This section is for the 'public naming and shaming' of our more regular players! Hopefully, everyone will be able to see that we have a good cross section of ages at the club, and the write ups on each player should give an insight into experience and possibly ability too!
So to kick it all off................
Mike Parnaby
Mike has been playing the game since 1976 and is getting a bit tired now! He started playing when 13 and was hooked by the game at once. Formed the Stokesley Subbuteo Club in 1978 and has been the lead player at several local clubs since that time. The clubs 'discovered' many top players such as Matthew, Chris and Peter Thomas, David Russell, Andrew Hillerby and more recently Ben Staples. Mike finally got his England call up in 2006 after 30 years trying then got another call up in 2008! Mike supports Partick Thistle, and his teams are generally in their colours. His first team is shown above chipping the ball over the green and gold defenders!
Ben Staples
Ben started playing when he was 11, his first game being a 21-0 drubbing. Apart from the beating (and Ben says that he thought he was cheated!), he was hooked on the game. Ben started playing Subbuteo with a friend on the living room carpet and they ran their own leagues and a version of Fantasy Football.
Ben entered his first tournament in 1990 at the Redcar open, where he picked up the sportsmanship award. From there, he joined the Adacomm Premier league in
Ben took a leave of absence from the game, and was lost until his wife bought him a chocolate Subbuteo edition (I bet she regrets that now!). The fire was rekindled and Ben set about trying to contact Mike again. After a while playing ‘recreationally’, he decided to start taking the game seriously again and started to enter tournaments.
Ben has played in tournaments as far afield as
Jon Gordon
Jon first came to my attention quite a few years ago when I organised a regional league. He had been playing for quite a few years before that in a local club in County Durham, and was a welcome addition to our league. Jon had a spell when he played in the big British tournaments and proved to be a tough opponent. It would be fair to say that he likes to play the game, but was never really as committed as most of us still playing. Maybe it would be fairer to say that there is a lot more in Jon's life than Subbuteo! How sad does that make us sound! Anyway, after a few years away from the scene, it is great to see Jon playing again!
Matthew Lishman
Matt was first introduced to the game at the tender age of six, and Subbuteo has played a dominant part of his social life ever since. Enlightened by the knowledge that there was actually a table football circuit on the go, Matt joined up with Yorkshire Phoenix TFC in late 2004 and has since moved on to play for White Star. Adapting quickly to the new style of game, the youngster has blossomed in his playing ability. He captained England at the Belgium World Cup in August 2005 and became National Champion a year later. Matt is taking a break from the game at the moment to concentrate on more important things!
Neil Lishman
Neil started playing when I was 5 years old (so that's 40 years..!!).
Having two older brothers, Subbuteo had always been at home and they played virtually nothing else. Neil says he must have ended up with about 200+ H/W teams all of which have since been painted up, broken up and moved on in some shape or form.
Neil started painting teams 'On Request' when he was at home following major surgery in 2002. He put 6 of his painted teams on e-bay to see what would happen... to say it snowballed is a big understatement!! With supply of figures being unreliable and prices being ridiculous, Neil decided to create his 'own brand' and started designing 2K4 and Vintage figures in 2003. In November 2004 he had his first figures. The project was named 2K4 because he always anticipated having them ready in 2004. He got there just in time. The vintage figure was inspired by old photographs and as no-one had ever made a 3D figure of this type, Neil took the gamble. Now, he sell more Vintage teams than modern.
The name Stefan Corda is a fictitious player from a Subbuteo team Neil used in his local league, The NRDLS (North Ryedale District Subbuteo League). The player, a 70's HW was put onto a hybrid Hasbro base, hollowed out and weighted. Devastating in front of goal, Neil had to have him in the team. Neil needed a name and strangely enough his wife came out with it, spontaneously. He used this name as an e-mail address for his painted e-bay teams and ever since, people referred to Neil as Stefan Corda, so once the business was set up, the name couldn't be anything else, to him it's everything Subbuteo and holds a lot of sentiment. Neil still has the figure! Oh yes, and Neil still gets called Stefan..!
Theo Brace
Theo is one of our youngest members. He is still trying to find the right team for him but is showing great promise. In fact his rate of improvement is staggering. Once he finds that team, and starts to play regularly with them he will be getting results that looked like fantasy a short time ago! Theo has made a guest appearance for Cheshire Corinthians and did very well for his first tournament! Since then, Theo has continued to get better and won his first real tournament game in the Yorkshire Open, ironically against clubmate Sam Day!
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Kevin Adderley
Not the best picture of Kev, will try to get another soon!
Kevin started playing the game around 1986 when he entered a Waddingtons run event. He lost his first game 5-0 to Tony Gardner, and has never looked back!
He has played in the Belle Isle league and later the Micklefield league, which is where he first came to my attention. After a break from the game, Kevin returned in 2004 to join the Yorkshire Phoenix club where he has been a stalwart in its brief but glorious history.
