UKI National League in Bristol

The players

The tally for beers bought at Bristol Rovers’ bar on the day has yet to come in but early data suggests that Phil Dacey was a significant contributor to sales! But then why wouldn’t he celebrate? He had just won the UKI National League Division 1 title! He was unbeaten over 5 games winning 3 and drawing two. Phil had sent a ripple of fear through the division went he beat his Welsh countryman Darren 4.1 in the first game, but then couldn’t break down Rudi Peterschinnig in a tight 1.1 draw, but went on in the 3rd to despatching Cardiff’s David Lauder in a thrilling 3.2 win. Phil’s second draw came against England International Brandon Lavender leaving him to tie up the trophy beating Dave Samuel while second-placed Rudi was beaten by Brandon in the final game 3.2 to deny Rudi the title. 27 people traveled just over 4,000 miles, in total, in a pilgrimage to attend the UKI National League event held at The Memorial Stadium, home of Bristol Rovers F.C. The players from Division 3 accounted for 1,500 of those miles while Division 2 had 1300 miles, Division 1 cooled their heels after just 1000 miles (though they had a player less) and Division 4 had a travel distance of just 300 miles – what does that tell us? I have no idea. Australian Benji’s Batten was our welcome Commonwealth guest in the Second Division as he swept aside a very strong field with some big scores though John Lauder only narrowly lost 1.2 and Rob Ramsay played his part in a 2.4 defeat. Benji’s only point dropped was against the second-placed Aaron Skinner who can consider himself very unlucky as he only lost once, against Terry Arnold (2.3). The surprise of the day was Nicky Chappell falling below the dotted line to suffer the ignominy of relegation but the general consensus is that he will bounce back quickly.

The trophies

This event was hosted and managed by local club, Bristol Subbuteo F.C. and they supplied the lion’s share of players with 9, Cardiff weighed in with 8, Kent Invicta 3, Worthing Five Star 2, Harrow Hawks 2, SDTFC 1 and 2 ‘unattached’ to a UKI club. 6 wins out of 6 ensured that Kye Arnold would be crowned Division 3 champion and has earned a place in the next level. Simon Donadel won the race for second place on 8 points pipping Dave Croucher (7 points) and Bob Fairbrother (7 points). Sadly one of the flair players, Gareth Thomas, fell one point behind Ian Maskell to pick up the relegation spot. Okay stat fetishists out there – this is for you: There were 260 goals across all 4 divisions from 78 games equating to 3.33 goals per game. There were 64 goals from 15 Division One matches equating to 4.27 goals per game. Division 2 harvested 72 goals over 21 games (3.42 gpg). Division 3 contributed 71 goals over 21 games (3.38 gpg). Division 4 gave us 53 goals over 21 games (2.52 gpg). Capping the day’s activities was Steve Badcott’s return to the game after 10 years to win UKI National League Division 4 silverware. The South Devon TFC player had notched 22 goals, which was just as well since his 10 points were matched by the desperately unlucky Tim Mourant who had beaten Steve 2.1. Hail the new intake of entrant level players coming back after playing in their youth: Phil Bryant and Andy Jarvis, dare we say, bravely entered the cauldron of this tournament in Division 4 and embraced the event wholehearted and with good spirit. Hopefully, we have not put them off and we hope to have these two players joining the Bristol Subbuteo League, soon.

Division 2 winner Benji Batten

To Simon Donadel for the loan of his pitch for the day. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge Neil’s efforts in gathering up the goals so that we had premier standard goals for the day and for the bottomless supply of help and advise (solicited or otherwise J) from John Lauder, Rudi, Elliott, Michael and Tom Burns, Martin Hodds, Victor Jones, Adam Fraser, Aaron Skinner, Tony McCann, Dave Croucher, Brian Barnes, Cayne Mathews, Justin Scott and to Dave Pawsey and Bran Andrew from the ESA who has been unstinting in their help and advise and whose works bode well for the future of the game in this country. To Og Martin who has set up a framework in Ireland that can only be admired and has been a source of inspiration. A big thank you goes out to the Bristol Subbuteo Club posse of Aaron Skinner who gave up his time on the Friday before the event to help me set up the venue What a nice venue The Memorial Stadium turned out to be – airy space, great lighting, a bar, and food if required, plus oodles of parking, and a great team in Scott who was our amiable host for the day and Lynette Powell who was my contact throughout the book process and whose can-do attitude made it all so easy. It remains for me to say thank you to all who attended and brought a good heart that made it a special day. I hope to see you all again at the next one on the 18th may – venue to be confirmed.

