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2004 News Archive
December 26th
Unbeaten streak continues on quiet Boxing Day
The Muskegon League of Subbuteo (MLS) saw some limited action on December 26th as the action returned to "Sheridan Stadium", home of the Laketon Lions and Milton Liverbirds. Lions' Mike Ewer continued his unbeaten run in MiSTFA competition (17 games, 13-4-0, 32:5) and against MI opposition (28 games, 22-6-0, 51:6).
Mike beat Ian Roy 3-0 in a fine exhibition of finishing, and then took on the much improved Tae-Sup Shin and won 3-1. Tae-Sup was showing some great promise, with flowing attacks and some great defence.
The streak extends back to April 1st, which was Mike's heaviest defeat ever in either category: A 0:4 loss against Jamie Taggart's Cool Slidins.
December 8th 2004
St Louis gets Midwest Major
St Louis Subbuteo League, successful hosts of the 2004 National, will
stage the 2004/05 Midwest Major. It will be played on Saturday June
18th in St Louis at a venue to be decided. Please contact John Sarra
for more details. Check the ASA's Calendar page for a link to his e-
mail address. Add this event to your calendar now!
http://www.americansubbuteo.com/calendar/
December 8th 2004
MiSTFA names its summer weekend tournaments
Just three weeks after the major, MiSTFA adds its fourth event of the season to the calendar. Using the excellent facilities at Van Buren Township hall in Belleville on the outskirts of Detroit, this event will feature two tournaments. The Ambassador Trophy is named after the bridge between Detroit and Canada which should bring some Canadian participation to the event. The Express Cup is named after the former NASL team Detroit Express. If it is still open by the end of April, MiSTFA will apply for FISTF Satellite status for the Ambassador Trophy. The Express Cup will live up to its name with short games (2x10m) and a quickfire format.
November 26th 2004
Walthamstow Reunion in Final
The Muskegon League of Subbuteo Turkey Shoot ended in a reunion between Mike Ewer and Will Freeman, co-founders of the PCABR League back in Walthamstow, London.
Will returned to the game after a gap of 20 years this Thanksgiving and showed some amazing form for a returnee. He knocked out MiSTFA's Ian Roy in his first ever shootout after a tense 0-0 game, but lost the final to Mike who completed a perfect 8-0 record with a 2-0 win against his old rival.
Nine players crammed into the Roy residence in Muskegon for the biggest tournament in MI for over a year, and the largest local field ever.
Most of the 24 games counted towards the WMSL, the first Regional league in MI. The 8 players eligible had anything from 3 to 5 games count towards WMSL standings. Mike Ewer leads the Hackley Conference with a 4-0 record, while newbie Stef Gerdom leads the Meijer Conference with 3 wins and a single loss.
See the Photos section for action from this event.
October 28th 2004
Roy crashes out of playoffs
State ranked #2 Ian Roy crashed out of the PTSL 2004 Spring playoffs in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Jamie Taggart, who sealed his playoff berth at the same time.
It is the first time that Ian Roy has missed a playoff spot, and Jamie's first ever post-season action.
Jamie has one more game left against Sloth, and needs a point from that game to snatch the last bonus point remaining in the Meisterrunde from Mark Oberg. Mike Ewer takes two points into the next stage as regular season champion with a 5-2-1 record.
Peninsular Technologies employees hope to wrap this league up in the next couple of weeks. It was originally started in the spring but business commitments have hindered the schedule.
October 18th 2004
Benkart prevents Buttigieg sweep
Mike Benkart finally got the Canadian chip off his shoulder with a win in the MiSTFA Challenge Cup final on Sunday afternoon. The top ranked ASA player present, he showed his Pittsburgh steel in all three finals against Chris Buttigieg but it was in game three that it started to shine.
The Canadian from Brampton, Ontario, defeated Mike in both the Michigan Cup final on Saturday evening and the Motown Classic earlier on the Sunday afternoon. Add on two group games and these two had a titanic 5-game struggle throughout the weekend.
MiSTFA's Mike Ewer couldn't make it through the semi-final stages of either the Michigan Cup or the MiSTFA Challenge Cup, and was eliminated in the "group of death" in the Motown Classic having been drawn against the dynamic duo, Buttigieg and Benkart. He was by no means ashamed to end that group with a 0-2 record and a 0-3 goal differential.
Amanda Ewer made her first ever qualification by tying newbie Stef Gerdom in the final minute of their group game. The Belleville newcomer was about to steal the glory in her second tournament but Amanda put an end to that with the late equaliser to edge her out on goal difference. The night before had seen Stef win her first game at the 6th attempt, defeating Amanda in the Michigan Cup consolation final.
MiSTFA and the competitors were very pleased with the venue, Van Buren Township Hall in Belleville, and will be returning a year from now for Michigan Cup III.
| # | Name | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | %W |
| 2004 Weekend Overall Numbers | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Buttigieg | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 25 | 7 | 76.9% |
| 2 | Mike Benkart | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 21 | 8 | 76.9% |
| 3 | Bruno Biasini | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 21 | 10 | 59.1% |
| 4 | Mike Ewer | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 35.0% |
| 5 | Stef Gerdom | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 18 | 22.2% |
| 6 | Amanda Ewer | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 25 | 10.0% |
June 16th 2004
Euro 2004 Goals in OO-Scale!
The Italian state-run TV network RAI invited CCT Roma to provide a unique highlight reel of the European Championships being held in Italy at the moment.
Every goal is recreated on a Subbuteo pitch exactly as it happened. It includes some quite breathtaking skills! Take a look here.
Here we see Beckham's pinpoint freekick about to be headed in by Frank Lampard to send England 1-0 ahead.
