English veteran walks away with two trophies at Subbuteo South African Championships
International flavour hopefully inspires a resurgence of youthful participation
The size of the ball is irrelevant because childhood dreams never die.
Randburg Football Club provided the arena as Johannesburg Eagles Subbuteo Club hosted the belated 2020 South African Table Football Association Championships on November 26 and 27. Sponsored by Teak Ice Ola Johannesburg North and Pretoria West, players from across the country were invited to the annual showpiece, with the bulk of attendees coming from Ruimsig’s ETS Subbuteo Club, Johannesburg Eagles and Easterns Table Football Club.
The two-day min-football fiesta featured three separate sections: ‘Old-School’, Inter-Club and ‘New-School’. On the Friday evening players took a trip down memory lane to play with the older-style bases known as ‘cereal bowls’, of which rounder bases are more volatile and harder to control than their modern variants. Saturday morning was the club section with the afternoon’s main event the much-anticipated individual tournament played with the modern bases.
The domestic championship has even attracted international attention as players from England and the Netherlands made the journey. Nick van der Berg flew the Dutch flag while the South African party were excited to welcome the chairman of the English Subbuteo Association, Justin Finch. Adding to the sense of occasion, local legend Kevin Mudie was roped in to conduct the draw for the Friday night battles.
The championships’ star attendee, Justin, is a veteran of over 20 Subbuteo world cups, first representing England in 1986 at the age of 15. Inspired by Mike’s Mini Men, a Roy of the Rovers style Subbuteo cartoon, Justin took up the table-top game at the age of 10. Playing through the pre-console peak of the game’s popularity, Subbuteo has taken Justin across Europe and into some hallowed territory, including the halls of the old Wembley Stadium.
A clear favourite, the locals did all they could but the experienced Englishman was too much to handle. Ian Clarke from Easterns put up a spirted fight in Friday’s Old-School section but Justin would emerge a 1–0 winner. In the Inter-Club section, the three Johannesburg-based clubs could not be separated, ending each on 11 points with the same goal difference, making it the first-ever shared trophy.
In the New-School tournament, Justin’s mastery of the miniature plastic footballers was impeccable, routing Horizon View resident Sean Morgan by 3–0 in the final. “It was amazing to see Justin in action, he really is world class. He didn’t concede a goal in three competitions and taught us some very good training drills. He was just phenomenal to watch play,” said ETS chairman, Jason Kennedy.
“I would like to send thanks and appreciation from ETS Subbuteo Club to Johannesburg Eagles and to Randburg FC for hosting our delayed SA Champs. It was a very well organised event and we were really spoilt. The meals and hospitality from Clifford Graaff and his staff at the club were outstanding,” praised Jason. “We were also honoured to have Clinton Gahwiler from Cape Town City Table Football Club present,” he added.
Gary Downs, chairman of Easterns, was equally appreciative, saying, “The tournament was a great success. It was the first time that we had ever done a tournament over two days, and to have three events rolled into one tournament was brilliant,” he said.
“To have somebody of Justin’s calibre make the effort to come play here in South Africa was truly amazing. For me personally it was a dream come true to play against a legend. I really didn’t mind getting a hiding,” joked Gary.
The 2022 SA Champs will be hosted at ETS in Ruimsig before the World Cup in Rome in November 2022. Efforts to grow the game are ongoing but the main goal is simply to get fingers back to the table. As Justin advised, “It starts by putting something into the community. Start playing with mates, watch, lean and love your football.”
