London High Court Hearing: Should bridge be considered a sport?

Lawyers for the EBU, which has 55,000 members, told the High Court in London that bridge is based on rules, fairness and competition – just like other pursuits which are classified as sports.

A spokesman for the EBU said: “When ruling on what constituted a sport in the 2011 Charities Act, parliament specifically included “mind sports”, stating that sport comprised “activities which promote health involving physical or mental skill or exertion”.

Followers of the famous game – from local bridge clubs to the rich and famous – believe it should have the same recognition as other games such as chess, snooker and darts – all of which are deemed to be sports.

Government body Sport England, taking its lead from the Council of Europe, defines a sport as an “activity aimed at improving physical fitness and well-being, forming social relations and gaining results in competition”.

Separately the EBU has also mounted a legal challenge to a decision by HM Revenue and Customs that bridge is not a sport and is not therefore exempt from Value-Added Tax .

If you can drink a beer and eat a hot dog while you do it, a wise man-my father-once said, it’s not a sport, it’s a game.

Sport England, whose stance is supported by the Department, says that the claim that it had misconstrued the terms of the Royal Charter and the Physical Training and Recreation Act 1937 was not sustainable.

The modern form of contract bridge was invented in the Twenties by American billionaire Harold Vanderbilt, who developed an early scoring system for the game. But the sports councils are entitled to separate mind games from physical activities when deciding who to recognise.

Jeremy Dhondy, a leading bridge player and EBU chairman, said: “We hope that this hearing will allow bridge to be recognised in the way that it should”.

Clayton conceded that darts did involve a level of physical skill not required in bridge, but that was not what the definition required.

They are not now part of the Olympic Games programme, but organisers of the 2020 summer Games in Tokyo have invited both chess and bridge to apply for inclusion, with the decision to be made next year.