Tuesday 27 August 2013

WASPA monthly report of August 2013

Hello everyone,

the monthly report of the WASPA circuit can be found at this address: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_PpphlADgVeDFLdUZ6S25DQTQ

a) Events in August

In August 10 tournaments were played under WASPA banner, which is very good for the summer period. There were 4 tournaments in England, 2 in Canada, 1 in Belgium, Singapore, Cyprus and South Africa. Steve Bennett became the first Scot to win a WASPA tournament. Tan Kok Wee won his first tournament in Singapore (he won in Hong Kong last year). Clifford Graaff won again in South Africa and there were some big names among the winners in England: Brian Daley and Chris Thomas. Well done to Canada for having organized 27 events this season!

To be noted some details of the last tournament in South Africa are sill missing and will be included in the next report.

b) Rankings

Geoffrey Marain (Belgium) is still on top of the ranking but Peter Sexton (Canada) is now very close of the first place. Canada has extended the lead in the ranking of nations while Belgium is back on the podium. 833 players from 32 nations are ranked.

c) Season report

This season is now over and all I can say is that the development has been awesome. In the first 16 months of existance, we had 35 regional tournaments and 1 tournaments with the ETF rules. In the last 12 months we had 164 regional tournaments, 8 tournaments with the ETF rules, 3 promotional tournaments and 1 tournament with advanced rules. At the end of August 2012, we had 220 ranked players from 18 countries. It means the number of involved players was multiplied by 3,78. Will we do more in the next 12 months?

d) Finnish rules

As we have tournaments with FISTF, ETF and advanced rules, there was no reason to refuse to have tournaments with Finnish rules. From now on it's possible but the Finnish association will send us a translation of the rules in english soon.

To be noted in September there will be 2 events with the Advanced rules in Donegal (Ireland) and Worcester (England). Both clubs will be hosting their first tournament under WASPA banner. Welcome!

e) WASPA and FISTF

WASPA is developping more than expected but I still believe it does not make shadow to FISTF. WASPA is concentrating on local events and doesn't have the same philosophy. For this reason, we can not accept the behavior of the FISTF president who is continuously putting pressure on players and organizers to stop any kind of colaboration with WASPA. Our game is too small to divide the community. WASPA players will never be forbidden to play WASPA tournaments. for the same reason, we should in no case any kind of pressure or any kind of blackmail from the FISTF president, in particular since the nations present at the FISTF AGM in Issy-les-Moulineaux on February 2013 confirmed that WASPA can only bring something positive for the game. We believe both circuit can continue their development by keeping their difference and attracting players with different sources of motivation.

f) Useful links

Here are a few links to check when you have time:

the WASPA blog: http://waspa-circuit.blogspot.com
the WASPA map: http://goo.gl/maps/MP4gu
the WASPA Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/127530464069377/?fref=ts
the WASPA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/WASPA-World-Amateur-Subbuteo-Players-Association/231789816834700
the independant table football forum: http://tablefootball.friendhood.net/

To add tournaments or to send results, please use this e-mail address: vincent.cop@rsca.com

g) Help needed for interviews

REMINDER:
For the future, we will try to have more interviews on the blog. If you are interested to be interviewed or if you want to interview one of your friends, you cans end a picture to vincent.cop@rsca.com and answer the following 5 questions:
- can you introduce yourself as a player? When did you start playing?
- why do you like subbuteo table football?
- what are your greatest achivements in the game?
- If you had to improve something in table football tournaments, what would it be?
- What are your thoughts about WASPA? Why do you like (or dislike) it?

h) WASPA is waiting your feedback

Any idea on how to improve WASPA is more than welcome. A new season is going to start and we are looking for ideas to get more players involved, more nations taking part and more clubs organizing events. Your ideas to improve things can be sent by e-mail to vincent.cop@rsca.com

i) If some of your friends want to receive the monthly report by e-mail, they can drop a line to vincent.cop@rsca.com to be added in the mailing list

Have a great month!

Vincent Coppenolle

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