President's Bulletin:
Updated 6th September 2026
Work continues expanding the offline bracket system to accomodate triple elimination. This is a daunting task which at times has been mind boggling. Here's an example of the code I'm having to type individually into cells to make it work:
=IF(E10="W",H10,IF(I10="W",F10))
Occasionally it is like this:
=IF(E25="W","DONE",IF(I25="W","DONE",IF(J19="Waiting","Waiting",IF(J19="on Deck","Waiting",IF(J19="To the table","on Deck",IF(E25=I25,"DONE"))))))
A typical 12 template which is a variation of the 16 requires 31 or 32 matches in double elimination. Each match has 8 cells of conditional code like the ones above that have to link to each other to get the order of who is next. I use a 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 25 to 32 template & a class combiner for when we have more than 32 in a class. For those keeping count it's 1856 cells of code that have been typed, checked & reordered to try to make it fair for armwrestlers pulling all the matches on one day rather than a netball team playing once a week over a season. Triple Elimination requires a third more matches, so there are an extra 619 cells of code to insert & then check it all works with simulation. It is easy to see why Travis Bagent does all his comps on paper & that most promotions prefer organizing supermatches instead of tournaments.
I'm mostly self taught, I had some inspiration from Rab Nicholl a few years back which helped. I also bought a version of Corey Millers system that I found more advanced than I could cope with but it revealed what I needed to do to make my version work better. Tom Atherton has had a lot of input too, though he often doesn't realise how much - he asks the right questions & without those three I would have had a lot more disasters than I have had. There are online scoring systems available, some are subscription based, the free ones I tried out seemed lacking a lot of functionality. I'm paranoid about an online system crashing - when everyone in the venue is live streaming their friends matches how much bandwidth is needed? I notice that multimillion pound corporations with teams of techicians still manage to encounter difficulties at live events. What hope have I? So I'm persevering with a system that is offline that I can fix in real time. I hope it ends up being worth it.
I mention this only because some people assume that I'm inactive outside of the days they actually see me at an event. I do other things as well, work, have other interests. I don't know what else to tell you. Onto other things.
Marian Capla, IFA Treasurer sent a long email last week detailing a new venture of the World Armwrestling team championships. It's in Azerbijan, same weekend as our Nationals. It looks a good format, obviously I won't be going as I'm running the Nationals. If enough of you with money to burn on flights & hotels who would rather go there than to the nationals, have a read of the profile (click button below) & we'll see about organizing it.
The next PAA WARZONE is Crusader Carnage in the Swindon area (see events calendar) on 19th September with the finals the following month in Birmingham. The Road Warrior Warzone belt is going home with someone. Bogdan Badiu is currently top of the leaderboard, Callum Rice is 2nd with Atom Bomb Tom Atherton & Chopper Karl Crosby (pictured above) in joint third. Seasoned Road Warrior Chris Rimmer is just behind them. There are still 48 points available which could thwart their plans. Could you be the one to stop those top 5 from following the 2025 champion Reuben Hughes onto victory highway? And if not you - who?
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Entries for IFA WORLDS in Japan close on 9th September. So far entered for the UK team are Alex Horne, Dave Bregazzi, Jake Hatcher, Mark Waldon, Tom Lilley & Tom Mitchell. If you're just thinking now about going, there is a lot to consider - read all the information on the WORLDSTEAM page.
Armgods Wales have the card published for 12th September - you could watch it live or from behind the sofa via livestream on their website www.armgods.com or their app. They've also added a warzone on the morning before the evening show. They have asked me to share this link for entries: https://www.armgods.com/warzone-competition . Enquiries to them, not me please.
Bogdan Stoica is on his way to the US for next weekend to defend his East vs West title against Irakli Zirakashvili. Wish him good luck - he's our champ.
See you down the road.