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/PCUKINL/

Division 1 final table: 1. Phil Dacey (WAL/Cardiff) 2. Rudi Peterschinigg (ITA/Harrow) 3. Brandon Lavender (ENG/Kent Invicta) 4. David Lauder (WAL/Cardiff) 5. David Samuel (WAL/Cardiff) 6. Darren Barnes (WAL/Cardiff)

Division 2 final table: 1. Benji Batten (AUS/Melbourne TFC) 2. Aaron Skinner (ENG/Bristol SFC) 3. Terry Arnold (ENG/Kent Invicta) 4. Robert Ramsay (SCO/Manchester) 5. John Lauder (WAL/Cardiff) 6. Tony McCann (ENG/Cardiff) 7. Nicky Chappell (ENG/Kent Invicta)

Division 3 final table: 1. Kye Arnold (ENG/Kent Invicta) 2. Simon Donadel (ENG/Bristol SFC) 3. Dave Croucher (ENG/Worthing) 4. Bob Fairbrother (ENG/Bristol SFC) 5. Neil Doherty (ENG/Harrow) 6. Ian Maskell (ENG/Worthing) 7. Gareth Thomas (WAL/Cardiff)

Division 4 final table: 1. Steve Badcott (ENG/South Devon) 2. Tim Mourant (ENG/Bristol SFC) 3. Peter Brown (ENG/Bristol SFC) 4. Bernard O'Connor (ENG/Bristol SFC) 5. Andy Jarvis (ENG/Bristol SFC) 6. Taylor Randles (ENG/Bristol SFC) 7. Phillip Bryant (ENG/Bristol SFC)

Brian Daley winner in Drury

The latest London Road Subbuteo Club WASPA Regional Tournament took place on 14th October 2018. It was a 5 players league, all play each other twice. Brian daley took the honors with 8 wins. The next London Rondon tournament will be held on November at The Parrot, Drury, North Wales.

Results
Rich S 4-0 Dave K
Ruby M 0-3 Brian D
Cayne M 2-1 Ruby M
Brian D 2-0 Rich S
Brian D 5-0 Dave K
Cayne M 0-3 Rich S
Rich S 2-0 Ruby M
Dave K 0-1 Cayne M
Cayne M 0-2 Brian D
Ruby M 0-1 Dave K
Dave K 0-3 Rich S
Brian D 2-0 Ruby M
Ruby M 0-1 Cayne M
Rich S 1-2 Brian D
Dave K 0-4 Brian D
Rich S 2-0 Cayne M
Ruby M 0-6 Rich S
Cayne M 2-0 Dave K
Brian D 4-0 Cayne M
Dave K 0-2 Ruby M

League Table
Brian D 24 pts
Rich S 18 pts
Cayne M 12 pts
Ruby M 3 pts
Dave K 3 pts

Chris Kaberry wins the WASPA cup in Ponteland

WASPA Ponteland Sunday 7th October

Short report of the games held in Ponteland on Sunday. This tournament was under the banner of North Shields STF.

Semi-finals:
Nigel Lamond v Chris Kaberry 0-2 Scores level at half time but a quick two goal blast at the beginning of the second half saw Chris into the final.

Dave Brothers v Stephen Dobbison 5-0 A one sided affair with Dave running out a comfortable winner.

Consolation play-off:
Nigel Lamond v Stephen Dobbison 0-1 Tight game which was ultimately decided after great honesty from Nigel gifted Stephen a shot on goal which went low into the corner.

