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Glasgow were drawn in a group along with Athinaikos, London/Essex B and Yorkshire. Yorkshire were seeded but due to call-offs had a team of only three players. First up for Glasgow was Athinaikos (from Athens). All matches were level at half-time but the team went down 3-1 with only Dave Gladman managing a victory. This was a close match which Glasgow certainly could have won. Athinaikos went on to win the group and reach the semi final.

 

Burns	0	2	Vasilopoulos
Day	1	2	Ritoridis
Fleming	1	2	Kosmopoulos
Gladman	2	1	Koutsompinas

 

 

 

Having lost the first match, the pressure was now on Glasgow to win each of their remaining matches. The Scots started favourites against London, the English team having a junior in their ranks. It was Willie Fleming who had the decisive win over ‘auld enemy’ Colin Tarry, with Burns and and Gladman both having draws to make the final score 2-0.

 

Burns	2	2	Peters
Day	5	1	Target
Fleming	1	0	Tarry
Gladman	1	1	M Bellefontaine

 

 

 

Not only were Yorkshire reduced to three players, they also had a junior, so again Glasgow were favourites. Tom Burns comfortably defeated Tony McCann and Colin Day had a creditable draw against Mark Farrell. With Fleming sitting this one out, the final score was 3-0.

 

Burns	5	2	McCann
Day	2	2	Farrell
Gladman	5	1	Peters
Fleming

 

 

There is no doubt that the draw had been kind to Glasgow but they missed a real opportunity to win the group and have a winnable quarter final. As it was they were paired with Valletta, winners of their group. Nevertheless it was a good experience to play against the team ranked 3 in the world.

 

Burns	0	7	Tabone
Day	0	6	Thomas
Fleming	0	4	Pisani
Gladman	0	3	Short

 

 

Valletta went on to lose their semi final to Bristol who lost the final to Brussels a team which Bristol had beaten in the group stage.

 

 

Further pictures from the weekend:

 

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On the Saturday all four Glasgow players qualified out of their groups. Tom Burns justified his seeding by winning his group with three victories over difficult opponents including Dave Samuel (Cardiff) and Colin Fletcher (NETFA). Colin Day’s group had been reduced to three. In his first match Colin Day led Steve Austin of Valletta Lions 1-0 at half-time but a second half fightback by the Maltese saw Day lose 2-1. To qualify Day had to beat Brett Price of Kent Invicta and this he duly did by 1-0. Dave Gladman started with a 3-1 victory over Terry Arnold (Kent Invicta) and then drew 1-1 with Tony McCann (Yorkshire). Antonio Montano of Spain (ranked 6) had already beaten Arnold (12-0) and McCann (9-2) but Gladman could only manage an 8-0 defeat. Arnold and McCann drew 1-1 and so Gladman qualified with 4 points to McCann’s 2. Willie Fleming lost 6-0 to Charlie Aquilina (Valletta Lions) ranked 50. This was followed by victories over Tim Bowen and Darren Barnes (Cardiff).

 

Gladman	3	1	Arnold
Gladman	1	1	McCann
Gladman	0	8	Montano
Day	1	2	Austin
Day	1	0	Price
Burns	3	2	Fletcher
Burns	2	1	Samuel
Burns	4	0	McCormick
Fleming	0	6	Aquilina
Fleming	6	0	Bowen
Fleming	4	2	Barnes

 

 

 

In the last 16 Burns and Gladman were drawn together. The result could have gone either way with both players having opportunities to score. Burns, however, was able to convert one of his chances and Gladman, despite dominating possession, could not find an equaliser. Colin Day was drawn with Philippe Hipfinger (Brussels) and lost 3-0. Day complained about his flicking being obstructed by his opponent but received no support from the referee. Willie Fleming should have played Joe Mifsud but, for reasons described elsewhere, was prevented from doing so.

 

Burns	1	0	Gladman
Day	0	3	Hipfinger
Fleming			Mifsud

 

In the quarter final Burns played Joe Mifsud (Valletta Lions) ranked 9. Mifsud won by 6-0. With over 30 players taking part this was a good performance by the Glasgow players, all qualifying out of their groups and Tom Burns reaching the quarter finals.

 

Burns

0

6

Mifsud

 

The Veteran category was won by Laurent Coucke (Brussels) who beat Jason Pisani (Valletta) 1-0 in the final. The Open category was won by Kasper Bennett (Bristol) who defeated Angelo Borg (Roma) in the final.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glasgow’s Willie Fleming was the victim of an embarrassing error by the competition organisers. All four Glasgow players successfully qualified from their groups but as Tom Burns, Colin Day and Dave Gladman played their last 16 matches, Willie Fleming, who assumed he would be playing in the following set of matches, was asked to referee a match. After these games Fleming enquired of the organisers when he would play only to be told that another player, Darren Barnes and not Fleming, had qualified from the group. How in an otherwise well-organised tournament had this been allowed to happen? GTSA investigations suggest the following:

 

Below is a picture of Willie Fleming’s group match against Darren Barnes

 

 

 

Fleming led 2-0 at half time in this match. In the second half Barnes managed to come back to 2-2 only for Fleming to win 4-2 with two late goals. The Welsh referee reported the correct score verbally to the results collector, who must have put the result down the other way round. Darren Barnes was therefore put forward to the last 16. When the last 16 matches were due to be played, Barnes could not be found. He had left the building knowing that he had not qualified. Joe Mifsud whom Fleming should have been playing was given a bye to the quarter finals. Fleming was put into the Plate where he reached the semi final.

 

The Cardiff Grand Prix was a very well-attended tournament, played in a fine spirit with a good atmosphere generated. Welsh organisers had worked hard to ensure that this was the case. But clearly there was a communication problem which worked against our Glasgow player. Tournament organisers should review how they receive and record results information and also how they communicate games information to players and referees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A GTSA team of Tom Burns, Colin Day, Willie Fleming and Dave Gladman heads south this weekend to compete in the Cardiff Grand Prix at the Swalec Stadium, home of Glamorgan County Cricket Club. This will be the first time a GTSA team has competed outside of Scotland since the 2012 Amsterdam Grand Prix. On the Sunday a total of 18 teams from Wales, England, Belgium, Greece and Malta will take part. GTSA are the only Scottish entrants. On the Saturday the 4 Glasgow players will all play in the Individual Veteran category which currently has 34 entrants.

 

GTSA are ranked at 45 with Valletta the highest ranked team taking part at 3. Tom Burns is the eighth ranked player (45) and this will give him seeding since there are expected to be eight qualifying groups. Other rankings: Colin Day (98), Dave Gladman (128) and Willie Fleming (209). Top ranked player taking part is Antonio Montano (6).