| 8/16/2001 - 8/16/2003 TWO YEARS OF SUBBUTEO IN CONNECTICUT |
| August 15, 2003 in Wallingford, CT Welcome to the Future! The Connecticut Club members met in the Olde Oak Village to celebrate the past and embrace the future by adopting a new name. The old "Table Soccer" denomination will be replaced by "Subbuteo Club" in a European soccer style. Please, welcome.. the SUBBUTEO CLUB of CONNECTICUT!! Other discussed issues included a new logo, an upgraded web site, club uniforms, next season calendar. The night had its peak in the inaugural Anniversary Shoot-out Derby, in which an amazing Jeff Davidson clinched the final against Luis Silva by defeating Massimo Conturso in the first round and Miguel Marques in the semis! The two semifinals had an incredible sequence of shots and saves. Luis and Jim Taylor needed the 6th Sudden Death Shot to break the balance: the Portuguese first saved Taylor's rocket on the close post, then chipped well for the 4-3 final. Jeff, after his moment of glory against Massimo, was going down against Miguel: in the first 4 shots, the young Davidson hit 3 posts and Marques was up 1-0. In the last and decisive shot, Jeff saw Miguel's GK a little too high and scored with a sneaky ball that passed under the goalie's rod! The Sudden Death arrived with the players on a 1-1 score ..and "she" was looking for Miguel: Jeff earned the final in the 2nd extra-shot. Seeing the 13-year old Jeff becoming the inaugural Shoot-outs Champion would have been very emotional for his father, Eddie. Luis Silva, back in action after a break in Colorado, wasn't there to make Daddy happy. After Luis' initial three, the score was 3-1. Jeff scored to stay alive: 3-2. In the fourth, Jeff saved but missed the possible tie by hitting the crossbar! In the fifth, Luis went on the ball with confidence and scored from the far spot for the 4-2 final. The 2002-03 Season is over. What a journey! We started in September 2002 with Jim Taylor traveling to Europe in a Subbuteo madness trip from England to Belgium. We were only 5 members in the club, plus two honorary members. Today, after 12 months of flicking, we count 11 official players and 5 HMs! We welcomed James Sullivan and Ryan Bak, the Trinity Dynamic Duo, in October. With them, we started club's great tradition of C-Leagues and the Trinity College became the battlefield of many intense meetings. (in the photo, "Stairway to Heaven": the campus steps we used to do loaded with our pitches and tables to arrive to Ryan's dorm...) |
| ANNIVERSARY SHOOT-OUT DERBY Quarterfinals: Massimo Conturso 1-2 Jeff Davidson Miguel Marques 3-1 Rick Marques Eddie Davidson 0-1 Jim Taylor Pablo Lee 0-1 Luis Silva Semifinals: JEFF 2-1 MIGUEL LUIS 4-3 JIM Final: LUIS 4-2 JEFF |
| Then, the winter arrived. The club started to host its first ASA competitions, as well as New England Interleagues in order to help new Subbuteo players to "come out". In January, Miguel Marques won two Challenge Cups in a row and brought a whole new load of players: his brother Rick and his cousins, Frank and Luis. Sergio Sensini from Milan, Italy was the latest incredibly talented table-footballer to complete our roster in February. |
| To be mentioned: Andy Elrick from West Hartford, who showed up at Trinity the very same day he received Massimo's reply to his e-mail, in a stormy and icy Connectict winter night; Roberto Conturso from Rome, who currently holds the best record for HMs and has good chances to become 12th official member..; Pablo Lee from Farmington, who's planning with classmate Jeff Davidson to create a Subbuteo club in the local high school. (oh, almost forgot: we hosted the 2003 US Subbuteo National Championship, too! Click on the link below to check how it went..) http://www.geocities.com/subbuteousa Thanks to all for this wonderful journey. See you in September 2003! |