Final:
Chris Kaberry v Dave Brothers 3-0 Chris won the competition with a competent display of accurate shooting.

Standings 1. Chris Kaberry 2. Dave Brothers 3. Stephen Dobbison 4. Nigel Lamond

Adrian Davies winner again in Gillingham

Adrian vs Kye

Kent Invicta another great evening of play last Friday. It was the returning Welsh Wizard, Adrian Davies, who took the win in the KIV WASPA League last Friday edging out Kye Arnold on their head to head score line from the first match of the evening. There were many tight games which ended up with Adrian and Kye neck a neck into the last session with Terry Arnold still in a position to take the overall win. However the last games went in Adrian’s favour as the Welshman scored a late equalizer against Terry to draw 1-1 and Kye endured a frustrating 0-0 stalemate with Dave Collier. This meant that after 5 matches the top two players had an identical record of 10 points and a +4 goal difference so their first round result of 1-0 over Kye gave the victory to Adrian. It has to be said that Rob McCormick grabbed the result of the evening however with a fantastic 1-0 win over Adrian in round 2.

Final Table – All KIV
1. Adrian Davies (Open) – 10pts +4 (wins on 1-0 head to head over Kye) 2. Kye Arnold (U19) – 10pts +4 3. Terry Arnold (Vets) – 8pts +3 4. Dave Collier (Vets) – 5pts -2 5. Rob McCormick (Vets) – 4 pts -5 6. Paul Frank (Vets) – 3pts -4

Bob Varney wins TSPA White Star Cup

Last week-end the TSPA White Star was holding a great Swiss tournament in Milton Keynes with 15 players involved. It was great to see some old names back in action. Among the players, Robert Green from Australia was in a great day, finishing in third place two weeks after attending the FISTF World Cup in Gibraltar. Bob Varney took the honors while Rudi Peterschinigg was runner-up.

Thanks to Jeremy Bradly for the great work to organize things!

The final standings were as follows:
1. Bob Varney
2. Rudi Peterschinigg
3. Robert Green
4. Jeremy Bradley
5. Paul Andreas
6. Marco Ghigliotti
7. Steve George
8. Matt Atkin
9. John Turpin
10. Colin Fletcher
11. Gerald Brightwell
12. Mark Green
13. Dave Croucher
14. Alex Turpin

15. Nick Harrop

A good turnout of 12 in Kent

Kent Invicta had a great night of flicking on Friday 7th October with a fantastic turnout of 12 players. With 4 groups of 3, there was a tournament feel to the games which saw plenty of games for everyone.

The semifinals ended up with two close games as Nicky edged Finn 1-0 and Kye winning 2-1 over Terry which led to a tight final that Nicky took with a solitary 1-0 win over Kye.

It was great to see Former England youth player, Kane returning to the action also we also saw two new players in Paul and Hayden taking part. Subbuteo is certainly alive and flicking in Kent!

Final ladder (All KIV):
1. Nicky Chappell (vets)
2. Kye Arnold (u19)
3. Finn Taylor (u19)
4. Terry Arnold (vets)
5. Louis Singh (u19)
6. Paul Frank (vets)
7. Tony Whitelock (vets)
8. Paul Grey (vets)
9. Kane Stanford (u19)
10. Mel Stanford (vets)
11. Rob McCormick (vets)
12. Hayden Grey (u15)

Latest results from Wales

Players in Drury

Wales had two great WASPA tournaments this week-end.

Brian Daley gets trophy from Cayne Maathews

London Road Subbuteo Club held their monthly tournament with a good field of 8 players. Martin Blanchard and Cayne Matthews came on top of their respective groups but failed to qualify for the final. In the final Brian Daley defeated Richard Stock (1-0) to claim the title while Dan Nicholls defeated Danny Bird (3-1) in the Plate final.

