British Foosball Association

Match Reports

Tornado Tournament at the Scotsman - 14 December 2002

Comments by Mike Fowler

The Scotsman Tournament

Woohooo! What a good tournament this was! Tich's best for a while. The only downside was the poor turnout of Novice and SP teams - 5 and 4 respectively. Poor advertising must surely be to blame here - why do we insist on only advertising our events to ourselves? One single mention on this news thingy just the other day (from Rhys, I believe) was all we had. We need new players so we must advertise in new ways to get them! *me gets off soap box*

I wonder why some of our better-known players didn't show too. Frederic Collignon, Current WORLD Champion and Pro-Master ranked player on EVERY major table in the world was there! We watched him, we played him, we saw his wonderful skills, we learned. We got inspired. Where were you? Don't you want to improve your game? This guy is a phenomenon - to miss seeing him by not getting off your ass for an hour or so is ludicrous. Rob Atha is Britain's up and coming star. When he plays, the audience is always impressed. Players watching him make mental notes and vow to try out what they have seen when they get to their home venues. Well, get this: Collignon walks all over Rob. To see him do it is astounding. It really bugs me that players have missed this. COME ON, PEOPLE! Wake up and get off your lazy backsides to see this stuff! Do you want to play foos at the highest level? Do you want to compete? Do you want to win? If you do, then you HAVE to try and see the best in action.

And let's not forget the other major visitor: Jamal Allalou! He is a wonderful player - another Pro-Master. His powerful aggressive play is VERY impressive to watch. He is a master of the far-wall passing series, making even Rob Atha's lightning-fast blocking 5-bar look sleepy! Then, when he gets the ball on his 3-bar, he can pull out an astonishing array of front-pin shots.

There were so many titanic matches and great performances at this tournament that I cannot possibly mention them all, but a few deserve note:

Rhys Roberts and Mike Pearce took 3rd place, having lost their opening match (against Me and Martyn Harris - hehe) then battling HARD against every other team until finally being stopped in a by no means one-sided war against Collignon and Allalou. A fantastic performance from Rhys (mad loose-ball-catching, 5-bar defence and powerful pull shots) and Mike Pearce (great blocking and some wonderfully deceptive sliding shots from the back that outfoxed the Pro-Masters defences)

Rob Atha and Dave Perrot - Britain's most successful pairing - did actually knock Frederic and Jamal into the Losers bracket. Rob's rapid 5-bar offence, snake and pull shooting combined with Dave's canny blocking make them formidable when they get the upper hand. They can also grind out a win from a tough position, too, as I can attest. Martyn Harris and I took them to 2 games each, 4 goals apiece and it was Rob who crashed in the winning shot through my hopelessly flailing defenders.

Funnies: Dave Perrot grumbling in the final of Open Doubles when he was the only player left with any coins for the table "Why is it that I'm the one paying to get my arse kicked?"

John Worthington and Dave Morgan (who performed admirably in Novice and SP Doubles, getting 2nd place in both) were seen closely examining and fondling the trophies standing at the end of the bar. They were saying things like "Mmmmm, nice trophies! I've never won anything like this before!" They were there for some time - someone even claimed he saw them licking the trophies, but this was unconfirmed at the time of writing ;)

OD Final: Rob fired a snake shot at Frederic's goal, the ball got deflected, bounced out, hit a rod, bounced up and went in the goal! These do happen occasionally, and to prove it, a few minutes later he did it again! :)

My match against Mitch (Hope your cold gets better soon Mitch): I hit another one of my own drop goals. By this I mean that I hit the ball out from defence, it hit Mitch's 5-bar and looped up in the air and down into my goal without touching anything else! Bah. I'm getting too good at this particular shot.

Finally, I should mention the OD Final. Those of you dolts who missed this, take note! It was an awesome display. Frederic and Jamal were coming from the Loser's Bracket and had to 'Double-Dip' Rob Atha and Dave Perrot in order to win the event. This means that they had to beat them in a best-of-five-games match. Then beat them in ANOTHER best-of-five-games match to complete the victory. (Note: Rob and Dave had lost NO matches up to this point, so the first victory over them would put them into the Loser's Bracket too. Then both teams would be on an equal footing for the last match - easy innit? :))

Frederic played in defence. Jamal is far happier attacking and the first match was pretty one-sided as the continental pair overwhelmed the british lads. (Juj, who was sitting next to me at the end of the table, whispered "I really want to see Frederic in atttack!" We all did, but it didn't look like it was going to happen. However, Dave, ever the canny goalie, was starting to get Jamal's shots worked out, and the second match was much tighter. They still won the next 2 games, but by the third game, Rob and Dave really clicked. Jamal started to look increasingly stressed. He was trying wilder shots and was complaining about the opponents talking. Rob and Dave took the lead, until they were at 4-1! A real chance to get back into the match.

Frederic and Jamal switched. This was what we had been waiting for. Frederic pulled out some really fast accurate passes and utilised the Pull shot to drill Dave's defence. It was truly awesome how he set the ball, waited for the hole he wanted to appear and cracked it in. To show he had it all, he also smacked in a beautiful long pull that went all the way around the defence. Not bad for a second shot! (He is world-renowned for his front-pin shooting)

All too soon, it was all over. From 1-4 down to 5-4 win. Amazing stuff. A great finale to a great tournament.

Now hear this, you lame-ass stay-at-homes: After another tournament in January, Tich is planning a MONSTER in March. Another UK Open, held in a hotel near Heathrow. I think the date is set for the 19th, but that is to be confirmed later. Frederic and Jamal, and hopefully more European players will be coming! Now you know it is going to happen. If you want to play table football at all then this is the one to go to. If you cannot plan for something so far ahead then you really are lame/sad/stupid/unlucky/SCARED. Be there. We need UK players there in force to really put on a show. Pro's bring your up-and-coming novices along to show them a real tournament. Semi-Pro's, start sharpening your skills for some Pro scalp-taking! Get some serious experience and some great fun!

Mike F
PS - Congrats to Mitch and Juj for SP Doubles, and Ash and Lolly for Novice Doubles. Played, guys :) PPS - Mike Pearce - Semi Pro !! Well deserved, after a superb performance. Heheh - no more Novice trophies for Felixtowe's finest ;)