Mark Farrell wins the Tallaght Open

John Moore and Mark Farrell

The third round of the Irish Championship Circuit took place in Dublin this past weekend. Nine players descended on the west Dublin suburb of Tallaght to take part in a league event to determine the winner in what was the first Dublin WASPA event since 2015.

Notable entries on the day were John Moore playing his first event for five years and also, a new addition to the circuit this year from Dublin was Cormac Lennon, showing good potential for the future.

Each player played eight games over the day in this new format for the circuit and indeed the winner’s trophy was still up for grabs going into the final games of the day.

As it went, Martinóg Bradley from the Derry City club took third place after some improving performances while his teammate Kenny Beggs took the Runner-up spot. Mark Farrell from White Star TFC narrowly took the honours on the day. The next round will be hosted in Derry next month

Milan Knezevic winner in Oberbachern

Earlier in February, a tournament was played in Oberbachern, Germany. Unfortunately 2 of the 6 registered could not make it dur to illness and only four players took part. Milan Knezevic finished on top of the table after home and away games while Roland Popp was runner-up. Renato Parussini and Maurizio Zironi were also taking part. Everybody had a good time and players are already waiting for the next tournament.

Crystal Palace wins the 3rd Anglo-Italian Cup

On February 8, the Flaming Flickers organized a tournament with the old rules in Kallithea, Greece. The "3rd Anglo-Italian Cup" had a good turnout of 12 players with 6 of them playing for Italian football clubs while the 6 other players were representatives of English clubs. In the end Sotiris Korologos (Crystal Palace) defeated Alekos Apatzis (Tottenham) in the final. The semi-finalists were Scotiniotis and V. Dragossis. Thanks to Panos and his friends for another great tournament!

Belgium: wins for Marain, Heyvaert and Wouters

Some news from Belgium where several events have been held in the last few weeks.

The monthly Templeuve tournament was held on February 21 with 7 players competing in Swiss ladder. Geoffrey Marain was the clear winner of the night but the was a close fight to decide who will finish on the podium. Matthias Averlant was finallt decided runner-up thanks to more goals scored then Michaël Dupret. Eric Caillauw was 4th, Vincent Coppenolle 5th, Olivier Bodelle 6th and Sébastien Sorge 7th.

Players in Auvelais (picture by Dominique Massart)

In Auvelais, the tournament held on February 21 had also 7 players taking part. It was nice to see the WASPA debut of Nicolas Wagner (SC Temploux). Players were divided into two groups. Pol Serwy finished on top of group A but couldn't resist to Jérôme Heyvaert (Master Sanremo) who won the final (3-1). Vincent Guyaux defeated his brother Fabrice to take the third place.

Finally, the March tournament of the SC Flanders club took place on Monday with 8 players taking part.

We were very happy to see some players coming back, not only Gary Moore (Ireland but based in Belgium) but also Dimitri Schuermans. Dave Wouters took the honors this time with more goals scored than Jos Ceulemans.

Three players tied for the third place with 6 points and once again the goals difference was needed to give Johan Lourdon a place on the podium.

2020 Lake Effect Trophy in the books

2020 Lake Effect Trophy participants (from left): Peter, Eric, Paul, and Bryan.

On Sunday, February 10, Grand Rapids TSC hosted its traditional winter tournament: the Lake Effect Trophy. For the second year in a row, the event took place in East Lansing and was part of the WASPA circuit.

For the first time in the event’s history, we had the great pleasure of welcoming a player from the East Coast: Bryan Arnold of Northern Virginia Union TSC and Team USA.

After an interesting group stage, both semifinals ended 2-1: with Peter Alegi and Bryan Arnold edging out Paul Pate and Eric Walton, respectively. Peter claimed the title with a 4-0 win in the final. Eric won the consolation game. As is typical this time of year in Michigan, snow fell as we made our way home. It wouldn’t be the Lake Effect Trophy otherwise!

GROUP STAGE
Peter Alegi – Eric Walton 4-0
Paul Pate – Bryan Arnold 0-3
Bryan A. – Peter A. 0-1
Eric W. – Paul P. 1-1
Peter A. – Paul P. 4-0
Eric W. – Bryan A. 0-1

STANDINGS
Peter A. 9 points (GF 9 GA 0)
Bryan A. 6 (4-1)
Eric W. 1 (1-6)
Paul P. 1 (1-8)

SEMIFINALS
Peter A. – Paul . 2-1
Bryan A. – Eric W. 2-1

CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
Peter A. – Bryan A. 4-0

3rd PLACE FINAL
Eric W. – Paul P. 2-1

Derry City Winter Cup 2020

Well the winter cup lived up to its name , with a significant snowfall on the eve of the competition in Derry the event looked in doubt , but 5 hardy souls finally assembled at the DerryCity SocialClub to contest the WASPA event .

Stewart (Belfast) Mór and Rodgers (Donegal) all made the trip while local lads Morrow and Watson (Derry) completing the line up it was all set for a cracking event .

