Hello, table football fans!
Is it October already? Where did the year go? Have you had a good year on the table? Are your shots crisper, is your five-bar more maddening, and is your defence simply a brick wall?
If not, don't worry, you're in good company. The most important thing is simply to have fun with this addictive game and all the friends you make through it.
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What's striking about British table football in 2022 is the amount of action happening in new places around the country. Picking out a few highlights:
- Scottish foosball is up and running. Edinburgh TFC - led by Eliza Kilian - have found a fantastic home venue at The Ball Room in Meadowbank, with two Garlandos in place. Tomas Cellary & Ollie Boyd won the inaugural club competition on 10th September.
- Foosball is growing in the southwest of England. Plymouth TFC are playing weekly at the Cornwall Gates Sports Bar. At the last competition on 25th September, doubles was won by Greg Kelsey and Grant January, with Greg also topping the singles event. Taunton TFC is running its first-ever tournament, a DYP Doubles, on Friday 14th October in the Allstars sports bar. We're also talking to people in Dartington and Exeter. And, of course, Bristol TFC has meet-ups every Thursday evening on Leonhart in the Allstars sports bar.
- In the south of England, Gatwick TFC & and the community in Brighton TFC are playing most weeks on Garlando and Bonzini and steadily attracting new players every session. Gatwick also represented the UK in the international world record attempt to have the largest number of people playing table football in 24 hours (23-24th September).
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The club in Brighton meet on Thursday evening. Usually they play on Bonzinis at the King and Queen pub. but recently they have been at the Hobgoblin and the Grosvenor Casino. No snakes!
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- In northwest England, Manchester TFC hosted an outstanding ITSF tournament on 15-18th September (full report below), and the Chester Centurions tremendously ran two tournaments in 24 hours during the world record attempt.
- In the Midlands, Warwickshire TFC continue to meet regularly. A club championship is in the offing before the end of the year.
- And in London, a league is up and running with teams representing Camden, East London, Shoreditch, Hackney and Holloway. End-of-the-month tournaments are back at the Foosball Club at the Victoria Tavern near the Emirates Stadium - with Rhys Roberts & Stephen Lyall winning the 38-player event on Friday 30th September. (A special mention to Salvatore Bruccoleri, Artur Drozd & Paul Martin, who have gone into the LTFC Hall of Fame as the club's players of the season). Tournaments also take place in Hackney and Camden.
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There were 24 players for Open Doubles in Hackney on 7th October. Dave Ziemann & Rhys Roberts came out top.
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Licence Requirements 2023
For 2023 we're going to establish the club system more. Clubs have been well demonstrated as the best way to grow participation in foosball - not least by enthusiastic activists who are driving the growth of all the clubs mentioned above - so next year, everyone will need to be affiliated with a BFA club.
You can tell us your preferred BFA club through our online form here. Very important message... if you aren't part of a club, we can help you get connected to one or start your own. Foosball is a sport for all, and club membership isn't a barrier to participation. Indeed quite the opposite, everyone gets to play more foosball if they are part of a community local to where they live.
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Already more than 250 people have played in BFA-recognised events in 2022. Our Championship Rankings have just been updated and you can see how you're doing here. The UK's national number one ranked players are:
Singles - Richard Marsh
Doubles - Robert Atha
Mixed - Stephen Lyall
Women's Singles & Women's Doubles - Maryam Aly
Senior Singles - Dave Ziemann
Senior Doubles - Dave Ziemann & Rhys Roberts (tied)
We also now have a set of rankings for London based on how the region's players have done in local events. Stephen Lyall tops the Doubles rankings; Artur Drozd, Salvatore Bruccoleri and Will Hawkes are tied at the top of the Singles rankings.
All tournament results - national or club - can go into the rankings. Club captains, please send your results to results@britfoos.com so that everyone's performance is counted.
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National Tournaments
Manchester TFC hosted the 2022 Manchester Open between Thursday 15th - Sunday 18th of September. The tournament, an ITSF Pro Tour, was held on Tornado tables at the Man Bites Frog restaurant in Chorlton on Tornado tables. Picking out a few of the many special things about the event:
- A phenomenal first-time win in Open Doubles for hometown fire-and-ice Uzzy Ahmad and David Pulcini.
