British Foosball Association
Hey guys. I know it’s been a while since my last update, but I came to realise that monthly updates may not be the most appropriate format for this blog. Rather, I’ll post a new article whenever there is enough to warrant the time you take to read this. Now this isn’t to say that there hasn’t been much activity over the last 2 months, but often it is a case of what takes my time as chair would be of little interest and only take up one or two sentences of content for this blog – just general query answering, and sorting out a recent corporate event for example. Then there are things that wouldn’t be appropriate to publicly announce at the time. An example of this would be that I have been spending a fair amount of time sorting out sponsorship for one of the GB World Cup teams, and potentially a longer-term partnership with the BFA in general. However, as this is not 100% agreed yet, I’d hope that you understand that it would not be the best thing to announce quite yet. Of course I’ll keep you updated when we do have confirmed developments.
Now something I very much can talk about, though something which I’m very sure you all know about, if the upcoming European Fireball Championships in Manchester. There will be a good number of players travelling to Britain, many of whom have not been here before, for this event – and I see that as a great reason to attend yourselves. With our geographical location we do not get as many international players travelling to our events as those in mainland Europe do. So to be at an event with these players new to our shores is a great chance to see the different styles others play. I love getting away to international tournament (though I have not been to anywhere near as many as I would have liked to in recent years) because they just feel more ‘fresh’, playing against people who do things that no one in the UK does. To have this experience on our doorstep (well it might be easier for some to get from London to Paris, for example, than to Manchester – but you know what I’m saying) is a great opportunity for so many British players to experience this. Plus the number of tables, and available prize funds, are somewhat unprecedented in the UK in recent times at least. So if you haven’t already, have a look at the details for this event here – http://bit.ly/o6aAS6
We have also announced the venue for the UK Championships and the BFA Cup –Warrens Holiday Village (http://bit.ly/o1o14L) Clevedon, Near Bristol, BS21 6TQ. 18th-20th November 2011). For those of you that have been involved in the BFA for a few years, you may remember this as the brilliant venue for the 2009 Tornado Championships. The UKC is an open competition, to UK nationals, to compete for the chance to become UK Champions and to be one of Britain’s representatives at the 2011 World Championships. And for those that don’t plan to take the UKC too seriously, then the bar at the venue will be open until the early hours, and it’s only a short stumble to the, very cheap, accommodation. Just to point out that it’s not all too serious stuff ;)
With the UKC comes the end of the sporting year, and though our attention of course is on delivering the best event possible here, thoughts are starting to move towards the 2012 sporting year. Something that a lot of us have really wanted, and something that never seems to have happened, is to have a proper tournament calendar. So if you are interested in organising a tournament next year then let me know (chair@britfoos.com) and we can try to make this happen. Remember that sponsorship I spoke about earlier? Well this has the potential for covering all UK tournaments next year. If we have tournaments confirmed early then we could plan properly to make sure any money becomes directly beneficial to your tournament.
Promise you wont have to wait this long for my next update.
Joe.
