In the news again
Last week I quoted Terence Reese to add some colour to a piece about, well the darker side of bridge, how it doesn't always bring out the best in everyone. My remarks were mainly light-hearted, after all bridge is a competition, one should be civil to one's opponents but there is no requirement to like them while they are adversaries.
I took my quote from 'Story of an Accusation', the book Reese wrote about the cheating scandal in Buenos Aires at the World Championships in 1965. The author writes as events unfold, first at the tournament and then in greater detail, at the hearing conducted by the British Bridge League (BBL). In between the lines much is revealed about Reese and his partner Boris Schapiro's starkly contrasting characters, their reactions to the allegations and the outcome, and the bridge world of the time.
Much has changed since then but then again, perhaps not so very much. Unknown to me – my quoting of Reese was a complete coincidence – another cheating allegation was breaking. Two members, Michael Elinescu and Entscho Wladow, of the German team who had won the Senior title in Bali last year were found guilty of illicit communications at a hearing in the US.
The mechanism of their misconduct has chimed with the popular press; the parties were found to have communicated by coughing – yes, easy echoes of the Coughing Major and 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". The press, both print and broadcast, seem only to feature our game in this context; cheating sets an irresistible contrast with the genteel image of bridge.
But last week's mention of Buenos Aires 1965 blundered into a second coincidence: on Wednesday BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatisation of those events, or more accurately the BBL hearing. In 1965 in South America the World Bridge Federation found Reese and Schapiro guilty but they left it to their own bridge organisation to administer sanctions. But the BBL reheard the case. This the WBF did not like – I surmise they imagined only that they would decide suitable punishment. Reese and Schapiro emerged guilty in some jurisdictions, innocent in others.
At least those errors have been remedied since 1965. Then there was almost no direct evidence but now there were audio and video recordings, the degree of proof required (as in a criminal court, beyond reasonable doubt) was established early and the hearing took place after the defendants had had due recourse to legal advice. We live in litigious times, sport is a profession and many other disciplines already have long histories in these matters. Rather than a simple vote of those present, proper care had been taken to avoid a mistake in either direction.
Prior to the 'German Doctors' (as the current case has become know) in 2005 two Italians, Massimo Lanzarotti and Andrea Buratti, were found guilty of cheating (rather clumsily and not by coded signals as 1965 and now). They served bans and resumed bridge careers. However, some organisations, most notably the American Contract Bridge League, have a higher standard. The ACBL requires an element of admission from those found guilty; Lanzarotti and Buratti are still banned by the ACBL as far as I can tell, because they remain unrepentant.
This might seem a bleak picture but compared to many games and sports in the last fifty years bridge has kept a tidy house – the game is played 'clean'. At the top, where money and prestige impose the most pressure, technical changes have removed opportunity to the relief of player and officials alike. I would even be prepared to say that the ethics at clubs has improved. Cheating scandals are rare and the behaviour of the top players very good. But we will have to endure uncomfortable press exposure every decade or so.
'The Great British Bridge Scandal' is on BBC iPlayer until Wednesday 9th April. As a balance to the Reese book about Buenos Aires, see 'The Great Bridge Scandal' by US player and author Alan Truscott. Until relatively recently there was a marked divide, only one account was available on each side of the Atlantic. You can read the WBF judgement on the current case online (by a search for their names).
Published Saturday 5.Apr.2014