- Seeing top UK players from earlier days bringing it back on the table, especially Olga Lasecka, Khalid Sharif, Jude Fitzgerald and Benge McHugh.
- International visitors - the USA, Dubai and Bulgaria - bringing their slick skills (push-kick!) and taking trophies back home too.
- First-timers getting the feel of the intensity of a foosball tournament. A great turnout from Manchester locals and a Beginner's Doubles title heading to Somerset.
- And, of course, the tremendous warm hospitality of Dave Cleall-Hill, Manchester TFC and the staff at Man Bites Frog, whose brilliant passion, hard work and buzzing enthusiasm made it a wonderful weekend.
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The final of Open Doubles - Uzzy Ahmad & David Pulcini vs Robert Atha & Olga Lasecka - was an all-Manchester affair.
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ITSF events:
- Open Doubles: Uzzy Ahmed & David Pulcini
- Mixed Doubles: Olga Lasecka & Robert Atha
- Senior Doubles: Rick Macias & Joe Eatherly
- Open Singles: Callum Oakes
- Women's Singles: Radostina Lyubomirova
- Senior Singles: Rick Macias
UK events:
- Froglife Doubles: Richard Marsh & Callum Oakes
- Friday DYP: Eliza Kilian & Uzzy Ahmad
- Master Doubles: Stephen Lyall & Jonathan May
- No Pro Doubles: Renato Pavesi & Balazs Preiner
- Beginner Doubles: Nikolas Agapitos & Greg Kelsey
- Team Event: Bunch of Ringers
The full set of results can be seen on the ITSF website here.
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The final of Open Singles - Callum Oakes vs Matthew Warr - was an all-Darlington affair. Uzzy Ahmed took third.
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Upcoming Tournaments
The end of this month sees some new national events:
- the UK Junior Championships on Friday 28th October has events for U19 Boys, U19 Girls, U16 Doubles, U13 Doubles, U19 Singles and a fun event for parents.
- the London Regional Championships on Saturday 29th October is for players living, working and playing in London. It features Open Singles, Open Doubles, and 2BRB MDYP.
The events are hosted by the Barnet Wanderers, and will be played on Roberto Sport tables.
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Plugging the UK's first-ever junior championships. Parents, bring your children and their friends!
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British players have been on the planes over the summer. Clearly one full week of World Cup action in Nantes at the end of July was not enough for our foosball fanatics, and the UK was well represented at the Tornado, Garlando and Leonhart Worlds, as well as other European regional events.
Britain's greatest-ever Robert Atha, brushed off the dust of covid to excel on the table both at the Tornado Worlds (3rd place in Open Singles, defeating world number one Tony Spredeman along the way), and also at the Garlando Worlds (2nd place in Open Singles, 1st place in Classic Doubles).
And Rhys Roberts was crowned world champion in the Over 63 singles category at Garlando Worlds.
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There are five British players in the top 100 ITSF Open Combined Rankings, being Richard Marsh, Callum Oakes, Stephen Lyall, Maan Arslan, and Robert Atha (64th). That's pretty nice.
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Corporate events
The BFA has been busy promoting foosball in the community over the past few months. Recent events include expert challenges for Valley-Dynamo and Smart Frame and fun tournaments for corporates CDW and Derwent. These activities help the BFA raise money to support our activities in the UK.
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We have a new page on the britfoos.com website (here) talking about corporate events n stuff. Contact Rhys Roberts if you want to know more.
And @Clubs, we'd love to help you get out there doing events in your local community, which you use to raise funds for your activities. Let's talk.
Selling tables
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Interesting in starting a club but don't have a table? The BFA's Garlandos are available for people wanting to get a club up and running in their local area. Get in touch to find out more.
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Annual General Meeting
The BFA's AGM will be held online at 7pm on Sunday, November 20th. This is where we dig into what we need to do to set ourselves up for the future. As well as the BFA's directors, company members, club and team captains, everyone interested is welcome to join. We'll circulate joining details in due course.
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And that's it. See you on the table!
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A typical weekday evening with the foosball junkies in Shoreditch. Don't move, Salvatore...
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