Viestit

Hello lads!

Great news from Australia. We are having our first tournament for many years this Saturday 20 March!

Still waiting to hear if is officially endorsed by FISTF, but in any case we will have 10-12 guys here in Sydney, including Rob Smith from Perth who has become the main driving force to get the game going again here and who has played a couple of FISTF tournaments in Singapore.

The tournament is being held in the work premises of my old friend Steve Dettre, who a number of you met at the World Cup last year.

I have not played since our tournament in January in Helsinki, so have no great expectations for Saturday. Hopefully I won't be quite as rusty as I was then, but in any case it'll just be great to be playing again here in Australia 

I'll let you know how it all went after the event.

Maybe next time I can give a lot more warning and some of you can play Down Under 

All the best.

Eliot

It was great to see Eliot, eventhough I spent only couple of minutes at the venue. Looking forward to Eliots competition report in this forum and in the FISTF newsletter.

Great to see you too Zinga, even if only briefly - shame you were too sick to play and kick my butt. Or maybe not such a shame  

Great also to see so many old friends again and to get some games - maybe 1 too many for me! - played after such a long break. Thanks especially to Hönkki for organising the tournament to coincide with my visit.

Overall, I was definitely impressed with the standard of play. You guys have all improved over the past 2.5 years and I can see you have lots of good, tough matches to keep you strong. No wonder Finland was able to beat Greece at the World Cup! Everyone I played was more consistent than previously, and I think better in defence in particular. The better figures have probably helped you but I think that is only half or less of the story.

I was happy to come 6th in a strong field and to win more than I lost, but  bit disappointed with my standard of play overall, especially in my two heavy losses. You can't expect miracles and a complete lack of playing for more than 2 years was always going to be a challenge, but I had hoped to get closer/better as I went. I think I got closest to playing well against Kaitsu, especially in the second half, but was still lucky to win that game.

Thanks also Jaakko (now I know who BarsaJake is!) for your kind remarks. It was nice to meet you too.

I have already emailed some of the guys back in Australia about the tournament and really hope we can get something happening Down Under in this World Cup year.

Hello boys!

Hope you are all well and enjoying some nice Finnish weather. We are looking forward to a white Christmas  

Not sure if the tournament is going ahead on 6.1.2010 - hope so! Or in any case hope to see some of you guys during my visit.

My family and I have a busy schedule (trips to Savonlinna, Kuopio and Lapland planned), but I am certainly still free on 6 Janaury and also on 29 and/or 30 December if anyone is interested in a flick on either of those days.

We leave for Finland in about 24 hours. If anyone wants to contact me, you can get me by email at eliotjutta@gmail.com or mobile telephone on + 61 409 015 386.

I have not played a competitive game since leaving Finland in June 2007 and have hardly flicked at all with no-one to play against, so I expect to have my peppu kicked a fair bit   But who cares! The game here slowly is starting to get going, but I missed the first get together in November as I was overseas for work, but hopefully another small get together will happen in late January and maybe something more formal after that.

Anyway, hope to see you soon.

Eliot

What are the exact dates when you will be staying in Finland ?
 

We are arriving on 22 December and leaving on about 15 January. We will probably be in Lapland from about 9 January until just before we leave for Australia. Have to make sure we see some snow 

Hello to all my Finnish friends and to strangers alike!

Hönkki has asked me to let you know how the game is progressing 'Down Under' and it is my pleasure to do so.

For the moment, we are still largely at a fairly early organising stage. Robert Smith, who is from Perth in Western Australia and who participated in a tournament in Singapore a few months ago, has been gathering the names of interested players from around Australia and is building a database of names. At the moment, he has about 40 names on the database, including former national champion Robert Green, who has been living in Stockholm for some years, not so far from Helsinki 

The next stage will be to try to get some tournaments happening in Australia and possibly regular leagues in a number of Australian cities, but obtaining the necessary equipment and finding suitable venues will be a challenge.

