Canadian players in the world ranking

In the FISTF World ranking of August 2012, David Baxter is 170th in the Open category.

A tournament in Toronto

For the first time in years, there will be a tournament in Toronto on September 16th. Interested players should contact Allan Thornton at allan@torontosubbuteo.com
The tournament will count  for the WASPA circuit.
Let's hope it will be the first tournament of many others in Canada!

A New Players Guide To All These Acronyms

So you are the proud owner of a shiny new Subbuteo set or perhaps you dusted off your old set that had been sitting in your parents attic for the past 20 years. After setting it all up and flicking the guys around you think to yourself ‘Hey I should see what’s out there on the internet for information’ So you fire up your computer and type Subbuteo into the search engine and see hundreds of pages all full of acronyms. That can be a little daunting for someone who wants to find somebody to play against or perhaps a way to get the most out of your set. Fortunately for you I’m here to help!

National Associations

I’m going to concentrate on the North American Associations for now since but there are associations all over the world so don’t be shy about looking around at a few different sites. Google Translate can be your friend to check out some information on European associations.

CSTFA- Canadian Sports Table Football Association. Table Football is just a fancy name for Subbuteo which was created by the major governing international association. (I’ll cover that later) The Canadian site has a ton of links and information that can help you find players in your area, as well as links to shopping for new gear. You’ll find them at http://cstfa.webs.com/

ASA- American Subbuteo Association. Lots of information about Subbuteo in America. The forums are fairly active and you can find numerous clubs across most of the USA there as well as links to shopping. Check them out at http://www.americansubbuteo.com/

International Governing Bodies

You are going to see these mentioned a lot when you are searching online. There are two organizations that basically offer world rankings and the ability to compete internationally if you so desire!

FISTF- Federation International Sports Table Football. This would be considered the ‘big leagues’ of Table Football. Twenty years ago this group formed with the premise of turning Subbuteo into more of a sport rather than just a social game. The biggest advantages to FISTF is they are all over the Subbuteo world and are very well structured. Sometimes that structure can be a negative as it can be more difficult for nations with smaller groups of players to be able to qualify for their events. You can find them at http://fistf.com/

WASPA- World Amateur Subbuteo Players Association. This group is relatively new to the Subbuteo world and runs off the premise that no matter the size of your club or national association every should be able to be under one international umbrella. The big advantage to WASPA is that smaller nations such as Canada have the ability to participate in an international ranking system without having to fly all over the country to do so. The downside would be that it is a new group that is trying to get themselves set up for the future, and as such has a smaller player base but it is growing. You can find them at http://waspa-circuit.blogspot.ca/

So that’s your crash course on what all these acronyms mean. For a newer player don’t panic about the big international groups to start with. Find your national group and have them help get you in contact with players in your area! Next time up I hope to take a look at the ranges of equipment found and how to get the most out of that set you either just purchased or found in the attic.

Shane Hoopfer Secretary CSTFA

@shanehoopfer on twitter

Canadian players in the world ranking

In the FISTF open ranking of July 2012, David Baxter is now 276th.