Top 3 of the regional tournament

Arthur Clique vs Matthias averlant

Didier Moons vs Jason Delattre

Presentation after the promotional tournament

The Templeuve United club held two events this month. The monthly "regional" tournament was played last Friday with a good field of 10 players taking part. Geoffrey marain won another tournament with four games won during the Swiss Ladder. Vincent Coppenolle was runner-up (W3-L1) while surpridingly Arthur Clique, one of the youngest players in the club, took the third place.

The week bafore, a "promotional event" was played with 5 players taking part. Didier Moons, a Brussels-based player now affiliated to templeuve, won the tournament while Jordan Bonte was runner-up.

Thanks to all players for some great games.