The Perth IO took place over the weekend 14-15 June and was attended by players from Scotland, England and Malaysia.
It was a tough day for Colin Day who, suffering from neck and back pain, found himself in a group along with Greg Dand and Gareth Christie. Needless to say, Day lost heavily to both. Tom Burns and John Halpin were drawn in the same group along with Steve Bennett, Rob Conway and Martin Campbell. Burns lost 2-0 to Bennett but won his other three games to qualify in second place. Despite good performances, Halpin failed to win and did not progress. Tom Burns then played in the barrage and had a resounding 4-0 victory over Scott Fleming. In the other barrage game Gareth Christie squeezed through by a 3-2 margin against London’s Colin Tarry. Both semi-finals were closely fought, Burns losing 1-0 to Dand and Christie defeating Bennett 2-1. In the final Christie opened the scoring only to be pegged back by Dand but it was Christie who secured the title with a late goal.
The team event on the following day was a very low key affair and GTSA Â finished third behind Tayside A and B teams.
The organisers were delighted that the event was attended by former subbuteo giant Mike Dent who now lives in Malaysia. Dent, originally from Blairgowrie, represented England at the 1976 Europa Cup in Malta. He went on to win that trophy beating Englishman Norman Gleave in the final. Our own Dave Houston represented Scotland at that tournament.
Dave Gladman travelled to Gibraltar to take part in its International Open on the weekend of 24-25 May. The event took place at Gibraltar TSA’s own premises where 6 tables are permanently set up. On the Saturday, the Team event, won by Gibraltar’s A team was followed by the Veterans’ competition. In his first match Gladman recorded perhaps his best result in European competition, a 1-0 victory over Luis Mendez of Spain. This was followed by another good result, a 1-1 draw with Jason Cano. Gladman, therefore, went into his final group match needing only a draw to qualify. Unfortunately he crashed 0-3 to Jose Bonavia. The competition was won by Antonio Montano who defeated John Field 4-0 in the final.
On the Sunday it was the Open Event. For Gladman a 0-4 defeat to Ferran Coll was followed by a worse 0-6 defeat to John Field. There was some consolation in a 1-0 victory over Jose Bonavia in Gladman’s third match. But there was to be no consolation in the Consolation event where Gladman lost 1-0 on shots to Lawrence Alvarez after a 1-1 draw. Antonio Montano made it a double by winning 2-1 in the final against Jason Cano.
Full results: http://fistf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Open-Gibraltar.pdf
Montano scores in the Open final against Cano
Gibraltar TSA very kindly awarded Gladman the Fair Play Trophy. Many thanks to John Field and all the players for their hospitality at this well organised event.
Tom Burns and Dave Gladman became the first Glasgow players to take part in the Mallorca Grand Prix. The tournament took place over the weekend of 10/11 May but the Glasgow pair played in the Veteran category on the Saturday. Unfortunately neither player managed to qualify out of the group. Gladman had a win (1-0) and two defeats (0-2 and 0-5) to finish third whilst Burns had one draw (2-2) and two defeats (0-5 and 0-3) to finish fourth. Both players reached the quarter-finals of the ‘Consolation’, Gladman courtesy of a bye and Burns after a win on shots. Gladman then lost 0-3 and Burns 0-1.
The latest issue of the world rankings was released at the end of February. Tom Burns has lost his position as top Scottish Veteran to Malcolm Lees. This was due to Burns’ decision to play in the Open category rather than the Vet at the Glasgow IO. This was in order to balance numbers in the two categories. Also in the Veteran category Colin Day and Dave Gladman have moved up, Gladman by 13 places. John Halpin enters the ranking at 313.
Due to lack of participation Dave Butler continues to slip down the Open rankings. Biggest mover is Barry Corr up 145 places to 303. Baver Bari and Colin Berry have both jumped 67 places, to 243 and 304 respectively.
Glasgow A, due to their poor performance in the Glasgow IO, remain at 42, four places adrift of Hot Club. Glasgow B, on the other hand move up 23 places to 72.
For the most part it was a case of what might have been for Glasgow players in this competition. Arguably best performance over the weekend was by Barry Corr. In the Open he won both his group matches including victory over improving seed Ben Staples to qualify for the quarter-finals. There he lost by only a single goal to eventual winner Gareth Christie. Then on the Sunday he led Glasgow’s B team to semi-final qualification. An fine performance saw him defeat Yorkshire’s Paul Lawrenson 4-1. It was an excellent response to the decision to promote Dave Houston to the A team ahead of Corr. For Tom Burns a draw against Gareth Christie would have seen him go straight to the quarter-finals to play Barry Corr. As it was he narrowly went down to the Taysider after leading and then surprisingly lost in the barrage to Ben Staples. Colin Berry also made it to the barrage but lost heavily to Mark Farrell. Baver Bari also reached the quarter-finals, finishing behind Steve Bennett in the group. Bari also lost but made a good fist of it against Rob Ramsey.