On Friday Knighton TFC was holding a Regional tournament with six players. In the end of the Swiss ladder, Dan Nicholls finished on top with 4 wins. In the standings Danny Bird was runner-up while the other players were Tom Taylor, Rory Gittoes, Matt Booth, Kenny Evans.

Two titles for Danny Bird

Danny against Tom

Knighton TFC is continuing to work to develop local activities. In May the club had two tournaments under WASPA banner and Danny Bird firstly won the Regional tournament after finishing on top of a group of 5 while he later won the Promotional event with 6 players competing in Swiss system. Knighton Regional event:
1. Danny Bird
2. Dan Nicholls
3. Tom Taylor
4. Kenny Evans
5. Rory Gittoes

Knighton Promotional event:
1. Danny Bird
2. Dan Nicholls
3. Tom Taylor
4. Matt Booth
5. Rory Gittoes
6. Kenny Evans

Martin Blanchard wins in North Wales

Martin Blanchard and organizer Cayne Matthews

The monthly tournament of London Road Subbuteo Club took place in the usual venue of the Parrot, Drury on Sunday. There was a good turnout of 9 players and this time it was and all-Elgland final between Brian Daley and Martin Blanchard. In the end, Martin Blanchard won the final on shots to claim the honors. Dan Nicholls and Cayne Matthews made it to the semi-finals while Yanik Merrilees-Kelly won the consolation tournament. A great day was had by all.

Mark Farrell wins the White Star Cup

Eighteen players took part in the 2018 White Star Cup, which was last played for in 2007. The format was four rounds of Swiss system with 2 points for a win. A great day was has by all with lots of competitive games. The standard and friendly attitude of the players made for a great day, which will hopefully be repeated. Going into the final round only three players could win.

Martin Hodds was the only one on maximum points and played Ireland's Mark Farrell, who had dropped just one point to team mate Andy Boyer. The other contender was Kev Dyson, although he would have to have won by a lot of goals to have a chance. In the end Mark won 3-1 whilst Kev drew 1-1 so the player who travelled the furthest picked up the trophy!

Well done to Mark and runner up Marco Ghigliotti. Many thanks also to Rudi Peterschinigg, who once again put in a lot of effort in securing the venue and setting up.

(Report by Jeremy Bradley)

Final standings:
1. Mark Farrell 7 pts 14-6
2. Marco Ghigliotti 6 pts 11-4
3. Rob Paterson 6 pts 6-2
4. Martin Hodds 6 pts 7-4
5. Kev Dyson 6 pts 5-3
6. Jeremy Bradley 5 pts 9-4
7. Rudi Peterschinigg 4 pts 10-3
8. Paul Andreas 4 pts 11-5
9. Panos Stemitsiotis 4 pts 7-6
10. Andy Boyer 4 pts 5-5
11. Colin Fletcher 4 pts 3-6
12. John Turpin 4 pts 5-9
13. Neil Doherty 3 pts 4-9
14. Gerald Brghtwell 3 pts 3-8
15. Dave Croucher 2 pts 6-10
16. Alex Westley 2 pts 3-10
17. Ian Maskell 2 pts 3-11
18. Alex Turpin 0 pts 5-12

Trevor Schott wins in North Wales

A part of the players

Action at the Parrot

Trevor Schott won the final

Last Sunday London Road Subbuteo Club was holding the monthly WASPA regional tournament with a new record of 13 entries. On of them was the club's new member Martin Blanchard. Organizers decided to do their best to give as many games as possible to everyone so the first round was played with two groups of 6 and 7 players. After the group stage, the top four players from each group qualified for the last 8 round. In the end, there was a surprising final between Trevor Schott and Tony McCann while usal finalists Brian Daley and Richard Stock were stopped in the semis. Trevor won the final (3-0) to claim the title. Yani Kelly defeated Cayne Matthews on shots in the Plate final.

The club's next WASPA regional tournament will be held at the Parrot, Drury on March 18.

