The first Los Angeles Galaxy Subbuteo Cup was a great success. The Galaxy soccer club had approached the Southern California Subbuteo Club to play a tournament at their stadium, the Home Depot Center, to show their fans what the game of Subbuteo is.

On Saturday May 2 we were admitted early to the stadium, before the fans, to set up on the stadium’s Concourse. Their were only a few spectators for the first round, all of them employees of the Galaxy who had heard talk of a Subbuteo tournament and wanted to check out what this was.

By the time we had finished playing the semi finals there was a throng of eager fans all interested in what we were doing and full of questions. We allowed many to have a flick with a few figures and a ball or as a goalkeeper so they could experience the game first hand.

When we were ready to play the final at 5 PM there was a crowd of people watching. As the final progressed those not playing were either demonstrating the game on other pitches or were mingling with the watching fans explaining to them what was going on and the basics of the game.

At the end Wayne Smith was victorious having defeated Steve Tucker by 3-1. Chris Thomas, of the Galaxy, was on hand to present the cup. And we had handed out over a hundred flyers to passer bys. All of the players who had participated agreed that this was a truly wonderful experience, to play Subbuteo at a soccer stadium in front of a large crowd.

After we had packed everything back into our vehicles we watched the Galaxy win their first game of the season, defeating the New York Red Bulls 1-0.

A report, results, and photographs from this tournament can be found on the LA Galaxy Subbuteo Cup page»