ETS successfully hosts first official Subbuteo tournament
The tournament featured 12 players of varying skill levels, with the senior pros looking to mentor the young bucks and novices who have just stumbled across this addictive version of the beautiful game.
Footballing cathedrals across the world are still empty tombs housing the corpse of a once great spectacle. Fortunately, the inextinguishable flame burns bright in the hearts and fingertips of the game’s purists.
Education Through Soccer (ETS) hosted their first official Subbuteo table soccer tournament, 1 November. For the unacquainted, Subbuteo is a board game replica of football that requires players to move their on-board players with precise flicks of the fingers in a turn-based, strategic manner.
ETS and Randburg FC, who have been the bedrock of Subbuteo in Johannesburg, have several players making their way to the World Cup in Rome in 2021. These fierce competitors are all stalwarts of the football community and are still active in various roles in local structures, whether it be coaching, administration or refereeing.
The tournament featured 12 players of varying skill levels, with the senior pros looking to mentor the young bucks and novices who have just stumbled across this addictive version of the beautiful game. After five round-robin games in each of the two groups, the final four were Jason Kennedy, Fernando Rodriguez, Sean Morgan and Clifford Graaf.
In a final where two players know their opponent’s game play and tactics inside out, Sean and Clifford played out a tense encounter, which ended in a 1–0 win for Sean. The next tournament is set for early in December with every match a step closer to the final preparations for the players’ grand international adventure.
