Is bridge a sport? High Court judge to analyse argument

At a previous hearing, Mr Justice Mostyn said: “You are doing more physical activity playing bridge, with all that dealing and playing, than in rifle shooting”.

Sport England officials argue that recognizing bridge could be a gateway to other sedentary games-chess, whist, even Scrabble, for God’s sake-that would “dilute” its “precious funding”, director Phil Smith told the BBC.

LONDON, Sept 22 Bridge enthusiasts began a court challenge in London on Tuesday against a decision by funding body Sport England to exclude the card game from a list of recognised sports that includes darts, model aircraft flying, hot air ballooning and angling.

A High Court judge has been asked to review Sport England’s decision that bridge was not a sport.

The EBU, which has 55,000 members, claims the game has health benefits for the mind and is one of a smaller number of sports available to older people, to whom it brings a sense of inclusion and community. If bridge is decided to be a sport then it could be granted a certain amount of public funds for tournaments and to prop up bridge bodies.

Ben Jaffey, representing the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, said it was common ground that bridge was a game of the mind.

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.

The spokesman said bridge required “undoubted levels of mental skill” and had “known health benefits” and that reclassifying it would improve opportunities to play.

The EBU says the card game is as much a sport as snooker or darts, while others believe it is more like “reading a book”.

There are two kinds of bridge, rubber which is normally played at home for leisure, and duplicate bridge which is used for competitions.

The EBU does have some supporters in its corner, with the 2011 Charities Act saying sports are activities “which promote health involving physical or mental skill or exertion”.

Regardless of the outcome, there’s still hope for disenfranchised bridge fans-organizers have invited bridge, chess, and tug of war to apply for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.