SEASON 2006/07

Kenny is 2007 Northern Ireland Champion 18th Aug 2007
Kenny Beggs became Northern Ireland Champion for the 4th time, regaining the title which he last won in 2004. He beat Joe McRoberts 3-0 in the final, after Joe had eliminated No.3 seed, Barry Spence in the Quarter-Final and reigning champion, Davy Clegg, in the Semi-Final. Beggs rounded off a successful day with a 4-0 victory over Donal Convery in the Veteran Final. Results

Kenny Beggs (left), NI Champion 2007

Open Final: Kenny Beggs 3 Joe McRoberts 0

In the other categories, Adam Scullion beat Judith Morrison 1-0 in the Under-15 Final and Eoin Adams beat Jim McCullough 2-1 in the Plate. The Under-19 event was not completed but the final, between Andrew & Peter Morrison, will be played at a later date.
NI Championships History

Competitors at the 2007 NI Championships

Plate Final: Jim McCullough 1 Eoin Adams 2

Junior Final: Adam Scullion 1 Judith Morrison 0

Under-19 Final: Andrew Morrison 2 Peter Morrison 1

Joe Finishes Barbarians Season in Style 13th Aug 2007
Joe McRoberts won the 10th Ladder, beating 2006 Northern Ireland Champion, Davy Clegg, 3-0 in the deciding match to secure top spot. The season's joint highest turnout of eleven players made for an interesting evening. There were first appearances from Mark McKane and Republic of Ireland player, Nicky Moore. Results

Joe McRoberts

Beggs Wins Veteran Satellite in Belgium 21st/22nd July 2007
The Belgian town of Templeuve hosted two Satellite Tournaments in one weekend. Northern Ireland's Kenny Beggs won the Veteran Event on the 2nd day, beating Holland's Nico Marks 4-2 in the Final, making up for defeat to the same opponent at the quarter-final stage the previous day.

In the Open Event on the first day, Kenny lost in the Last 16 to Herbecq of Belgium (1-2 golden goal) but reached the quarter-finals on the 2nd day, again losing by a golden goal to another Belgian, Ponthieux, who went on to win the event.
Results of Satellite 1 | Results of Satellite 2

2nd Veteran Final: Kenny Beggs 4 Nico Marks (Holland) 2

Kenny Beggs 2 Vincent Coppenolle 0

Vincent Coppenolle (Belgium) & Kenny Beggs

Kenny Beggs & Thossa Busing (Germany)

Belfast Barbarians 9th Ladder 9th July 2007
Barry Spence won the 9th Ladder, pipping Kenny Beggs on goal-difference. Joe McRoberts made a welcome return, staying unbeaten on the night, and looks likely to finish 3rd in the Championship Table.

Barry Spence

Yorkshire Satellite 24th June 2007
Kenny Beggs played in the Yorkshire Satellite but did not get through his group, losing 1-2 against Craig Heward and drawing 3-3 with Mike Parnaby. He had some consolation by winning the Plate. Scotland's Steve Bennett beat Mike Burns in the Satellite Final, avenging his defeat to the same opponent at the recent UK & Ireland Internationals in Belfast.

English Club Championships 23rd June 2007
Two Northern Ireland players were in action at the English Club Championships in Wakefield. Stuart McIlroy & Kenny Beggs represented Yorkshire A, who won the event and so qualified for the Europa Cup in Athens in October. Results

Yorkshire A, English Club Champions 2007

Kenny Clinches Barbarians League 11th June '07
There was a good turn-out for the 8th Ladder, thanks to the Morrisons again bringing along some friends. Kenny Beggs won the Ladder and, with it, his 4th consecutive League Championship. Having played his quota of 7 events, his current points tally means he cannot be overtaken in the Championship Table.

2007 UK & Ireland Internationals 2nd/3rd June 2007
Northern Ireland were runner-up to Scotland in the UK & Ireland Internationals, their highest finish since the tournament began in 2004. The Park Avenue Hotel in Belfast was an excellent venue - many thanks to the staff who were very professional and courteous. Results | Photos

Runners-up: Northern Ireland

Winners: Scotland

It was an all-Scottish final in in the Individuals. Mike Burns beat Steve Bennett 3-2 with a golden goal to become the first non-English Champion. Northern Ireland's Kenny Beggs reached the semi-finals but lost to Bennett, while Davy Clegg, Barry Spence, Stuart Mcilroy & Eoin Adams all went out at the group stage.