The first round of fixtures threw up the arch rivals Stewart and Watson to contest the Stand Firm Cup a competition played between 2 rival Scottish football fans of the old firm. Stewart the current holder was under the cosh for most of the first half but a one of counter attack and his first shot on target was enough to seal the win and retain the trophy despite a second half of sustained pressure that seen Watson have 10 shots on target, in the other game Jude Morrow and his Melchester Rovers side took on competition favourite Brendan Rodgers and it was a early statement from Rodgers with a 3-0 victory for the Donegal man.

The next round of results seen a brace of Draws with Watson and Mór tie 0-0 and Morrow and Stewart also opting for the bore draw.

Round 3 seen a thrilling 1-1 draw between Stewart and Rodgers enough to see Stewart go top of the table and a 1-0 victory for Mór against Roy of the rovers Jude Morrow .

Round 4 was seen Watson revive his title ambitions with a 1-0 victory over Donegal subbuteo’s Brendan Rodgers while Oisin Mór held on for a 0-0 with Craig Stewart to put the final round of games into a exciting climax .

With Stewart playing all his games he sat top of the table going into the final round of games , a draw for Mór against Rodger would be enough for a shootout with Stewart for the win with both having the same goal difference , a win for Rodgers would be a
Enough to walk away with another title , while in the other game a win for Watson against Jude Morrow and a draw in the Rodgers Mór game would hand Watson the title . Despite efforts by all it was a double 0-0 draw that seen Mór and Stewart both finishing top on same points and same goals to head to a penalty shoot out , both players have never won a monthly WASPA so it was going to be one hack of a shootout.

A early goal for Stewart was followed by a early miss by Mór which  would be one of 4 misses that would see Craig win 2-0 on shots and take his first ever WASPA completion proving his experience in the Europa league as a guest player for Wolverhampton was good enough for the Belfast to take home the top prize . Oisin Mór will go back to Donegal happy with his first runners up prize and them vital WASPA points while Brendan Rodgers took 3rd spot on goal difference to Lawrence Watson and Judd Morrow took 5th place with 2 fantastic draws against Watson and overall winner Stewart to back up in amazing 2-2 draw with Mark Farrell earlier this month in the championship round 2. Morrow is starting to prove his Roy of the Rovers side are the real deal.

Hermann Kruse wins in Berlin

We are happy to get news from Berlin, Germany. Last Wednesday the SC Berlin players organized a WASPA tournament with two categories. 8 players were competing divided intou two groups of 4. The experienced players competed in the main event with Hermann Kruse winning the tournament. In Division B newcomer Ronny Lange topped the table and will play a playoff for promotion against Nico Müller who came fourth in the Division A.

Division 1 table:
1. Hermann Kruse 12 points
2. Oliver Kruse 10 points
3. Alberto Tarantino 5 points
4. Nico Müller 3 points

Division 2 table:
1. Ronny Lange 12 points
2. Erik Klossowski 11 points
3. Hermine Kruse 4 points
4. Peer Fülster 3 points

Dimitrios Karpouzos winner in Thessaloniki

The Panorama club in Thessaloniki (Greece) held their latest WASPA tournament earlier this week with 12 players taking part. There were many close games till the final but in the end Dimitrios Karpouzos defeated Ilias Galanopoulos (1-0) to win the title while Christos Agrios took the third place. Congratulations to the Panorama club for getting new players involved and getting a growing number of members.

Brian Daley wins the February tournament in North Wales

The London Road players met last Sunday for their monthly tournament. 9 players were taking part and among them Alan Lee (TSPA White Star) was the special guest of the day. Players were put in two group.

Brian Daley beat Martin Blanchard in the Parrot Cup final with Cayne Matthews and Chris Bedford being the other players in the final 4. Alan Lee beat Ruby Matthews in the Plate final.

The next London road tournament will be held on March 29.

Thanks to Cayne Matthews and his clubmates for another good event!

Sven Schilling does it again

The last Subbuteo Sankt Pauli WASPA competition, before we host our “Big One” on the 7th March, was played over 5 rounds in the Swiss-Ladder system.

Going into the last set of fixtures Fred needed to beat an inconsistent Marcos to secure his first WASPA victory, having already secured wins over Simon (3-1), Philip (1-0), and Andre (2-0) and a draw with Sven (0-0). Sven had to win against Ralf by 2 goals and hope that Marcos could get a result. His 2-0 win over Andre, a 3-0 “walkover”, and two draws had left him 2 points adrift of Fred who looked set to win his first WASPA, and fourth different winner this season.

Fred huffed and puffed but simply couldn’t break down the precise tactical blocking of Marcos, who created a few of his own chances when he broke from his iron defensive wall, 0-0. Sven meanwhile got three goals against Ralf, tied with Fred on 11 points at the top of the table, and snatched another WASPA victory courtesy of goal difference. Unlucky for the fast improving Fred so it shouldn’t be long before he wins that first elusive club WASPA. Congrats to Sven whose competitive drive always sees him there, or there-abouts when the medals are handed out.