Teacher Shaun Allison hopes to wow his pupils by returning from the summer holidays a football champion.

But at the age of 32, the father-of-three is not hoping to secure a high-profile transfer away from the classroom.

For his bid for glory will take place on the green baize of table football where fast fingers are more important than fast feet.

Shaun, head of science at Bognor Regis Community College, is devoted to Subbuteo - a football game played with miniature players flicked round the pitch.

He said: "I started playing when I was about ten, then stopped as a teenager and a young adult, then regressed again and started playing in the Worthing table football league in 2000.

"I'm a teacher and the first school I worked at had a Subbuteo board in the staff room and staff used to play in a league."

Shaun, of Nutley Drive, Worthing, said the advent of computer games ended the Subbuteo craze in the Eighties but it is still possible to buy the game in certain toy stores.

A member of Worthing Five Star Table Football Club, Shaun spends his Wednesday evenings playing Subbuteo and has now helped set up a national tournament for the sport.

Through internet contacts, he has invited fellow flickers to Worthing for a national contest so they can test their prowess against the UK's best.

Although table football is not as physical as the full-size game, Shaun says the atmosphere at Subbuteo matches can get just as tense with angry players hurling their opponent's figures across the room.

"The crowds can get pretty excited when a tournament starts to get serious.

"To be a good player you have to have a good touch.

"It's a technical game so you need a good insight into how field formations work. It's a little bit like chess.

"When my students hear I play Subbuteo, their reactions range from amusement to being bowled over."

The national Subbuteo tournament will take place at the Sidney Walter Centre, Sussex Road, Worthing, on August 24, from 10am to 6pm. Call 07787 786306.