Date
March 8, 2003
Participants
Greg Bond, Bruce Farrar, James Partipilo, Nigel Rick, Wayne Smith, Greg Willey
Report by Wayne Smith
The largest Subbuteo tournament in Southern California since last century was played on Saturday 8 March, at the home of Wayne Smith. Subbuteo has been absent from the Southern California scene for several years. Not since the 1999 Western States Open has there been as many as 6 players facing off against one another across the “fuzzy green” in SoCal.
In 1999 there were a number of regulars, such as Jon Smith (the 1994 US champion) and Sean Daly (who ran a 25 student Subbuteo club at his middle school) who just dropped out. Without them and a long-term back ailment to Greg Willey, the SoCal scene was dead. Thanks to the Internet and the determination of players to drive 70 miles and more, six players managed to get together for a single program tournament.
As a result of the loss of John Schultz and Sean Daly, a lot of beginners have had to pick up the slack. One such beginner is James Partipilo. He drove all the way from Yorba Linda to Northridge (80 miles, one way). Originally he just wanted to watch the game as he had only played with “lightweights” on the nylon pitch with no polish. Fortunately, the host talked him into playing as he had a great time. He even picked up a point in a 0-0 tie against Greg Bond.
Greg Bond came all the way from Redlands-a 90 mile trip, one way. Greg played some years ago and just started again. Greg carpooled with Greg Willey (known to all as just “Willey”). Willey met the host in San Francisco back in about ’97. As luck would have it, Willey moved down to the LA area. Now that his back has recovered, Willey is playing as much Subbuteo as ever.
Bruce Farrar, another regular from last century, hadn’t played in almost four years. He didn’t take long to get started as only 2 minutes into his first game, he scored on Willey. Bruce wasn’t originally going to play, but when I told him that my wife was planning on putting a barbeque together, his eyes lit up and he quickly asked “When’s that tournament, again?” He should have had a sign reading “Will play Subbuteo for food.”
Nigel Rick, another one of those who played as a kid and never since. Nigel is a big Plymouth Argyle fan and collecting Plymouth Argyle Subbuteo teams is his first priority. Nigel now has a pitch to practice on and after his 2nd place finish, playing may now spend more time playing and less time collecting.
The host of the tournament, Wayne Smith, has been the only Subbuteo playing constant in SoCal since 1986. Since then, he has never stopped recruiting and teaching Subbuteo. When he teaches, he plays left-handed. As a result, he has been playing left-handed for about 15 years. He finds playing left-handed much more fun while playing less advanced players because it is so difficult, playing alone is even a challenge. By playing left-handed, he gets to try as hard as he can and keep all the games competitive. And yes, he played this tournament left-handed.
The players were:
Player name | Experience | Distance driven |
| Greg Bond | 6 months* | 180 miles |
| Bruce Farrar | 1st time in 3 years | 30 miles |
| James Partipilo | 1st time* | 160 miles |
| Nigel Rick | 3rd time* | 18 miles |
| Wayne Smith | 18 years | Host |
| Greg Willey | 2 years | 140 miles |
Final table
| Pos | Name | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Wayne Smith | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 15 |
| 2 | Nigel Rick | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| 3= | Bruce Farrar | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| 3= | Greg Bond | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | Greg Willey | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 5 |
| 6 | James Partipilo | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 7 | -7 | 1 |
Results
Because of the time allowed for everyone, two-8 minute halves were played, instead of the normal 15 minutes. The other advantage to this format is that there are more upsets this way. A rule that was added was if the game is tied 0-0 after regulation, then a 1-shot shootout was used. The ball was placed just inside the shooting line in the half way between the touchlines and a shot taken. If after each player shoots once, the game is still a draw, a draw is recorded. (SO) indicates a game were a shoot out occurred.
| Nigel Rick | 1 | v | 0 | James Partipilo (SO) |
| Wayne Smith | 1 | v | 0 | Greg Bond (SO) |
| Bruce Farrar | 1 | v | 0 | Greg Willey |
| Wayne Smith | 1 | v | 0 | Nigel Rick (SO) |
| Greg Willey | 1 | v | 0 | James Partipilo |
| Greg Bond | 1 | v | 0 | Bruce Farrar (SO) |
| Nigel Rick | 1 | v | 1 | Greg Willey (SO) |
| Wayne Smith | 1 | v | 0 | Bruce Farrar (SO) |
| Greg Bond | 0 | v | 0 | James Partipilo (SO) |
| Greg Bond | 2 | v | 2 | Nigel Rick |
| Bruce Farrar | 2 | v | 0 | James Partipilo |
| Wayne Smith | 2 | v | 0 | Greg Willey |
| Nigel Rick | 2 | v | 1 | Bruce Farrar |
| Greg Bond | 1 | v | 1 | Greg Willey |
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 0 | James Partipilo |