Duplicate bridge could be argued to be a sport, the High Court has held.
In R (on behalf of English Bridge Union) v Sport England [2015] EWHC 1347 (Admin), Mr Justice Mostyn granted permission for the Union to bring a judicial review against Sport England’s refusal to recognise duplicate bridge as a sport.
Duplicate bridge is the most common variation of bridge in club and tournament play, and is called “duplicate” because the same arrangement of cards, or deal, is played at each table and scoring is based on relative performance.
Mostyn J said it was “significant” that in 1999, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) acknowledged that bridge and chess should be considered sports. The IOC recognised these as “mind sports” which should be separately categorised and excluded from participation in the Olympic programme but still recognised them as sports. Mostyn J noted that tug of war was in the Olympics in 1905 but is no longer included in the programme.
He concluded: “I do recognise, just as [Mr Justice] Haddon Cave did, that there are
