Plate Winner: Martin BellefontaineBaver Bari v John HalpinDanny Gregory v Oriano MichelettiColin Tarry v Andy FitzpatrickBrian Spoors v Marco Bevilacqua
Chad Wright gives his impressions of his first FISTF tournament:
My first experience playing in an International Open came at the Glasgow IO in mid February. Having only started playing in the Glasgow Club the previous summer it was an event I had been really looking forward to and it didn’t fail to excite and entertain.
I was impressed with how well the event was organised and run and even more impressed with the level of skill in the players present: watching guys like Chris Thomas and Chris Short who make the game look so easy and up and coming stars like under 16’s Ruby Matthews who left a trail of very good players in her wake as she progressed to the team finals with Wobbly Hobby A team.
My own personal highlight, however, was playing in my first game on the Saturday in the individuals against Lawrence Watson from Derry City. For those who don’t know, Lawrence has a youtube channel (Watsies Subbuteo Art) promoting entertaining off-the-cuff videos on our beautiful miniature game and the players involved.
I came off the better in the game managing to keep a clean sheet in the process. But Lawrence was full of anticipation for the coming matches and was excited for the rest of the event. Our paths met again, however, as I was drawn to referee his last match in the Sunday team event Derry City V Edinburgh’s Golazzo. He was a near broken man, exclaiming he had played so badly and hadn’t even managed to score a single goal. Things weren’t getting any better! By half time he was 4-0 down to Marco Bevilacqua. His mood dropped further, intimating that he was going to give up the game as he was so bad (Obviously Lawrence’s words were a bit more colourful!). I said in passing to just keep trying, get a goal before he goes, a highlight to take away!! His team were shouting over encouragement too.
10 minutes into the second half Lawrence was now 6-0 down. It was looking like he was leaving Glasgow goalless! But a missed flick by Marco with 3 minutes to go gave Lawrence possession just on the halfway line. He worked it up the pitch and passed the ball through Marco’s defence to the 18-yard line. Marco got a great blocking flick from a wide player, goal side of the ball. Lawrence measured the shot and executed the flick… The ball hit the defender and lifted into the air, over the keeper and under the crossbar…. YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!! Even as the referee I let out a cheer, Marco too, high fives all round. Just that one goal is all it takes to keep you coming back!!!’
This Subbuteo extravaganza took place over the weekend of 30/31 July. On the Saturday there was a FISTF International Open for individuals as well as a Flats tournament. On the Sunday it was the FISTF Team event and a traditional Advanced Rules tournament. In addition there were a number of stalls selling all kinds of table soccer equipment.
Five Glasgow players made the almost 400 mile trip south: Tom Burns, Dave Gladman, John Halpin, Malcolm Lees and Brian Spoors. They were joined by Galazzo’s Gareth Christie. Burns, Lees and Spoors managed to qualify out of their groups into the Barrage. Unfortunately they were to progress no further. Halpin, along with Gladman and Christie in the Flats tournament did not qualify from the groups.
Lees v ThomasBurns wins against Boothman
In the Team Event Glasgow were drawn with Glide, Slide, Chip and Dip as well as White Star. A 4-0 defeat against GSCD was expected but in the crucial match against White Star they lost 3-1. This meant that Glasgow would compete in the Plate which they won defeating Wobbly Hobby B and Haverhill, each by 3-0.
Gladman v FinchSpoors defeats HarringtonHalpin v Thomas
Meanwhile Gareth Christie was victorious in the Advanced Rules tournament beating former Scottish International Simon Goodman in the final.
The final match – Christie wins Advanced Rules titlePlate Winners
Nineteen players contested the Plate over 5 rounds. The competition winner was Richard Badger of Wolves who defeated Glasgow’s Baver Bari in the final.