Lincoln Flickers Copa Libertadores

WASPA event 3 - February 25, 2018 Mathew Atkin (River Plate) wins his first Lincoln tournament after a closely fought contest with Andrew Garbutt (Flamengo) which ended goalless after golden goal extra-time. Atkin kept his cool winning on shots 3-1.

The players

Jeremy Boothman (Peñarol) took third spot with a 3-1 win over Andy Boyer (Independiente).

The Plate competition was won by Richard Meddings who narrowly missed out on the semis losing to Andy Boyer in play-off shots also 1-3. Rich went on to win 2 and draw one of his Plate games.

Richard Meddings (Internacional) W2 D1 7pts
Connor Atkin (Chapecoense) W1 D1 4pts (beat Santos 2-0 on shots after a golden goal play-off)
Clinton J Simpson (Santos) W1 D1 4pts (new WASPA player – Lincoln Flickers)
John Devaney (São Paulo) D3 3pts
Cameron Simpson (Atlético Juniors) D2 2 pts (new WASPA player – Lincoln Flickers)

The final

Well done to everyone. It is good to see young Connor’s game developing well, threatening coming forward! Good also to see Cameron and dad, Clint, at their first WASPA event; early days and showing lots of promise – shame the new teams hadn’t arrived in time. John Devaney bravely played with Old Subbuteo including his flats having just missed out on a chance to go through to the semis on goals he had three goalless games in the Plate.

Thanks to all the members of the club who took some interest in the event and the squash players who helped with the store cupboard! Final thanks to Julia running the bar.

Next event is the Eostre Cup, 22 April.

Rudi Peterschinigg on top in Wolverhampton

The Roy Holden Trophy 2018 and WSFC's 1st Anniversary Plate took place on January 28 with a fantastic turnout of 22 players.

Congratulations to Rudi Peterschinigg on winning the 2nd Roy Holden Trophy while Steve George was runner-up and Robert Ramsay took the third place.

Peter Sleeth won the club's 1st Anniversary plate while Andrew Garbutt reached the final. Organizers wanted to thank Roy's brother Keith for taking part and Roy's daughters Joanne and Samantha for attending.

"It was an amazing day, a fantastic atmosphere with games played in the true spirit of the game. Well done to everyone who attended today, another great success!" reported the organizers on their Facebook page.

New Year Cup for Mark McCrossan

The Derry City Table Football Club ‘New Year Cup 2018’ took place on Monday. there was a smallish turnout this time of 8 players but there were many good games. Players were divided into two groups before the knock-out stage. Mark McCrossan defeated Martinog Bradley on shots in the final to claim his 4th WASPA title. Lawrence Watson and Brendan Rodgers made it to the semi-finals.

Dave Brothers wins in Chopwell

A good morning in Chopwell, despite the snow. First up was Dave 5-0 Stephen Not a lot to say. Stephen gave it a go and was caught with some soft finishes.

Next Stephen 0-1 Nigel
Nigel just had the better of the game and was able to come up with the only goal . Both players made some good blocks, showed some good touches and both players had shots.

Finally Nigel 0-0Dave
Nigel had by far the better of the game and had several chances, while Dave never had a shot! Some great blocking from Nigel throughout the game and unlucky with some of his shots. If it was a boxing match, Nigel would have won easily on points.

Standings
1st  Dave
2nd Nigel
3rd  Stephen

Mike Bradbury wins the Christmas Cup

Wolverhampton SFC hosted their first official Christmas Cup and Awards Evening on Sunday 17th December.  12 of the 15 club players turned out, and the tournament was  played in a handicap format giving less experienced players an opportunity to progress.  It was a tense evening with some very close games.  League winner, Mick Hammonds suffered the fate of a surprise quarter final exit to Mark Broadhurst who managed to hold on to his 3 goal advantage, winning 3-2.

Mark's glorious run of victories was brought to an end by Justin Scott in the Semi Finals, but it took a shoot out to get past him.  The final, Justin versus Mike Bradbury was a game of two halves.  First half a tight defensive affair, with neither player giving ground.  The second half was a goal fest, with 6 goals, 4 - 2 in Mike's favour.  It was a final worthy of an excellent evening of Subbuteo!  Next open event the WSFC Roy Holden Trophy, 28th January 2018. Please visit Wolverhampton Subbuteo Football Club on Facebook for more information.

