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September's featured article 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, 2018 Jonathan Wynn and 2019 Callum Todd. All events are hosted on a Saturday, with the exception of the 'hangover' event, held on the Sunday in Lincoln as secondary events. The organisation was the brainchild of Series 78 champion and former .co.mk organiser Zarte Siempre in mid-2015. The incumbent FOCAL chairman is Series 69 champion Callum Todd. The previous chairmen were Siempre in early 2016 and 2017, Mark Murray in late 2016 and Jeff Clayton from 2016 to 2021. Current standings for the year and many other details can be found at the FOCAL website, as well as the 2020–22 FOCAL season page on this wiki. (more...) More featured articles... Did you know... ...that en route to posting the then lowest ever 15 round score on 16 May 2011, Christine Buffrey had areolaes ☓ disallowed for being invalid, using phantom letters, and being misdeclared as a six-letter word? ...that three Countdown contestants – Charlie Reams, Dave Dyer and Mark Murphy – have been bleeped for scoring with the word WANKER or WANKERS? ...that on 2 November 2011, Dictionary Corner guest Mark Durden-Smith was bleeped after stating that the longest word in round 3 was SHITFACE? ...that the target in round 5 on 05/05/05 was 505? ...that Countdown was almost hosted by Michael Jackson? Nominate an article Today in Countdown history edit  2024: Alex Call beat Mark Summersmith with scores of 116 – 45. 2023: Lorraine Conway beat Talaha Modak with scores of 61 – 59. 2020: Rhyl Jones beat Archana Desurkar with a score of 86 – 67. 2019: Sarah Delap beat Hattie Wright, by a score of 76 – 56. 2018: Dave Ashton beat David O'Neill in a 82 – 62 game. 2017: Sarah Holey beat Tony Enright with scores of 95 – 79. 2013: Natalie Corriette beat Sam Felda with final score 84 – 49. 2009: Bob De Caux beat Alex Richards in a game that ended 88 – 60. 2008: Mike Lambert beat Paul Norton with a score of 75 – 41. 2007: Natalie Underwood beat Gay Black, scoring 81 – 65. 2006: Richard Brittain beat Sarah Duncan, by a score of 116 – 67. 2003: Linda Dawe beat Melanie Beaumont in a special episode. 2002: Bryan Thirkell beat Priscilla Munday in a 82 – 78 game. 2001: Geraldine Hylands beat Geoff Clarke with a final score of 36 – 22. 2000: Sybil Thomson beat Anthony Smith with scores of 46 – 30. 1998: Kate Ogilvie beat Neil Doherty in a game that ended 48 – 42. 1997: Bhavin Manek beat Alf Berry with a score of 51 – 39. 1996: Mark Tripp beat Bella Wilson, scoring 45 – 23. 1995: Chris Colsmann beat Maggie Desogus with final score 61 – 51. 1992: Alan Payne beat Tom Martland, by a score of 42 – 30. 1991: Barbara Kent beat Tamsin Rawlins with scores of 53 – 37. 1990: Billy Ward beat Maureen Pollard in a 34 – 31 game. 1990: Tony Vick played Stephen Deakin in the second leg of a Countdown Masters game. 1989: Margaret Budden beat Patrick Lindfield in a game that ended 58 – 30. 1989: John Widdowson played Vicki McCarthy in the first leg of a Countdown Masters game.

Popular articles edit  Template:Quicklinks Editors edit  Template:Editlinks Other Countdown websites edit  Template:Links Upcoming Countdown tournaments edit  The full list of FOCAL tournaments for 2025 is here. The next scheduled event is Countdown in Blackpool on 13 September. Almost all online tournaments are now held on Apterous: the list of ongoing tournaments is here.

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