Kevin is best known within the game as 'Mr. Base', as he is probably the most experienced player bar none in terms of the bases he has tried, bought, stuck players into (private joke there!) and then sold on! If only he could find his perfect base, then I am sure we would begin to see Kevins true potential and ability.
Kevin has recently started a club in Leeds and we wish hm well in that venture. He continues to support NETFA with his presence as well!
Carlo Nagni
Carlo was born in 1970 in
Carlo came late to the game, starting playing seriously when he was 16 after a brief dalliance a few years before. He will be trying to unseat Kevin as our “Base Master”. The difference being that Kevin collects bases while Carlo plays different bases to different tactics and styles of play. Carlo has played in a few clubs/leagues but one of his fondest memories is from a league in his native
I won my first LIGA in 1990. We had 5 player’s, Fabrizio had just starting playing and used a "catenaccio" style only (but playing it well). The middle 3 were Paolo, Claudio and me and that left Pastro who with 10 years of experience more than us was the favourite to win. Before last game I had 1 point lead but I had to play the final game against Pastro, and I managed a 0-0 draw to win the title. That's happiness!
Ezio Orru
Ezio joins our club in 2008 and adds yet another Italian presence after Carlo! He joins us from ASC Bergamo and we hope that his influence will hep us all develop into better players. Ezio has a very solid game, much like the real Italian team, and is very tough to score against!
Matthew Thomas
Matthew and Mike have been linked for more years than we would both care to remember! Matthew first came along to a Regional Championships aged about 8, and thereafter has been a part of this developing club (despite stints in foreign climates!). Back home in Teesside now, Matthew has regained the passion for the game that had faded in recent years. Always a dangerous opponent, capable f beating almost any player in the world, on his day!
Chris Thomas
Chris joined the club after Matthew found his place here. It was not long before Chris was just as good as his big brother and both went on to become great players. Chris kicked on in his Subbuteo career by playing many many International tournaments, and his world ranking inside the top 20 speaks volumes about his ability and experience. Chris has far too many titles and event wins to list here, and currently plays for Cardiff San Siro.
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Lee Irving
Lee used to play, many moons ago when the club was based in Marton, Middlebrough. Since then his finger has laid un-flicked until very recently, when Matthew and Chris Thomas moved back home. Lee was persuaded to come along to the club and did very well in his first time back. Lee will be developing his defence no doubt with help from the Thomas brothers and I am sure will become a good player!
Neil Beeforth
Picture to come!
Neil (Beefy) Beeforth has a long history in the game, almost as long as Mikes! Many years ago the two clashed on many occasions in Mike’s garage where Stokesley Subbuteo Club ’78 was born. Neil was the equal of Mike in those days and along with Mark Mawson, the rivalry was intense! Neil also competed in the Micklefield Club which was a short lived regional club set up by Andrew Fake. As the Stokesley club grew to include the Thomas brothers, Neil found new interests, (work, beer and girls!). Eventually, his work took Neil away from the club and that seemed to be that. Mike never gave up hope of getting his old buddy back playing again, and a recent stroke of luck saw Neil come back to the game, with a 6-5 defeat by Mike! Not bad going for someone who had not played for 17 years!!!!! Neil has regained his enthusiasm for the game and should be a top player at the club for many years to come.
Sam Day
Sam Day is a local player ‘discovered’ by Ben Staples. Sam was not a great player when he joined our merry band, I am sure he will be the first to admit. But Ben has a good eye and there was something there to work on. Sam improved slowly but was still struggling a bit when he went to his first event, in
Andrew Hillerby
Andrew is one of the new boys to the club, but at the same time, one of our old boys! More years ago than we care to remember Andrew joined the old Stokesley club. At Stokesley Andrew became a major force in the junior ranks of Subbuteo, becoming English Champion and getting to play for his country. When the time came to step up into the senior (now called Open) class, Andrew found life tough, not because he struggled on the pitch, but because of the ultra competitive nature of the players around at the time. This also coincided with a time when Andrew had to concentrate on school and exams, so he walked away from the game forever…….or so he thought! Andrew was recently contacted by Mike and has found a renewed interest in our beautiful game, and shows early signs that he has not lost his magic touch!
Martin Hodds
Martin is a player who is very tough to beat, and one who is really making a name for himself within the game. He is currently a regular player for the Yorkshire Phoenix club but he has also made several trips up north to join in with the NETFA fun, and very welcome he is too! Martin was rewarded for his consistent play with an
The 'Porter's'
Alan gets ready to score!
Not a lot I can say here yet! The Porter family are new to the club but are very enthusiastic about the game. Dad Alan runs a painting service to players and his sons Glen and Shaun are developing players who we have high hopes for!
Shaun gets some practice in...............!
...........And so does Glen!
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