Some of the Finnish lads met my old friend Steve Dettre in Rotterdam recently for the World Cup. Together with Gary Hosie (Australia's best player ever), Steve was the main organiser of table football in Australia for many years. While his work and family prevent him from having a major organisational role now, his visit to Rotterdam has got the big fella interested again in helping to get things moving, which can only be good.

Apart from hopefully having some games happening in Australia over the next months, a longer term goal will be to send an Aussie team to the 2012 World Cup in England. If that happens, a Suomi v Australia international would just have to happen!

I am looking forward to seeing some of you when I come to Finland this Christmas. I'd better start having a flick soon if I don't want to be completely hammered 

All the best.

Eliot

Great - kiitos paljon Hönkki

Hönkki on Joulupukki!

Well done boys! International participation, some great and interesting results, great feedback from your visitors, and almost a Finnish winner!

Wish I could have been there and think of you all often.  

Looking forward hopefully to catching up with you all over December/January. We plan to be in Finland from 22 December to 15 January.

All the best.

Eliot

Good luck boys! Have a great tournament.

And to think I was living only about a 40 minute drive from lovely Porvoo. Minä olen surullinen Australialainen  

Well done pojat! Some very good results there for Suomi and I'm sure some great matches.

Hope you go one better today and that a Finn makes and wins the final. Have fun.

Eliot

Vesa-Wille 0-0
Puppe-Zinga 0-0

Puppe__24 21 3 0 73-06 66
Zinga__24 21 2 1 82-07 65

Congratulations Puppe and commiserations Zinga . Sounds like it was very close right up to the end and a great season. And well done everyone for finishing (almost) another competitive season of Subbuteo in Finland.

Maanantain on huikea Grande Finale! Kärkipään sijoituksista ainoastaan kolmossija on juntattu Timolle. Muista sijoista pelataan edelleen mielenkiintoisia viimeisiä pelejä.

Puppe__22 20 2 0 71-06 62
Zinga__22 20 1 1 76-07 61

Puppe-Zinga

Good luck boys! May the best Finn win!

Eliot

Great work Hönkki! And thank you for treating me as an honorary Finn
I am honoured. I hope I can add to my statistics in Finland one day.

All the best to everyone and I hope you are enjoying the warm spring.

Eliot

Nice to hear from you Eliot and Happy new year to you too!

I was wondering are we going to see you in Finland this summer when we are having our first Open tournament? That would be great imho!

Kiitos Kaitsu. I'd love to be there, but unfortunately it looks like I'll be in Europe (the UK) for work a month too late.

Moi pojat!

Happy 2008! I hope you are all well and that the winter is nice and cold.

I have been keeping an eye on the league results - very interesting and lots of close games. The new boy Puppe seems to be going well. That was an important win over Zinga. That Puppe bloke must've played before  I think

I miss you all and miss having a regular flick, but I hope something might happen here soon. A guy here in Sydney has started a new Subbo website which was mentioned in Vincent's newsletter last week and I have been in contact with him. He hopes to organise something soon. None of my old friends seem too interested in playing until now, but maybe if someone else organises something a few of us old 'tragics' will go along!

I will be going to London for work in late June and I hope that Jeremy Bradley will organise a small TSPA Whitestar tournament in my honour like he did last June - not an official FISTF one, but a good standard nonetheless (not too good i hope).

Anyway, keep well and have fun!

Eliot

Liiga saatiin käyntiin mukavasti 12:lla pelillä. Hönkki teki kauden avausmaalin!

The league started with 12 matches, and Hönkki scored the first goal of the season!

Hönkki-Kaitsu 1-0

What is the world coming to!! :lol:

Well done Hönkki, and well done lads for starting your new season. There were some interesting results in there, but no big upsets. Congrats also to Puppe on his successful Hefi debut.

I wish I was there and I look forward to seeing how the season unfolds.

Over here, it's getting hot and we have had bushfires already near Sydney. In fact, I can smell the smoke in the air, though the fires are a long way away. We need some good Finnish October weather - cold and wet!

All the best.

Eliot