June 12th 2004
Sky Sports News covered the UK & Ireland International event held at Preston over the weekend of June 12 & 13, 2004. The show is syndicated worldwide and was shown on Fox Sports World here in the US.
2: "The tension is high, though nail-biting is positively encouraged..."
Click here for videos and more stills from this report
Legal note: Recordings from TV shows are included on this site under an interpretation of the "fair use" aspect of copyright law.
June 1st 2004
Five members of MiSTFA joined the almost 1,000 Subbuteo players with a world ranking this month. Mike Ewer improved over 500 places after a busy FISTF month. Amanda Ewer and Matthias Mayer moved into the top 300. Ian Roy, finalist on his FISTF debut, broke the 400 barrier. Finally, Tyler Meldrum and Pat Smith make it 6 MiSTFA members in the list.
Ian Roy defending against another Chris Buttigieg attack in the recent Michigan Masters final, played at The Lakes Mall in Muskegon. Chris moved into the top 100 in the world with his win.
May 10th 2004
Three members of MiSTFA travelled the 7 hours to Toronto to attend North America's second major Subbuteo weekend. Three MLS members, Mike and Amanda Ewer along with Matthias Mayer, took on players from Canada, Scotland, Colombia, Germany and Austria as the ASA's sole representatives at this event.
The previous week was a tough learning experience for Mike but he took all the lessons with him and gave the Canadians a tough time. He "stepped off the bus" right into the first game against Bill Edmondson, having been delayed by severe rain storms back in Michigan, and held him to a 0-2 scoreline. Next group game was against German Michael Beifuß. The score of 1-2 disappointed Mike at the time. However Michael went on to the final and later said "my second toughest game of the tournament was against Mike". Despite this valiant effort, the Grand Prix was over for the Englishman.
The next day was the Open, and again Mike got a tough draw. Scott Aldridge was out for redemption after a disappointing first round exit in the "group of death" 24 hours earlier, and was glad to get the second goal in a 2-0 victory. Next came a rematch against Bill Edmondson, and Mike was ready this time. A tense battle resulted in a 0-0 tie. Final group game was against Colombian based Italian Andrea Lampis. Mike put in his worst performance of the weekend going down 0-7.
This time there was a consolation event, and Mike took on good friend Bruno Biasini in the semi-final. The Canadian edged it 2-1 to take his place in the final which he won. Mike was invited to play out 3rd place by CSTSA President Nick Ruggiero, and he finally got his first win of the weekend in a 1-0 scoreline.
It was another learning experience for Amanda and Matthias, who both competed on day one and were eliminated. However both have improved their play as a result.
May 3rd 2004
Paul Eyes and the Patapsco Middle School Subbuteo Club hosted the ASA's big international weekend May 1-2. The event attracted 30 players from across the globe, and both tournaments were won by England's Shorab Jadunandan.
The weekend was a tremendous success thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of Paul Eyes and his team, which included Nick Giffen working hard on tournament schedules. Visit NPR's All Things Considered archives to hear an interview with Paul that aired on Saturday May 1st.
MiSTFA's Mike Ewer placed 3rd in the consolation event on the Saturday and won the same on Sunday, defeating Pittsburgh's Jim Desmond in both decisive games. Amanda Ewer, making her FISTF debut, emerged from the first day's play with a respectable 2 goals scored and a tie to her name - something husband Mike is still looking for after 3 tough tournaments.
February 6th 2004 (updated February 15th)
We are pleased to have made contact with a new Subbuteo club in Cleveland, Ohio! The small club aims to grow once they have affiliated with the ASA and learnt more about the game. The Cleveland club is now the nearest club to MiSTFA's current leagues.
MiSTFA members will be travelling to the rock'n'roll capital in the spring to compete in their inaugural ASA Open. Players are expected from Ontario and Pennsylvania in addition to the host state and Michigan. See the page on the Cleveland Cup for more info.
January 31st 2004
Mike Ewer's Laketon Lions went on a 4-game 2-venue tour of the St Louis Subbuteo League, meeting John Sarra and Tim Boone in consecutive nights. Results were one-sided in favour of the hosts, but Mike was glad of more practice against top class players.
January 18th 2004
MiSTFA founder Mike Ewer and fellow ASA member Zach Walker had valuable lessons to learn in the FISTF Open of London on January 18th. The world number 1, Massimiliano Nastasi, was present, and Zach had the "pleasure" of being drawn in group 1. The ASA #6 put up a brave fight in his match against the Italian and went down 1-4. However a brighter star emerged at this event, Carlos Flores from Spain. He was seeded 13th at the event which placed him in Mike's group. The skillful youngster racked up 10 goals with one reply from Mike (pictured here) and went on to knock out Nastasi in the semi-finals before beating another rapidly emerging player, Eric Verhagen, in the final by 4-1.
The tournament featured 52 players mainly from Europe. It was Mike's debut in FISTF competition and Zach's first ever tournament outside of North America. Full details will appear here in a short while.
January 10th 2004
The Lake Effect Trophy 2004, played at the Shoreline Soccer Club in Spring Lake, was won by Mike Ewer with a 2-1 score in the final group game against Ian Roy which gave him a perfect 3-0 record in the tournament. Ian had racked up a +6 goal difference to only require a tie in the final game, but did not break through the Laketon Lions defence until the final minute.
Amanda Ewer scored her first goal in competition play and with it her first win, placing 3rd.
Watch two videos of Mike's goalscoring in the tournament, however, see if you can spot why one of them should have been disallowed!
#1: 203 KB WMV
A medium range riser into the far corner.
#2: 346 KB WMV
A short range chip shot over a defensive block.