« February 2010 : December 2009 »
Subbuteo across America discussion (Sun Jan 31)
If you are a member of Facebook you can join the Southern California Subbuteo Club group and then take part in the discussion we have created for the "Subbuteo across America", see here»
We would like ideas and input from you, all of the people taking part in this event, to make it the best it can be.
If you are not a member of Facebook you can join by clicking here»
Friday Subbuteo (Fri Jan 29)
This was the last Friday before the start of Season 9, on Friday February 5, therefore, most of the players wanted to play as many "regular" Subbuteo games as they could as a final warm up.
Having not played "regular" Subbuteo since the end of Season 8, Jason Mitchell can feel unfortunate to have lost his games. In his first he was beaten by a second half strike by Simon Hutchinson. Despite having most of the possession and shots he lost his second game to a superb goal by Kevin Nieman, scored with just two minutes left. In his last game of the night, against Wayne Smith playing left handed, he conceded goals in the first and last minute.
Simon scored the fastest goal of the night against Kevin's "B" team, which is on Parodi/Subbuteo bases. A drive straight from the kick off resulted in a goal in 35 seconds. Kevin equalized midway through the first half. Simon scored two more goals to claim the victory, the first goal was just before the end of the first half and the second early in the second half.
Dominic Hutchinson was nicknamed the "Dom-inator" by his father after crushing Kevin on the "Indoor Edition" pitch. The first two quarters ended tied, 1-1 and 2-2. Dominic surged to a two goal lead in the third quarter, and scored a fifth goal in the fourth quarter leaving Kevin to enquire about the "mercy rule". It was not needed as Kevin pulled a goal back to reduce the Dominic's margin of victory to two goals. When asked about why he does so well playing "Indoor Edition", the only answer Dominic would give was "The walls".
The second "Indoor Edition" game was the first time the Hutchinsons had played together. The first two quarters ended goalless. Simon took a two goal lead in the third, and Dominic pulled a goal back just before the end of the quarter. The older Hutchinson scored a third early in the last quarter and made a number of saves with his goalkeeper to keep the score 3-1.
Between the second and third round of games was the debate and vote on the rules for the forthcoming season. These will be published in the next few days.
Express 1 results and tables»
December 2009 - January 2010 friendlies»
... and Canada too (Thu Jan 28)
Since we announced "Subbuteo Across America" on Sunday we have received communications from two players in Canada asking if they can take part. And our answer to our friends north of the border is "Yes".
So welcome to this event goes to: WestCoast Table Soccer Club (Vancouver Fraser Valley, BC) and Ben Racette (Montreal, ON)
The only issue we have is the charity donations to be made by the Canadian players and clubs. We are investigating several methods of doing this.
If you are in the USA or Canada and you and/or your club is interested in taking part in this event contact us through the Contact page of this web site.
Thank you (Mon Jan 25)
On Saturday January 23 there was an Extraordinary General Meeting of FISTF, the international governing body for Subbuteo, in Frankfurt, Germany. During the meeting the entire board of directors of the Federation was replaced.
The Southern California Subbuteo Club would like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing board members for their service, and give a special "thank you" to the former chairman, Vincent Coppenolle. Over the years Vincent has been a good friend to the SCSC, answering our questions and encouraging us to apply to host FISTF tournaments.
We hope that in the future we will get the opportunity to face Vincent and the other former board members over the Subbuteo pitch. If you are ever in California please let us know so we can organize a Subbuteo event in your honor.
We also look forward to working with the new board, and to learn what their plans are for the non-European Partner nations, which includes the American Subbuteo Association.
Subbuteo Across America (Sun Jan 24)
"Subbuteo Across America" will be a nationwide event for charity, where USA based players play many Subbuteo games on the same day. We would like to encourage all Subbuteo clubs and players to get involved. If you are not a member of a club, or the nearest club is too far away, you can play a few games with your friends and family, or a solo games by yourself.
In the four days since we first mentioned this on the American Subbuteo Association's forum, players and clubs from seven states have said they would be interested in taking part. See thread»
A date for this event has not been finalized, all we can say at present is that it will be on a weekend in May.
At present we are just looking for clubs and players to say they are interested in taking part, it is not a commitment that you will do so. If you and/or your club is interested contact us through the Contact page of this web site.
"Subbuteo Across America" page»
Or you can reach the page by using the short URL : http://SubbuteoAcrossAmerica.tk
Friday Subbuteo (Fri Jan 22)
With Season 9 on the players' minds it was no surprise that most of them used their "B" teams tonight as a chance for some practice before the start of the new season. Kevin Nieman and Simon Hutchinson used teams on Subbuteo bases, and Wayne Smith played with his left hand. Dominic Hutchinson is only going to play one team, so he used his usual orange "Kumba" team.
The evening started with Kevin "breaking his duck" on the futsal table, it has taken him 13 games to win his first Subbuteo futsal game in regulation time. Dominic was on the wrong end of this game. He fared better in his next futsal game against his father's, Simon, "B" team playing out a goalless tie. The shooting was better than the goalkeeping in the shoot out and Simon's lucky save of the fourth shot was enough to give him the 5-4 win. In the rematch Simon switched to his "A" team and won 2-1. Dominic's bad night continued as he was beaten by Wayne 0-2.
On the "regular" Subbuteo pitch Wayne, playing left handed, beat Simon's "B" 3-0. Playing his second game left handed he could not pick up another win as Kevin's "B" held him to a goalless draw. After struggling earlier in the evening Simon bounced back with his "B" beating Kevin's 2-0.
