After much searching for a venue and plenty of e-mails Australia ended it's drought of Subbuteo Tourney's, on 15th September 2012 at 4pm it happened at the Mega Games Trader in Penrith. What started as an event with the old hands numbering 6 turned into a frenzey of new player registration's and a total of 12 entrances.
Being my first tourney in charge of organisation I was unsure as to the format and with a few players only having limited time it was decided to run the Swiss format of play. So with 2 mins to kick off and the draw done I felt a tug on my shirt and a young bloke by the name of Mitchell was looking up at me. "Do you mind if I play?" Now Mitchell was our youngest entrant and took our numbers to 13. "No worries mate" was my reply. Mitchell had never played before but asked some questions of the old hats and away he went into the world of Subbuteo, very impressive as well when you find out the kid has just come from a Basketball grand final and won.
So with me taking the bye to allow the new blood of Subbuteo to join in we were away.
Round 1 saw some great results as we all knocked the rust off our flicking fingers and the Subbuteo new guard watched and played and learned what they could from some of the best players Australia has to offer.
Round 2 saw some more great games and some of the newer players starting to get the hang of play and tactics.
Round 3 and the action was heating up for the 1st Australian WASPA Tourney Champion, with Eliot Kennedy and Robert Green putting in some great results.
Round 4 and it all came down to this if Robert Green or Mike Newton could get a victory then everlasting glory was theirs with Eliot Kennedy able to snatch a victory if he flogged the pants off of me. Rob and Mike played and Rob took victory 1-0 in a great game to watch. Now the last game was on between Eliot and myself. After a tense 20 minutes the game was over and Eliot had taught me how to play Subbuteo with some killer shots. I got one shot off but it hit the crossbar and went out final score 6-0 I had crumbled like a cookie and Eliot had snatched a victory from under everyones noses.
So at the end of the day the top 3 were:
1. Eliot Kennedy
2. Robert Green
3. Mike Newton
Encouragement Award. Mitchell Schroder (our youngest and newest player but held his own well)
I would like to thank alot of people as well Christine and Manuel for all the support and help they gave me in getting this up and running, from an email from a mate when he saw Subbuteo in the window to Australia first WASPA event. You guys allowed us to play at the store (Mega Games Trader, Penrith) and invade you with our big boards even when they had a big day on as well, our Tourney was on the same day as the stores 20th Birthday.
To Crown and Andrews, Don Rainbow and Gerry Crown who organised prizes for the day and use of their demo table, and a big thank you to Don who turned up to support us on the day. The representative from Crown and Andrews, Jill Forgan, who really did some behind the scences work with Mega Games to get prizes there on.
To the players old and new thanks for coming and helping me get this game on the map again in Australia, your support and approachability made the day really special. Subbuteo new crew keep flicking guys and see you in the league! I got thrashed a couple of times and took the worst beating of the day but my smile wouldn't leave my face because we were FLICKING!
To WASPA for allowing us to come under the banner for our Tourney and the lure of world rankings got us going and new players excited.
Manuel and Christine and myself talked alot about forming a club and running Regional Tourneys every month, we have big plans and I am looking forward to seeing this grow!
To you the reader, find a store that has Subbuteo in it and run a tourney if you are lucky you will find people as helpful and excited about Subbuteo as I did, where ever you are Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth or where ever because I can tell you now Penrith is here to stay and looking for interstate challenges!
Regards,
Brett Davis
Emu Heights Bundesliga TFC
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