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FOCAL

From Countdown
Revision as of 15:56, 29 April 2020 by JackH (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 120506 by MartinS (talk))

FOCAL is the voluntary organisation responsible for organising the vast majority of unofficial Countdown tournaments since 2016. The organisation's name is an acronym for Finals Of the Co-event Annual League. Perhaps coincidentally, "focal" also means "word" in the Irish language.

Players play in events across the British Isles throughout the year, with the top 8 highest ranked players at the end of the year receiving free entry into the finals event in Birmingham, held alongside a normal tournament that is open to everyone. 2016's FOCAL Champion was Series 66 champion Jack Worsley, 2017's champion was Rob Foster and 2018 Jonathan Wynn.

Rated events in 2017 were hosted in Lincoln, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, London, Kings Lynn, Waterford, Bournemouth, Milton Keynes, Huddersfield, and Dublin. All events are hosted on a Saturday, with the exception of the 'hangover' event, held on the Sunday in Lincoln as secondary events.

New events in 2018 were in Newcastle, Cambridge, and Blackpool, and more new events in 2019.

The organisation was the brainchild of Series 78 champion and .co.mk organiser Zarte Siempre in mid-2015. The team is currently chaired by Series 76 semi-finalist Jeff Clayton, organiser of several different tournaments. The previous chairmen were Siempre 2016 and Mark Murray 2017

Full standings for the year, details about events, a FAQs section for newcomers, and pictures from previous tournaments can be found at the FOCAL website with events list in the calendar.

Events on the 2020 calendar