Chris Short wins the English GP

The Open final between Chris Short and Mark Gauci (referee Nathan Dupont)

The FISTF Grand Prix of England took part last week in Enderby with a large field of 63 players from 12 nations. It was great to see many close games even if in the end the two top seeds of the tournament reached the semi-finals. At this stage, Chris Short beat Chris Thomas on shots while Mark Gauci beat Nathan Dupont (4-3). In the final, Short scored the only goal of the game in the sudden death to win the title. Other winners in the categories were Elliott Bellefontaine (U19), Connor Bowden (U15), Mauro Manganello (Veterans), Margault Delval (Ladies) and Kye Arnold (U12).. In the team event, 14 teams took part. In the final, the Maltese team of Valletta beat the Belgians of AS Hennuyer (1-0) to catch the title.

Bob Green was the only representative from Australia. He managed to reach the quarter-finals of the veterans section. Well done Bob!

English GP

As a reminder, details for the English Grand Prix to be played on June 7 and 8 are available here.

Open of Gillingham

You can find here details about the forthcoming Open of Gilligham in England.

Details of the Gilligham Open

Some good links:

http://subbuteoassociation.co.uk/events/international-open-2014-2/

http://www.subbuteoplayersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=105&t=12865

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/kentinvictatfc/calendar/event/kent-invicta-tfc-gillingham-international-open-149909

Summary:

Date & Categories:-
Saturday 5th July 2014 – Individuals – Open, Vets, U19s, U15s & Ladies
Sunday 6th July 2014 – Teams & U12s Individuals

U12s can play in U12s & U15s but not in teams, unless a team is short on players.
Ladies can play in U12s or U15s if in that category too.
Depending on numbers & schedule, U15s may be able to play U19s as well.

New Board in England

January 2014 is a very important date for english subbuteo as the ESA Board has been affected by some changes. After Justin Finch (president), Danny Lilley has been chosen to become the new chairman of the association.

The new ESA Board consists now of Danny Lilley, Terry Arnold (General Manager), Jeremy Bradley (sports officer), Ben Staples and Rob McCormick (Welfare officers).

The full statement can be found here: http://subbuteoassociation.co.uk/articles/482/Statement-from-the-board

FISTF would like to wish good luck to the new ESA Board and congratulate the past Board for the excellent work made over the last few years.

Kaspar Bennett and Brussels SC dominate in Cardiff

Brussels SC, winner of the team event (Gil Delogne, Rudi Knuf, Laurent Coucke, Frédéric Vanton, Cédric Vanton, Philippe Hipfinger)

The Cardiff grand prix was played last week-end in a great spirit and a fantastic field of 93 players from 13 nations taking part. The Open tournament was full of surprises but at the end one of the big favorites managed to lift the trophy as Kaspar Bennett (England) beat the young Angelo Borg (Malta) in the final. Paulo Gouveia from Portugal and Romain Lafontaine from France were the semi-finalists. In the other categories, David Vantassel (Belgium) won the U19 event. Vantassel's teamate Emilie Despretz won both the U15 and the ladies sections while Kye Arnold beat Thomas Price in the U12 final. In the veterans, the event was very open. Despite the presence of four excellent Maltese players in the last 8, the inner was Laurent Coucke from Belgium. Coucke wins his first ever title in the veterans category.

On sunday, the team event was also very open with 16 teams taking part. Bristol SC (England) and Brussels SC (Belgium) were in the same group but met again in the final. After a very close game, Brussels won by one goal to win their first ever FISTF trophy. Well done to tall the inners and to the Cardiff organizers for a great tournament.

FULL RESULTS HERE