Fut•Cal One results and table»
December 2009 - January 2010 friendlies»
Friday Subbuteo (Fri Jan 15)
There were plenty of goals tonight with 25 goals being scored in six games.
Most of the goals were scored on the "Indoor Edition" pitch. The game between Dominic Hutchinson and Kevin Nieman was a nine goal thriller, with the winning goal being scored with two seconds left in the fourth quarter. Dominic started well with a 2-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Kevin pulled a goal back in the second, and by the end of the third quarter the game was tied 4-4. Kevin struck with two seconds left in the fourth quarter with what Dominic described a "Lucky goal" as the ball struck the back of the goalkeeper and the goalpost several times before entering the goal.
At the same time Simon Hutchinson and Wayne Smith were playing on the "regular" Subbuteo pitch. Wayne was playing with his left hand, instead of his usual right, to demonstrate his proposed "B" team for Season 9. The game ended goalless as Wayne struggled to get many shots on target with his left, and Simon struggled doing the same with his left too, but being left handed he did not have an excuse. When finished on the regular pitch Wayne and Simon moved to the "Indoor Edition", where Wayne won 4-1.
Wayne returned to the regular pitch to play Kevin with his right hand. It was a close game that Wayne won by a single goal.
The Hutchinsons moved to the futsal table. The first game ended 3-3, and Simon won the shoot out 2-1 saving all but one of Dominic's shots from the second penalty spot. The second game was very one sided as Simon scored four unanswered goals.
The rest of the evening was spent debating the various methods for "handicapping" a "B" for the forthcoming season. Simon's proposal can be seen in section 6 of the Season 9 rules.
Fut•Cal One results and table»
Express 1 results and tables»
December 2009 - January 2010 friendlies»
California Rankings for 2009 (Tue Jan 12)
The problem with the American Subbuteo Association's rankings is that they only include sanctioned tournaments. The Southern California Subbuteo Club plays so many other tournaments, seasons, and friendly games that count for naught with the ASA.
Dominic Hutchinson gave himself the task to create the "California rankings" for 2009, to make a better picture of the club's members' positions relative to one another... More about the "California rankings"»
Best of 2009 part four (Mon Jan 11)
"It was hard to make my picks," Simon Hutchinson explained, "as I tried not to choose the same pictures the others had.
"My selection is a combination of photos of the players' expressions and of the major events that happened last year."
You can see Simon's picks and those made earlier here»
The Southern California Subbuteo Club would like to thank everyone who took and sent photographs to the club, as without those photographers there would be nothing to pick from.
Change of date (Sun Jan 10)
The American Subbuteo Association Open tournament that was originally scheduled for Saturday May 22, 2010, has had to be moved. It will now take place on Saturday April 17, so please change the entries you have in your calendar.
You can learn more about this competition on the (new) ASA Open April 2010 page.
Friday night Subbuteo (Fri Jan 8)
The Southern California Subbuteo Club's first night of play in 2010, their Silver jubilee year, was a mixture of "regular" Subbuteo and Subbuteo futsal.
Kevin Nieman's winless run continues on the futsal table. He has played 12 games, and is yet to win in "regulation time". Tonight Dominic Hutchinson scored both the goals in their 1-1 tie, and Kevin went on to win the Shoot Out 4-2. Dominic did not fare so well in his second game, he was 0-3 down at half time to his father, Simon, and eventually lost the game 1-4.
"A very close game," was Wayne Smith description of this "regular" Subbuteo game with the older Hutchinson. Wayne took the lead midway through the first half, and Simon equalized soon after. The game remained tied until the last few minutes when two quick goals gave Wayne the victory.
Simon decided to use his "B" team, a team on the old fashioned "cereal bowl" Subbuteo bases, against Kevin.
"I did very well with the Subbuteo bases," Simon reported. "Fairly early I scored a great goal, but missed a figure I had in an offside position, so the goal was disallowed. My goal was a great one considering I have never played with this team before. Kevin equalizer came from a ramp shot off one of my defenders and over the goalkeeper in the top of the far side of the goal."
Fut•Cal One results and table»
December 2009 - January 2010 friendlies»
Dominic's picks for the best (Thu Jan 7)
The Southern California Subbuteo Club's youngest player, Dominic Hutchinson, has added his contributions to the best pictures of last year.
"There were so may photographs this year that it is hard to narrow down the best," he opined. "Luckily we have some of the best photographs of all the [Subbuteo] clubs."
You can see Dominic's picks and those made earlier here»
More best of '09 (Tue Jan 5)
Wayne Smith's picks for the best photographs of the Southern California Subbuteo Club have been added to the "Best Photographs of 2009" slide show.
"I like goal pictures," Wayne exclaimed. "The number of good photos was incredible. I ended up having to make sure that the exposure was good, focus was acceptable and lighting was good and not just concentrate on content."
You can see Wayne's and Kevin Nieman's earlier picks here»
Best photos of '09 (Mon Jan 4)
Several of the Southern California Subbuteo Club's players have been kind enough to pick what they consider to be the best photographs of the club taken during 2009. Today the series starts with Kevin Nieman.
"I decided to list some pictures that, I feel, deserve recognition." Kevin explained. "I was thinking of pictures that show the fun we have, and some of the images that captured the club's activity and participation."
You can view Kevin's picks here»
Website stats for '09 (Sat Jan 2)
There are three questions the members of the Southern California Subbuteo Club ask about this website:
- Where in the world do visitors come from?
- Where in the USA do visitors come from?
- What sites do visitors come from?
We have gathered all the statistics for this website for 2009 and you can read the answer to these three questions here»