Mike Burns v Barry Spence

Gareth Christie v Davy Clegg

Stuart McIlroy v Greg Dand

Eoin Adams v Gareth Thomas

Eoin Adams

Semi-Final: Kenny Beggs v Steve Bennett

Individual Final: Steve Bennett 2 Mike Burns 3

UK & Ireland Champion 2007: Mike Burns (Scotland)

Chris Thomas Wins Belfast International Open 19th May 2007
England's Chris Thomas won the 2007 Belfast International Open with a 3-1 victory over Gianluca Galeazzi of Italy in the Final. Best Northern Ireland player was Stuart Mcilroy, who reached the semi-finals. Northern Ireland's Andrew Morrison beat his brother, Peter, 1-0 in the Under-19 Final, while Gary Moore beat Barry Spence 3-2 in the Plate Final. Results

Belfast IO Winner 2007: Chris Thomas (right)

Belfast International Open Final: Galeazzi 1 Thomas 3

Belfast International Open Final: Thomas 3 Galeazzi 1

Belfast International Open 2007

Barbarians 7th Ladder 14th May 2007
Alistair Morrison produced his best performance of the season, finishing 2nd, only one point behind winner, Kenny Beggs. Barry Spence still leads the Championship Table, having played more events than his rivals.

Alistair Morrison

Glasgow Grand Prix 28th/29th April 2007
Kenny Beggs and Eoin Adams both got through their groups in the Individual event. Kenny beat Max Wright 3-0 and drew 0-0 with Kasper Bennett, before losing 0-1 to Olivier Pere in the barrage round. Eoin lost 0-8 to Erich Hinkelmann but beat K.Jamison 7-0 to qualify for the barrage, where he lost to Joe Mifsud. The final was one of the most entertaining ever, with Eric Verhagen beating Kasper Bennett 5-4. Bennett took an early two-goal lead but Verhagen hit back with four goals to lead 4-2. Bennett, however, managed to get back on level terms before Verhagen hit the winner with 3 minutes remaining. Results

Glasgow GP Final: Eric Verhagen 5 Kaspar Bennett 4

In the team event, Kenny and Eoin's Yorkshire Phoenix drew 2-2 with Hot Club d'Ecosse and lost 0-3 to Atlas of Greece but qualified in 2nd place before losing 0-4 to Mattersberg in the quarter-finals. Kenny's Results: 3-1 v K.Christopher; 1-3 v J.Mifsud; 1-4 v KH Haider. Eoin's Results: 0-6 v M.Burns; 1-9 v L.Papakonstantinou; 1-11 v W.Leitner. Photos

Yorkshire Phoenix in Glasgow: Beggs, Hodds, Lawrenson, Adams

Kenny Beggs v Karl-Heinz Haider

Wolfgang Leitner v Eoin Adams

Cummings Retains Yorkshire League Title 14th April 2007
Northern Ireland's Trevor Cummings won his 3rd successive Yorkshire Super League title with a 100% record, 10 points ahead of nearest rival, Paul Lawrenson. He will be joined next season in the Super League by fellow countrymen Kenny Beggs & Stuart Mcilroy, who both gained promotion from the 1st Division, along with England's Craig Heward. Eoin Adams finished 4th, just missing out on promotion due to a 0-1 defeat by Stuart. Results | Tables

Trevor completed the double by beating Cypriot, Rob O'Hare, 3-0 in the Cup Final. Eoin & Stuart were beaten semi-finalists, rounding off a successful season for Northern Irish players.

Trevor Cummings (left), Yorkshire League & Cup Winner 2006/07

Biggest Turnout for Barbarians 6th Ladder 2nd April 2007
The Morrisons brought along some friends, which made a total of 11 players for the 6th Ladder - the highest attendance of the season. Kenny Beggs was 1st, Barry Spence 2nd and Jeff Knox, one of the newcomers, finished 3rd.

Belfast Barbarians April Clubnight

Milton Keynes International Open 17th/18th March 2007
Stuart Mcilroy, Eoin Adams & Kenny Beggs were all knocked out at the group stage in a tough field of competitors. Spaniard, Angel Valverde beat Kostas Kechris of Greece in the Final. There was some success for Northern Ireland in the Plate, which was won by Kenny.
Results (word) | Results (excel)

Plate Final: Beggs beat Manoloulis on shots

Adams v Hipfinger

Stuart & Kenny played in the team event for Yorkshire Phoenix. They beat Whitestar in their first match but failed to qualify due to defeats by Cardiff and eventual competition winners, Murcia of Spain. In the match with Whitestar, Kenny beat Simon Bryan 6-0 and Stuart drew 1-1 with Trevor Arthur; against Cardiff, Kenny lost 1-4 to David Lauder but Stuart beat John Lauder 3-1; and against Murcia, Angel Valverde beat Kenny 2-0, while Juan Carlos Granados beat Stuart 2-1.

