Northern Ireland Subbuteo team hopes to bring the World Cup trophy home

A team from Northern Ireland will be taking part in a World Cup with a difference this year – taking place on table-tops rather than a pitch.

The squad of six local players will travel to England later this month for the Subbuteo World Cup

Kenny Beggs from Ballyclare, Eoin Adams (Bangor), Ian Greer (Cookstown), Craig Stewart (Belfast) and Martinog Bradley and Lawrence Watson from Londonderry will be competing against 32 countries in Tunbridge Wells, Kent where the game was invented 78-years-ago.

Captain Kenny Beggs, who also set up the Northern Ireland Table Football Association (NITFA) in 2002 along with Barry Spence and Simon Stewart, explained: “We’re really excited to play at Subbuteo’s home.

“The event is held every two-years and it’s great that it’s coming back to Tunbridge Wells, Kent where the game was invented in 1946. It’s going to be a huge occasion with various events around the town to celebrate.

"We’ve been training for months now and we’re looking forward to the event.

“Most of us have previous World Cup and International experience in places such as Rome, Belgium and Germany, which we will need to draw on to compete against some of the World’s top players. Win, lose or draw, we aim to do the country proud and have fun in the process.”

“I can’t say the World Cup is coming home, although it would be amazing. Being realistic, it would be an achievement get through the group and qualify for the knock-out phase."

Popular in the 1970s and 1980s, the table-top game sees competitors take turns to flick miniature models of football players around a replica stadium in an attempt to score into a goal.

And with over 47-years of experience, Kenny was proudly one of the football-loving boys who had his own set.

Now president of the NITFA, Kenny, continued: “I started an after school league with friends in my parents’ garage from 1977 until 1984. At our peak, we had around 20 players competing.

“We took part in Open events around Northern Ireland, thus meeting other players and clubs.

“Some of those players kept the game going and we formed the NITFA in 2002, which has been organising events in the Province ever since and travelling to events all around the UK and Europe.”

Looking forward to the event on September 20-22, Kenny said anyone can play.

He added: “It can be a fun hobby or taken really seriously like a sport at World Cup level, when the competition becomes very intense requiring logic, careful thought and concentration to succeed. A bit like a combination of football, snooker and chess, using a ball, angles and tactics to outwit an opponent.

“The Northern Ireland team is all looking forward to representing our country at World Cup level and meeting up again with foreign friends that we have made throughout our years of travelling on the Subbuteo circuit.

"It will be a great experience, no matter what the results.”