« September 2009 : July 2009 »
August photos (Sat Aug 29 09)
The few photographs taken during August's friendly games have been compiled into a slide show.
You can view the slide show here»
You will find many more slide shows and videos of the the Southern California Subbuteo Club in action on the Photographs page.
Drey upgraded (Thu Aug 27 09)
In late July Simon Hutchinson upgraded his pitch, the Drey, replacing the pitch surround and painting the sides of the pitch and the new surround. You can see the changes he has made on the Drey page»
You can learn about the other pitches used by the Southern California Subbuteo Club by following the links on the Pitches page»
ASA Rolling Rankings (Sun Aug 23 09)
The American Subbuteo Association published the latest Rolling Rankings on August 22. The last rankings were last released in June, you can see them here»
Since then there have been five ASA sanctioned tournaments, including the ASA Nationals and our California State Championship. Due to the large number of players taking part in these other tournaments the rankings of the Southern California Subbuteo Club's members have tumbled, as points are won depending on the player's finishing position and the number of competitors taking part in the competition.
| 21 | Wayne Smith | 89= | Dominic Hutchinson | |
| 48= | Simon Hutchinson | 89= | Steve Tucker | |
| 48= | Kevin Nieman | 103 | Edward Nathan | |
| 54 | David Jensen | 121= | Adam Carlson | |
| 56 | Jason Mitchell | 121= | Munir Merchant | |
| 81 | John Carroll | 121= | Sean Daly |
What are the Rolling Rankings?
Only the ranking points won in the last twelve months are counted. If the player has played in more than five ASA tournaments in that time period only the points
won in their best five finishes are counted.
From FISTF newsletter (Fri Aug 21 09)
A story about the California State Championship appeared in this week's FISTF newsletter (No. 270)...
7. USA: California State Championship
The third annual California State Championship was played on Saturday August 15 in Simi Valley.
This year's winners were:
- State Champion - Wayne Smith
- Missions trophy - Jason Mitchell
- Sierras trophy - Dominic Hutchinson
Smith crushed all before him and won the State Championship for the third straight year.
Mitchell pipped Kevin Nieman and Simon Hutchinson in the last round of games to take second place and the Missions trophy.
Dominic Hutchinson was awarded the Sierras trophy as the only under 19 player present at the tournament. He also deserves an honorable mention for his
performance as he lost all of his games by only one goal.
Report and photographs here
State Championship photos (Wed Aug 19 09)
Photographs from the California State Championship have been sorted through and the best have been put into a slide show.
You can view the slide show here»
You can find many more slide shows and videos of the the Southern California Subbuteo Club in action in the Photographs section of our web site.
Season 8 details agreed (Mon Aug 17 09)
Five of the players who will be taking part in Season 8 were present at the California State Championship, and they held a meeting after the tournament to finalize the details for the forthcoming season. This is what they agreed:
- There will be six players taking part in this season: Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Munir Merchant, Jason Mitchell, Kevin Nieman, and Wayne Smith.
- The deadline for completing all league fixtures is the end of December 2009.
- The players will play each other four times, twice "home" and twice "away", therefore, everyone will play 20 league games.
- The "away" player will use the small goalkeeper, as was done in Season 7.
- In the League Cup two players will receive a bye to the semi finals. Four players will play in the first round. These players will be drawn at random on the first league night.
- Each League Cup tie will be played as a single leg.
- In League Cup games the "home" player will be the one who is in a lower positioned in the league table than their opponent.
- Everyone confirmed that they will use the same teams they used in Season 7. See the Participants page to see photographs of the teams.
The detailed rules can be seen on the Rules page.
The season will start on Friday September 4 at 7:00 PM at the Hutchinson's home.
Hutchinsons reach milestones (Sun Aug 16 09)
Both Simon and Dominic Hutchinson passed milestones in their Subbuteo playing careers with the Southern California Subbuteo Club during yesterday's California State Championship.
Dominic's first game, against Wayne Smith, was his 250th game. Dominic started playing Subbuteo in 2006, and becomes only the fourth player to pass this milestone.
Simon's third game, against Dominic, was his 500th game and earned him his fifth star. The elder Hutchinson returned to the sub-beautiful game in 2005. He is only the second player to pass the 500 game mark.
Who will pass a milestone next? You can see on the game played page»
California State Championship (Sat Aug 15 09)
While this year's California State Championship was a smaller turn out than last year's, it was a fiercely competitive event with only four points separating second from sixth place.
Wayne Smith was triumphant as State Champion for the third year in a row. Jason Mitchell claimed second place, and the Missions trophy. Dominic Hutchinson was awarded the Sierras trophy as the only U19 player taking part in this year's tournament.
For a full report, results, and the final table go to the California State Championship page»
Friday Subbuteo (Fri Aug 14 09)
Only Wayne Smith made it out to the Hutchinson's home for some last night practice before the California State Championship. Smith beat Simon Hutchinson in the first game by a single goal. The next game produced a surprise when Dominic Hutchinson scored against Smith, and held the lead for four minutes before Wayne equalized. With slightly more than a minute left in the first half Smith scored the winning goal. The final game of the night was a one sided affair as Simon was overwhelmed by Smith offense, who scored three second half goals. You can read the players' comments on the August friendlies page»
From FISTF newsletter (Thu Aug 13 09)
A story about Sunday's Father of the PlayStation's birthday bash appeared in this week's FISTF newsletter (No. 269)...