Yorkshire Phoenix: K.Beggs, R.Pepper, S.McIlroy, M.Hodds

There was also time for Northern Ireland to play an International Friendly Match against Germany, which the Germans won 2-0. Tilgner beat Mcilroy 3-0, Kwiatkowski beat Adams 2-1 and Beggs drew 1-1 with Kegenbein.

Friendly International: Northern Ireland v Germany

Friendly International: Marcus Tilgner (Germany) 3 Stuart Mcilroy (NIR) 0

Clegg Wins Morton Open, Belfast 10th March 2007
Northern Ireland champion, Davy Clegg, showed his class as he won the latest National Open at Morton Community Centre. He beat Stephen Rodgers 3-0 in the final, after eliminating old rival, Kenny Beggs, on shots in the semi, following a 2-2 draw. Surprise package of the day was Peter Morrison, who qualified unbeaten from a tough group, behind Beggs but ahead of Barry Spence, before losing narrowly to the experienced Stephen Rodgers in the semi-final. An excellent performance also by Rodgers, to reach his first Open final, having earlier beaten Clegg to top his group. Barry Spence beat Alistair Morrison 2-1 with a golden goal in the Plate Final. Results

Davy Clegg (Winner) v Stephen Rodgers (Runner-up)

Beggs got the better of Clegg in the Veterans, beating him 3-0 in the Final, following a marathon 5-4 shoot-out against Alistair Morrison in the semi, which required 12 shots from each player before they could eventually be separated.

Andrew Morrison won the Under-19 trophy, which was played as a 4-player round robin. Peter Morrison was 2nd, Judith Morrison finished 3rd and John Hughes, competing in his first tournament, was 4th.

Under-19: Peter Morrison (R/U) v Andrew Morrison (Winner)

Plate Final: Alistair Morrison 1 Barry Spence 2 (golden-goal)

Northern Ireland Players in Yorkshire League Action 3rd Mar 07
Trevor Cummings, Kenny Beggs & Stuart Mcilroy played their latest fixtures in the Yorkshire Phoenix League. Trevor maintained his 100% record in the Super League to open up a five-point gap at the top. Kenny & Stuart played out a scoreless draw in the First Division and were unbeaten in their other matches to keep them both in the promotion chase. Kenny needs one point from his last match (against Eoin Adams) to secure the title, although England's Craig Heward could still overtake him, should Beggs slip up. League Tables | Photos

Trevor Cummings v Mike Parnaby

Kenny Beggs v Neil Munns

Stuart McIlroy v Kevin Adderly

Spence Wins Barbarians 5th Ladder 19th Feb 2007
Barry Spence consolidated his lead at the top of the Championship Table by winning the season's 5th Ladder. Kenny Beggs was 2nd & Joe McRoberts 3rd.

Alistair Morrison v Barry Spence

Eoin Adams v Joe McRoberts

Andrew Morrison v Kenny Beggs

Knighton International Open 17/18th Feb 2007
Stuart Mcilroy was the only Northern Ireland player at the Welsh International Open in Knighton, which was won by England's Chris Short. Stuart got through his group on goal difference, following a 0-0 draw with Colin Lewis and a 0-2 defeat to Kaspar Bennett, before losing 1-2 in the barrage round to Martin Hodds. San Siro Worthing won the Team Event, with English Premier League 2nd & Cardiff 3rd. Results

Stuart McIlroy

North Down Website Closes 30th Jan 2007
The North Down Subbuteo League Website is no more. Webmaster, Davy Clegg, has decided instead to focus on Donaghadee Lawn Tennis Club. Subbuteo enthusiasts will miss the old site, which was informative, nostalgic & witty. Future details about North Down Subbuteo League will be published here or can be obtained by emailing Davy Clegg.

Beggs Tops 4th Barbarians Ladder 29th Jan 2007
Kenny Beggs won all of his matches to top the 4th Ladder, five points ahead of nearest rivals Barry Spence and Joe McRoberts. Alistair won the battle of the Morrisons, finishing 4th, above his sons, Peter and Andrew. Barry is the new leader of the Championship Table, just ahead of Joe on goal-difference.