Final: Bari v Badger
Round 1
Jeremy Boothman
0
1
Nick Pearson
Baver Bari
1
1
Brian Spoors
Bari shots
Kevin Cordell
2
0
Gary Stewart
Last 16
Nick Pearson
0
1
Gage Badger
Baver Bari
3
1
Martin Campbell
Kevin Cordell
2
0
Danny Lilley
Lucasz Whittle
0
3
Malcolm Lees
Cayne Matthews
1
2
John Halpin
Joe Harrington
3
0
Finn Skinner
Richard Badger
4
0
Brendan Ashley
Shaun Dunne
2
1
Ruby Matthews
Last 8
Gage Badger
1
4
Baver Bari
Kevin Cordell
2
1
Malcolm Lees
John Halpin
3
2
Joe Harrington
Richard Badger
4
0
Shaun Dunne
Last 4
Baver Bari
3
1
Kevin Cordell
John Halpin
2
3
Richard Badger
Final
Baver Bari
0
5
Richard Badger
Cayne Matthews v John HalpinBaver Bari v Brian SpoorsKevin Cordell v Malcolm LeesJeremy Boothman v Nick Pearson
For the first time GTSA took part in the FISTF Europa League. The competition took place in Belem, a suburb of Lisbon over the weekend 26/27 October. The club was represented by Dave Gladman, Malcolm Lees and Brian Spoors and they were joined with 24 hours to spare by American, Patrick Sheridan. Sheridan, who plays his subbuteo in Denver Colorado, had been due to play with Piraeus in the tournament but the club had to withdraw only 3 days before the competition. GTSA were able to secure a loan transfer from Piraeus, the first in FISTF history.
With two late withdrawals including Piraeus, twenty two clubs went into the draw for four groups. Glasgow were drawn in Group 1 along with four other teams. AS Hennuyer (Belgium), CFT Puylaurens (France), TSC Stella Artois Milano (Italy) and GRD 1st May Tires (Portugal).
The tournament was well organised and ran smoothly. The pitches, newly laid, proved to be slow and sticky. This made control of the ball and maintaining possession very difficult.
Glasgow TSA
0
4
CFT Puylaurens
M. Lees
0
1
J.F. Bolard
B.
Spoors
1
6
Leroy S.
D.
Gladman
0
1
Roger T.
P.
Sheridan
0
6
Leroy D.
Glasgow TSA
0
3
GRD 1º Maio Tires
M.
Lees
0
2
Paulo Laranjeira
B.
Spoors
0
10
Paulo Elias
D.
Gladman
0
4
Luis Abreu
P.
Sheridan
1
1
José Santos
Glasgow TSA
1
3
TSC Stella Artois Milano
Patrick
Sheridan
0
1
B. Mazzeo
Dave
Gladman
0
2
M. Suffritti
Malcom
Lees
1
6
A. Iorio
Brian
Spoors
5
0
AS Hennuyer
4
0
Glasgow TSA
Despretz
S.
5
1
Brian Spoors
Aggelinas
C.
8
1
Malcolm Lees
Marain
G.
5
0
Dave Gladman
Dieudonne
D.
1
0
Patrick Sheridan
Therefore at the end of Saturday’s play Glasgow had finished 5th in the group. This meant that on the Sunday they would play for places 17 to 22. Because two teams had withdrawn Glasgow would play only 2 games on the Sunday, not 3.
In their first match Glasgow were drawn against Europa FC TFC (Gibraltar) and lost 3-0. The final match was against Wolverhampton to decide 21st and 22nd places. Wolves had lost their first match controversially in extra time against Attard SC (Malta). Wolves really should have won that match but instead they found themselves facing Glasgow in the final game. Remarkably the match finished 2-2 with the same number of goals for and against. Malcolm Lees and Patrick Sheridan had gained wins for Glasgow, Justin Scott and Mick Hammonds for Wolves. After a long 7 minutes it was Patrick Sheridan who broke the deadlock by scoring the winner against Richard Badger and so saved Glasgow from finishing last.
The Europa League Champions were FCD Mortellito Barcellona (Italy) who defeated Sporting CP (Portugal) 2-1 in the final match.