(Report by Justin Scott)

Tournament report from Donegal, Ireland

"Donegal Subbuteo" had a four player tournament on Friday evening. Cormac played for the first time in 2 years. He first played back in December 2011 as a 10 year old! Anyway there was some great games between Brian, Cormac and Caoimhe. They haven't played a lot lately so there was plenty of goals and action in every game. We played a group format with players playing each other once. Brendan used Heavyweight bases and the other 3 used the more modern bases. The idea of this was to make the tournament more equal for everyone. And as you can see from the final table, Brendan just pipped Caoimhe on goal difference! But great to see the younger ones having so much fun and determination to beat each other in this great game we all love.

Here is the final table:
Brendan Rodgers...3...7...+4
Caoimhe Rodgers...3...7...+2
Cormac Coyle...3...1...-3
Brian McCorkell...3...1...-3

Kye Arnold wins in Kent

Kye and Dave

Report and results of Friday’s WASPA night at Kent. It was the England U19 players of Kye & Finn who led the way in the Friday night WASPA games last week. In a 6 man field, a number of close games were had  with 5 competitive rounds of play.

Paul and Rob

Kye eventually ran out winner, unbeaten on the night, whilst Finn grabbed the runner-up spot after a final round 2-0 victory over Terry. Table:-

Kye Arnold – 13pts +9
Finn Taylor – 10pts +3
Terry Arnold – 7pts -2
Dave Collier – 4pts -1
Paul Frank – 4pts -4
Rob McCormick – 2pts -5

Kenneth Beggs wins annivesary cup

On Monday night Derry City TFC held the 1st anniversary Cup. It’s been a great year and the club and competition has gone from strength to strength. The night saw a good turnout of ten players vie for the Cup. Kenny ‘The legend’ Beggs made an appearance and didn’t disappoint with a fantastic display of skill. Viewers tuned in for the live feed from all over the world - Wales, Italy, Greece and Strabane! The groups were closely fought affairs but Kenny proved too tough an opponent for all. Mark ‘The Moth’ McCrossan suffered defeat at the hands of Martinog Bradley in the semi, but it was Beggs, the legend himself, who sailed on to victory with a clear 4-0 victory over Bradley in the final. Brendan Rodgers took the 3rd place honours beating The Moth 1-0 in the 3rd and 4th play offs. A great night and a fitting Anniversary for the Derry City Table Football Club!

Promotional tournament in North Wales

London Road Subbuteo Club held the November "Sychdyn Cup", six players played in a league format with Brian Daley finishing first and Richard Stock coming runner up. Thirteen year old Yani Kelly came third, Cayne Matthews fourth, eight year old Ruby Matthews came fifth and beat her dad 1-0 today, with Dave Merrilees-Kelly sixth. The tournament was a WASPA promotional tournament, which means Brian and Richard will not get ranking points (because they are in the top 25 already). "Having them at the promo is good practise for the rest of us", reported Cayne Matthews.

The next event in North Wales will be held on November 26 at "the Parrot" in Drury. "We should be 10+ and today one of Ruby school friends came for a practise game with Ruby. Just looking to slowly grow as a club and attract new players to the game and bring back players that have stopped", also commented Cayne.

Table
Brian 15pts
Rich 12
Yani 6 (WASPA champion)
Cayne 6
Ruby 4
Dave 1

Results Yani 3v0 Ruby Rich 5v0 Cayne Brian 4v0 Dave Cayne 2v1 Yani Dave 0v0 Ruby Brian 3v2 Rich Yani 4v1 Dave Cayne 0v4 Brian Ruby 0v4 Rich Brian 5v1 Yani Rich 3v0 Dave Ruby 1v0 Cayne Yani 1v3 Rich Brian 1v0 Ruby Dave 0v1 Cayne