Barry Corr powers to a win against Paul Lawrenson
In the veterans Dave Gladman made the quarter-finals at the expense of Colin Day. Day beat Gladman in the group but then, remarkably, lost to Rob Conway whom Gladman had beaten 5-0. Gladman lost his quarter-final to Mike Parnaby after performing creditably in the 1-0 defeat. John Halpin competed well in all his matches. He continues to improve and will have gained much experience from the tournament. Congratulations to Colin Day who was the only Glasgow player to receive a trophy, finishing runner-up in the Plate. He lost 3-2 on shots to Russ Harker. This shoot-out will be remembered for one of the worst shots in competitive subbuteo history when Day’s central shot failed to even reach the Harker penalty box.
Glasgow B play Tayside A in the semi-final
The biggest disappointment was the failure of Glasgow A to qualify for the semi-finals. A draw with 3-man NETFA saw them go out on goal difference. This might have been avoided if the following hadn’t occurred: Dave Gladman losing to Dave Baxter, Tom Burns losing a 2-goal lead to Scott Fleming, Dave Houston failing to beat Connor Bowden, Dave Gladman not converting possession into goals against Ben Staples and Tom Burns not hanging on to his lead against Rob Ramsey. It should also be said that the team were without Dave Butler and Willie Fleming, two of the club’s top players. It was a success story for the B team, however, and congratulations to Barry Corr, Ronnie McKenzie, John Halpin and Fraser McKenzie. They lost to Tayside A in the semi-finals but the margin of defeat against them was less than that of the Glasgow A team. This will ensure that Glasgow B remain in the top 100 ranking.
We can say, however, that the tournament was a success and enjoyed by all participants. Congratulations to the worthy winners in all categories! We thank all the players who took part and we very much appreciate the kind comments we have received. Full results are available in the Glasgow IO page on this website.
This weekend GTSA stages the second Scottish international tournament of the season. We extend a warm welcome to all our competitors who have said YES to sharing what we hope will be an enjoyable and exciting weekend. We look forward to many Bank of England pounds giving an economic boost to our pubs and curry houses!
In the Open category Steve Bennett of Tayside may start favourite but he will have strong competition from Bristol’s Paulo Gouviea, Yorkshire’s Mark Farrell and fellow Taysider Gareth Christie. In the Veteran category it is difficult to see any winner other than Daniel Scheen but Mike Parnaby, Malcolm Lees and Brian Daley may argue with that. It promises to be a very competitive Team event where perhaps five of the seven teams have realistic expectations of glory.
GTSA will give regular Twitter updates over the weekend and full results will be published on this website.
Fewer than half of our entries are with Scottish clubs and that is a little disappointing. It is interesting that Scots and Greeks, who share St Andrew as a patron saint, also share a masochistic tendency to fight amongst themselves. Small nations can ill afford to allow this to happen.
On January 24th Dave Gladman flew south to take part in the Malta International Open. It was an opportunity to escape Scottish January weather for a few days but although Malta was a bit warmer, it was no less wet or windy.
The tournament was hosted by Valletta Lions TFC.
The venue, the 12th May Band Club in Haz Zebbug
The team event took place on the Saturday and was won by Valletta Subbuteo Club who beat Valletta Lions in the final.
Gladman did not have great expectations in the the tournament as the standard of play is a step up from that in Scotland. Add to that he is still recovering from a broken finger. First up was a match against John Zammit. Gladman was three goals down after only a few minutes. Fortunately an impending slaughter did not materialise and he managed to keep the score to five. A better result was achieved against Joe Mifsud, this time a 3-1 defeat after trailing 2-1 at half-time. In his final match Gladman managed to double his number of goals scored but went down 6-1. Astonishingly, in this game he equalised and had an opportunity to go 2-1 ahead. But then it was backs to the wall.
Against Adrian Bonnici
The Veterans competition was won by Charles Aquilina who defeated Jason Pisani on shots in the final. Derek Conti beat Samuel Bartolo 2-1 to win the Open title.
Aquilina wins on shots
More pictures from the event:
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Many thanks to Valletta Lions and indeed all the Maltese players for their hospitality, friendliness and enjoyable tournament!
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.
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
Fleming and Tarry prepare for battle
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
Glasgow v Yorkshire
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 look worried!
Valletta went on to lose their semi final to Bristolwho lost the final to Brussels a team which Bristolhad beaten in the group stage.
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.