Fifty eight players competed in the Open and Veteran Categories. The Open was won by Spaniard David Gonzalez who defeated Alexander Haas of Austria. Thomas Wittman (Austria) and Justin Finch (England) were the losing semi-finalists.
In the Veteran category Antonio Montano of Spain retained his title after defeating Guy Palmer of Gibraltar. John Field (Gibraltar) and Andy Beskaby (Scotland) were the losing semi-finalists.
This tournament took place over the weekend of 5/6 May. Twenty four players took part in the individual tournament on the Saturday and teams from Derry (2), Glasgow, London Road and Wolverhampton competed on the Sunday. On Saturday Tom Burns, Willie Fleming and Malcolm Lees all qualified out of their groups. In the second round the 12 qualifiers were drawn into 4 groups of three. Almost against the laws of probability all the Glasgow players ended up in the same group. It was Tom Burns who progressed to the semi-finals where he lost to Mark Farrell (White Star and Ireland) by 1-0. In the final Farrell played Derry’s Kenny Beggs. After a 1-1 draw after extra-time, the match went to shots where Beggs was victorious 2-1.
There was better fortune for the Glasgow players in Sunday’s team event. They won all four matches to take the trophy and match their success at London Road in September. Derry marked their improvement by finishing runners-up.
Many thanks are due to Martinog Bradley and his team at Derry City TFC for their organisation of an excellent and enjoyable tournament.
The event took place over the weekend 10/11 February 2018 at the Normandy Hotel in Renfrew. Players from eight countries took part in the individual events on the Saturday. Sergio Ramos of Portugal was victorious over England’s Chris Thomas in the final of the Open. The Veteran competition was won by Spain’s Antonio Montano defeating old rival Daniael Scheen of Belgium. This was Scheen’s second successive final loss in the GP. Daniel Scheen’s son Noe won the final of the Under-19 with victory over Thomas Price of England whilst Thomas won the Under-15 title by beating Ruby Mathews of Wales.
The WASPA Plate was won by Brian Daley (England) who overcame Martin Bellefontaine (England) in the final.
The event took place over the weekend 8/9 April at the Normany Hotel in Renfrew. Players from Belgium, Greece, Malta and Spain as well as the UK took part. The Individual Open and Veteran competitions were on the Saturday and the Team competition on the Sunday.
It was Malta who dominated both Saturday competitions. Massimo Cremona took the Open title defeating his fellow countryman, Angelo Borg in the final. Joe Mifsud, also from Malta, defeated tournament favourite Daniel Scheen of Belgium in the Veteran final. Glasgow’s Baver Bari and Tom Burns both reached the quarter-final stage whilst Steve Bennett (Dundee United TFC) was most successful Scot when he reached the Veteran semi-final.
The WASPA Plate was won by David Baxter (Manchester TFC) who overcame Andy Boyer (Yorkshire Phoenix) in the final.
If Saturday belonged to Malta, Sunday was Yorkshire’s day. In a very close final they defeated Roligans of Greece after having lost to the same team in the group stage.
The Scottish Grand Prix took place over the weekend of 2-3 April at Tannadice Park, Dundee. Glasgow were represented on the Saturday in the Veterens’ category by Dave Gladman, John Halpin amd Malcolm Lees. All three players qualified out of their groups but Gladman and Halpin fell at the barrage. Halpin went down 3-1 to Colin Tarry whilst Gladman lost to a sudden death goal for Brian Daley after a 1-1 draw. Lees, however, reached the semi-finals where he opened the scoring against Daniel Scheen of Belgium. Lees played well but eventually lost 5-2. Scheen won the final against Brian Daley who had put out Steve Bennett in the other semi-final.
Alexander Haas of Austria was the Open champion while London’s Elliot Bellefontaine won the Under-19. Gareth Christie was victorious in the Plate.
Five teams competed in Sunday’s Team Event. Tom Burns joined the other Glasgow players to complete the team. Glasgow victories over both Dundee teams ensured that Glasgow were the best placed Scottish side. Defeats to Yorkshire and Royal 78 Kaisermhlen meant a third place finish. The Austrians were tournament winners.