Manchester Grand Prix 20th/21st Jan 2007
With 120 players in the Individual categories and 23 teams, Manchester hosted one of the biggest UK events of the season. Photos

Northern Ireland's Trevor Cummings topped his group with a 2-1 victory over Anders Buhl-Hansen of Denmark and a 3-0 win against Scotland's Max Wright. He then beat Emmanual Gorgette 3-1 in the barrage round before losing to Spain's Vincent Prats in the Last 32. Trevor had pulled back a two-goal deficit but Vincent won 3-2 with a golden goal. The event was won by Carlos Flores who beat Massimo Cremona 4-2 in the final. Open Results

Vincent Prats v Trevor Cummings

In the Veterans, Kenny Beggs lost to Italian, Riccardo Marinucci and to Greek, Panos Stemitsiotis - both by a 0-2 scoreline - and beat Nicky Chappell 4-2 but that was not enough to qualify from his group. England's Phil Redman beat Marinucci 1-0 in the final. Vet Results

Veteran Final: Marinucci 0 Redman 1

Team Event: Trevor & Kenny represented Yorkshire Phoenix 'A'. They lost to Devils Austria but beat Sassari to qualify from their group, beat Cardiff in the next round, before losing to Mattersburg in the quarter-finals. Bologna beat Mattersburg in the final. Full Team Results

Trevor's Results: Bambersky (Devils Austria) 0-3, Cabitza (Sassari) 2-0, D.Lauder (Cardiff) 3-0, Matzinger (Mattersburg) 2-7
Kenny's Results: Verhagen (Devils Austria) 0-5, Viaggi (Sassari) 9-0, J.Lauder (Cardiff) 3-1, Hinkelmann (Mattersburg) 1-5

Team Event: Eric Verhagen v Kenny Beggs

Subbuteo in Local Football Mag Dec 2006 Northern Ireland Subbuteo received some welcome publicity in the Winter 2006/07 issue of the official Irish Football Association Magazine. The quarter-page ad will run for 3 months and 12000 copies of the mag will be in circulation among members of the Northern Ireland Supporters Club and in local newsagents. Hopefully this will attract some new players to our game.

Barbarians Double Up For Christmas 11th Dec 2006
Belfast Barbarians Subbuteo Club decided to try something different at their Christmas meeting with a fun doubles competition. The rules involved one player on each team attacking for half the game, while his partner defended, then swapping roles. Davy Clegg & Joe McRoberts came out tops. Report

Doubles: Barry Spence & Eoin Adams v Davy Clegg & Joe McRoberts

Spence Wins 3rd Barbarians Ladder 28th Nov 2006
Barry Spence won the 3rd Ladder of the Belfast Barbarians season.
Two wins and two draws were enough to see him finish one point ahead of Joe McRoberts and Stephen Rodgers. Eoin Adams was last in the four-player ladder. Results
Joe now tops the Championship Table, with Barry in 2nd place, having each played 3 events.

Barry Spence

Beggs Wins National Open of Belfast 25th Nov 2006
Kenny Beggs won the first Northern Ireland National Open of the season with a 1-0 victory over Dublin's John Moore in the final. The decisive goal was scored in the first minute, which spurred John to play an attacking game and he was unlucky not to equalise on a number of occasions. Kenny was content to defend his lead but still looked dangerous on the break, being denied several opportunities by the woodwork and John's keeper.

Belfast Open Final: Kenny Beggs 1 John Moore 0

The semi-finals were both decided on shots after two 0-0 draws during normal play. Kenny scored the only goal of his shoot-out with Stuart Mcilroy, while John required a sudden-death winner in his 2-1 shoot-out victory over Northern Ireland Champion, Davy Clegg.

Davy got some consolation by winning the Veterans, while Andrew Morrison won the U-19s & Plate. It was great to have two newcomers (Alan Daragh & David Knox) taking part, as well as Judith Morrison, the only junior present, who played in the Open and U-19s.
Full Results | Report

Veteran Final: Davy Clegg 1 Alistair Morrison 0

Under 19 Final: Peter Morrison v Andrew Morrison

Plate Final: Jim McCullough v Andrew Morrison

The Morton Community Centre proved to be an excellent venue and will be used again in the future - a good find by tournament organiser, Eoin Adams.

Dumfries International Open 18th/19th Nov 2006
Three Northern Ireland players travelled to Dumfries, where they represented Yorkshire Phoenix in the team event & also played in the Individual Open. Results

Stuart Mcilroy & Kenny Beggs were part of Yorkshire 'A' Team which beat Lazio, EPL 'B', Hot Club d'Ecosse & Solway Seagulls, before losing in the semi-final to San Siro Worthing who beat EPL 'A' in the final. Eoin Adams' Yorkshire 'B' Team lost both their group matches to Delft & Solway.