7. USA: Swiss players in California
The Southern California Subbuteo Club welcomed their first international visitors on Sunday August 9. Trisha and Thomas Baumeler are members of the
Subbuteo Players Aargau Süd, Switzerland. They had taken time away from their vacation to the south western USAto take on the best in California. It was an
opportunity for the SCSC members to play FISTF ranked players and see how good, or bad, they are.
Thomas drew with Wayne Smith, the best player in California, and beat the rest of the Californians. Twelve year old Trisha proved a tough adversary with her accurate flicking, which impressed her opponents. She opened the day with a single goal victory over Dominic Hutchinson. The next two games proved tougher as she lost to both Smith and Steve Tucker. One goal was enough to beat Kevin Nieman. Trisha conceded an early goal to Simon Hutchinson, and equalized early in the second half. She snatched victory with a goal with only 50 seconds left for her third win of the day.
Both of the visitors were impressed by the hospitality of their hosts. "Players were unbelievably nice and very hospitable. We very much enjoyed
playing Subbuteo in this this beautiful environment. Cordial thanks to the Southern California Subbuteo Club." was Thomas comments on the Subbuteo
Players Aargau Süd's web site. You can read a more detailed report and see photographs here
Playstation photos (Wed Aug 12 09)
The photographs from Sunday's (August 9) Father of the PlayStation's birthday bash page, featuring our Swiss guests Trisha and Thomas Baumeler, have been compiled into a slide show.
To view the slideshow click here»
You can find many more slide shows and videos of the the Southern California Subbuteo Club in action in the Photographs section of our web site.
Tucker not in Season 8 (Tue Aug 11 09)
Steve Tucker has announced that he will not be able to participate in the Southern California Subbuteo Club's Season 8. In an email to the club he gave his reasons...
With league members only being able to play on Friday nights which conflicts with other obligations I have, I need to decline participation in season 8.
Good luck to all my friends with season 8, I hope to see you in a tournament in the future!
Tucker had finished runner up in Season 6 and Season 7. His withdrawal from the coming season reduces its membership to six or seven players.
Father of the PlayStation's birthday bash (Sun Aug 9 09)
We welcomed two international guests to this event, Thomas and Trisha Baumeler are a Subbuteo playing father and daughter from the Subbuteo Players Aargau Süd, Switzerland. Today was not organized in a tournament format, the priority was for our two visitors to play all of the Southern California Subbuteo Club members present.
Thomas drew his opening game with California's best player, Wayne Smith, in a game that Smith said he was lucky to tie. He went on to beat all of the other Californians he played present.
Trisha started the day with a single goal win in a closely fought encounter with Dominic Hutchinson. She went down to two defeats losing to Smith and Steve Tucker, before returning to winning ways defeating Kevin Nieman and Simon Hutchinson by one goal margins in exciting games.
You can read a full report of the today's action on the Father of the PlayStation's birthday bash page»
Mitchell's night (Fri Aug 7 09)
Three forms of Subbuteo was played tonight: regular Subbuteo, Subbuteo futsal, and Football Express. Every one scored at least one goal in every game, and in the regular Subbuteo games three of the four games ended with the same score.
The evening opened with a "battle of the Hutchinsons" on the futsal pitch, with Simon defeating Dominic in a five goal game. Dominic and Jason Mitchell's futsal game ended 3-3, the highest aggregate score to date, and the younger Hutchinson won the shoot out with the first penalty of sudden death. David Jensen's first game of futsal ended in a 1-1 tie with Simon, and Jensen won the shoot out when Simon's fourth penalty struck the post.
On the regular Subbuteo pitch Mitchell took a two goal lead in the first half against Jensen, while David scored once in the second half it was not enough to deny Mitchell his first win of the night. Simon conceded an early goal against Wayne Smith, and equalized before half time with a hard shot that seemed to curl into the top corner. Smith's pressure paid off in the second half as he scored to win the game 2-1.
Mitchell had purchased a Football Express by Subbuteo pitch on eBay and Smith provided the 1970s style goals that were needed to fit in the holes in the pitch. Jason won their game, 2-1, with a goal with less than second left. Mitchell's fortune continued to the regular Subbuteo pitch when tied Smith 1-1 in the last game of the night.
Having played so well against the top player California Mitchell said that this was "his night" and this story would look good with that title.
Who's up for Season 8? (Wed Aug 5 09)
The Southern California Subbuteo Club's Season 8 will be starting next month, September, and finish at the end of December. To date the following players have signed up to take part:
We are waiting to hear from Adam Carlson and Steve Tucker as to whether they will be participating in the new season, both played in Season 6 and Season 7.
If you would like to take part in Season 8 please contact us using the Contact page.
Once we know how many players will be taking part there is the business of league format and any rule changes to be agreed and voted upon.
The winning logo is... (Tue Aug 4 09)
The votes from the secret jurors for the Southern California Subbuteo Club's Season 8 logo competition have been collated, and the winning logo is displayed to the right. This design was created by Simon Hutchinson.
It was a close thing as the second place logo was only one vote behind the winner.