Australia v England.

  As the real game is on Saturday, my trusty opponent and myself decided to stage a subbuteo version of the game to see how it would pan out!

 Teams lined up for the national anthems!

                            Australia won the toss, so they kicked off, and early pressure resulted in a lineout close to the England goal line.

                                       England were able to defend well despite a very dangerous push forward, but the ball ended up going over the dead ball line. Play then continued with no side gaining the upper hand, until a Mark called by England, the kick from this ending up in touch just off the Australian line.

                     England quickly gathered the ball, and a neat run with the ball produced a try right under the posts.

                                     The conversion was good and with only seconds to go of the first half England ended up leading 7 points to nil.
                   Unfortunately the camera batteries ran out so was unable to film the second half.The second half was pretty uneventful for most of the time, with both sides attacking and defending equally well, but with 10 minutes remaining, England tried a drop goal that was successful. Australia came back attacking with vigour, and  also tried a drop goal attempt, but the ball failed to achieve enough height. Australia continued to pile on the pressure, and with less than a minute to go, scored a try in the right hand corner. The conversion was going to be a bit tricky from such an acute angle, but despite this was a good kick the went right through the middle of the posts, this was then the end of the match, final result: England 10 Australia 7.

Ireland match.

Having found someone as daft as me to play a game, I thought it only right that Ireland should have a proper match against an opponent. Decided on 30 minutes each way with 5 minutes half time for a beer, and me playing for the Barbarians!!

 Ireland won the toss, so they kicked off, a bad defensive move by me gave Ireland a penalty on the half way line, Mike decided to go for goal, but despite good hieght and length, the ball just went wide of the left hand post. The game then progressed to a very tight to and fro match with neither side being able to take advantage of the play, resulting in a half time score nil nil. The second half started well for the Barbarians with a good tactical kick into the opponents in goal area, but the try attempt was missed resulting in a 20 metre drop out. The game again tightened up until 10 minutes to go, an off ball tackle gave the Barbarians a penalty from the 10 metre line, this was successful. The restart produced a great kick forward and follow up by Ireland, and  some bad defending by me resulted in a great try for Ireland in the right hand corner. Unfortunately the conversion attempt went wide, and that was time up, so Ireland won 5 points to 3.
  It was a damned good gfame, and it is great to be able to play against a proper opponent, even if he does play mainly table football!!!

Ireland team.

 Newly acquired team off jolly old ebay. Tried a quick game with them against the Barbarians, not too good at the moment, lost 12 nil!!!
             Will give them a proper try out when I have more time.

Interesting stats.

I found an article from 2007 that was in the Northern Echo newspaper about subbuteo football leagues. Apparently there are hundreds of tournaments and leagues for table football worldwide, with the majority being in Europe. Britain it seems is fairly poorly represented, with England only able to field 70 players at the highest level! Interestingly enough, 70,000 football sets were sold in the U K that year, and also of note was the fact that on the continent subbuteo is sold in sports shops as opposed to toy shops, with the game being recognized as a serious sport. Also in this article was stated that European professional players can earn as much as 40,000 euros annually.
                     Hmmm, methinks I had better start limbering up my fingers, maybe a table rugby world cup could be in the offing!!!

International.

 Having acquired the England team, it seemed the logical thing to do was have a game, and what better than Australia as opponents!!

                 Australia lined up for pre match photo!!

               England ready and in the frame.

            I decided to make the game more open with a slight tweak to the rules, normally to run with the ball the figure must having made contact, remain within 2 inches of the ball, the kicking wedge base is 2 inches long. However that can make progress a little slow, so I think the best ploy is, once possession has been established the figure may then have 2 kicks of any length, but after that must again do a possession flick, or any player that was behind the play of the ball may attempt to gain possession. If possession is gained, then up to 2 kicks of any length are again allowed, but must be followed with a regain possession flick.

           The game works well played like this, with some pretty decent runs, and makes for a more flowing game. Australia executed a great long kick, putting the ball in the far left corner of England's in goal area, players of neither side were particularly near the ball, and Australia's attempt at possession fell short, but alas so did England's, this left Australia in a good position to attempt a try, which was successful right in the left corner. This of course meant a fairly tight angle for the conversion attempt, but the ball sailed right between the posts in spectacular fashion! There was only a few minutes of the first half left, and England managed to get in position to attempt a drop goal, but the ball fell short of the posts, and that was the end of the fist half.

         Second half got off to a good start for England, though their attacks were met with good defence, and it looked like they were never going to score. However a good kick forward put the ball in front of the posts, and the resulting swerve shot to gain possession was pure magic with the player ending up right by the ball, from there it was relatively easy to score the try just to the right of the posts. From this position the conversion should have been a piece of cake, but unfortunately swung wide of the right hand post. The rest of the half seemed to swing evenly either way, and in the closing minutes England again were in a threatening position right down by the Australian line, but did not take advantage of the situation, thus allowing Australia to clear their line, and end of match.
 Australia 7     England 5.

England team.

   New purchase from e bay, England team.

Just need South Africa and the All Blacks now and we will be well away!!

Rest of the team!

To complete the figures making up the cricket teams we have the following players!

 These two chaps are a slip fielder and a standing fielder, who looks bored with the proceedings!! The tray in the front has an indentation, if the ball comes to rest in that it is a catch.

Finally we have the wicket keeper and a bowling figure, not to be confused with the bowling device explained in a previous posting!!