In the Individual Open, Stuart Mcilroy lost his first match to tournament winner, Kaspar Bennett, but won 2-0 against Les Commons to get through his group in 2nd place. He beat Terry Brown 2-0 in the Barrage before losing in the Last 16 to runner-up, Eric Verhagen. Kenny was also eliminated in the Last 16, going down 0-1 to the Tayside (Chair) Kicker, Steve Bennett, having earlier topped his group following a 0-0 draw with Peter Thomas and a 5-0 victory over returning Scottish player, Jim Law. Eoin lost both his group matches to Matt Lampitt & Brian Clark.

Eoin Adams v Matt Lampitt

Les Commons 0 Stuart McIlroy 2

Steve Bennett 1 Kenny Beggs 0

New Website: International Subbuteo News 9th Nov 2006
Check out the excellent new site by Greek player, Christos Archimandritis, providing links to many Subbuteo-related sites, including news, blogs, up-to-date calendar, rankings and more.

Europa Cup For Clubs, Portugal 28th/29th Oct 2006
Eoin Adams was the only Northern Irish player in Almada at Europe's premier table football competition for clubs. He joined his Yorkshire Phoenix team mates but found the going tough as they took on Europe's elite. Eagles Napoli beat Perugia 2-1 in an all-Italian final. Read tournament preview in Yorkshire Evening Post article

Results | Group Results & Tables | Knockout Results

Yorkshire Phoenix

The impressive venue, Municipal Sports Complex, Almada

Kenny Edges 2nd Barbarians Ladder 23rd Oct 06
Kenny Beggs just edged top spot in this month's ladder ahead of Barry Spence who had led the table right from the start. It couldn't have been any tighter as both players' goal difference was equal but Kenny scored more goals. Beggs now leads the Championship Table, one point ahead of Joe McRoberts.

Welsh Grand Prix, Cardiff Oct 14th/15th 2006
England's Kaspar Bennett won the Welsh GP at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, ahead of a very strong field of competitors. DEVILS Austria won the Team event. Northern Ireland's Eoin Adams and Stuart Mcilroy played in the Individuals, as well as representing their club, Yorkshire Phoenix, which was knocked out in the barrage by eventual runners-up, Atlas of Greece. Individual Open: Eoin lost to Dutchman, Eric Verhagen and Chris d'Heur of Belgium. Stuart lost to Chris Aggelinas of Greece but beat England's Tony McCann to get through his group. He then beat Rob O'Hare in the barrage but went out in the next round to eventual semi-finalist, Robert Lenz. Full Results

Confusion Over World Rankings 8th Oct 2006
(adapted from report by Victor Jones on eFlicker)
Confusion reigns over the latest world classification tables, after more than a third of players disappeared from the listings. The September rankings take account of team transfers and changes in players' categories, but they also omit any player for whom world governing body FISTF have not received a birth date. The missing players, and their points, will be returned to the world rankings when dates of birth have been submitted to FISTF.

The following Northern Ireland players have been removed: Stuart Mcilroy, Trevor Cummings, Alistair Morrison, Brian Moore, Colin Perry. To be re-instated, they will need to email the info to FISTF President, Vincent Coppenolle

Adams & Beggs Ready For Yorkshire Sept 16th 2006
Eoin Adams and Kenny Beggs will meet up with their new Yorkshire Phoenix club-mates on Saturday for the first league session of the new season. They have already played their league match against each other on home soil (a 4-2 victory to Beggs) to allow more time for playing their English-based opponents when they travel to club headquarters in Swinefleet.

Local Subbuteo Stadium to Appear on UTV Aug 29th 2006
UTV reporter, Chris Moore and his producer attended the latest meeting of Belfast Barbarians, to discuss some filming they are planning for a broadcast about football in Northern Ireland. They hope to use Colin Perry's home stadium (pictured below).

Stadium of Ballymena Subbuteo enthusiast, Colin Perry

Subbuteo Stars Set for Big Flick-Off Aug 22nd 2006
Telegraph Report on the transfer of four top English Premier League players to the recently renamed club, San Siro Worthing Fivestar, sponsored by Nicky Chappell who produces the San Siro Table Football stadia.

Corbett Early Leader in Bangor July 30th 2006
The 2006/07 League Season commenced at Bangor Subbuteo Club on Sunday. Robert Corbett is top on goal-difference, following a victory and two draws. Current league champion, Brian Moore, lost his opening game 1-0 to Daniel Kirkwood. Results & Table