DECEMBER 2020 | 31
SPORT
The bridge world in 2020
In 2020 a lot of things are different. One of these things is the card game named bridge. Almost all bridge competitions, from top-level championships to club games, have been cancelled because of the worldwide corona measures.
But that does not mean there is no more bridge in the world. On the world wide web there are several websites where you can play the card game online. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Bridge Association (NBB) supports the online platform Stepbridge. Normally you pay a yearly fee to play here, but during the corona crisis
all the bridge clubs in the Netherlands have the possibility to organise their club game for free. Another site often used by Dutch players (and players from all over the world) is Bridge Base Online (BBO). Here you can play bridge for free, day and night. BBO also organises tournaments, for free or with a small entry fee.
Professional bridge players are going through difficult times. Normally, the best players in the world are hired to play at big live tournaments, and are paid by the
event sponsor. The sponsor also makes sure professional players get a good partner and good teammates. All live tournaments have been cancelled because of the worldwide corona outbreak. But even these tournaments are now taking place online.
and World Championships, the bridge partners are separated by a screen, placed diagonally across the table. In that way they have eye contact with one opponent, but not with their partner. This prevents the players from receiving so-called unauthorised information.
The first online tournament available for top players was the so-called ALT tournament (ALT from ‘alternative’). This tournament was organised by, amongst others, Jan van den Hoek, the founder of bridge website Netbridge. Netbridge started organising online tournaments in 2019, even before the corona outbreak. The main reason for this was to give topand sub-top level players the opportunity to practice online against each other in serious matches. Because of this experience with organising online tournaments, for Netbridge it was an unforeseen but logical next step to organise online tournaments for top professional players.
Online there are other challenges. Every player plays from his or her own home via the internet. If spectators are allowed to watch live, there is a possibility that information on the hand in play reaches the player. Two top players (Michal Nowosadski of Poland and Cédric Lorenzini from France) have admitted to have used a second account to watch their own game under a different name. In that way, it’s simple to make difficult decisions easy.
Using BBO as the online platform, Netbridge organised an invitational tournament for top players. The first event was played between eight teams, but soon there was interest from all over the world to play in the tournament. Furthermore, many spectators enjoyed watching the matches. They could follow every match, card by card. In the past several months, various kinds of ALT tournaments have taken place. In the meantime, more online tournaments are being set up for top players, for instance the OCBL (Online Contract Bridge League) tournament, the E-Open tournament and the Bridgehouse tournament. the author of this article (kebosporto) and his partner Jan de Winter (winjan) playing online against two of the world’s best players, Simon de Wijs (sm1) and Bauke Muller (beukertje), on BBO.
One of the difficulties for the organisers of online tournaments is to guarantee the game is played in a fair way. In face-to-face games, played live, such as the European
Some organisers therefore don’t allow spectators at all tables. To ensure the public can follow the tournaments, one match is available to watch, but with a delay of about half an hour. Another weapon to be used against cheating is analysing the hand records afterwards. Currently the Italian top player Giorgio Duboin is “under investigation”. A report on this player’s performance was published on 6 November on the popular bridge website bridgewinners.com. The organisation of the ALT tournaments sticks to its policy that all matches are open for the public. They offer players who have cheated online the opportunity to admit their mistake, say sorry, and have a second chance. Hopefully, in 2021, online tournaments will be played in a fair way. And above all, hopefully bridge can once again be played face-to-face.
Written by Kees Bouwen
The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany want to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027
The three neighbouring nations are joining forces to make a bid to host the football World Cup for women in 2027. The countries have already expressed their interest to the World Football Association, FIFA, and the European football organization, UEFA. The final arrangements between the three nations still need to be decided, for example potential locations for the games and training facilities. The idea is to make further agreements about the final touches before the end of this year. The Scandinavian region is also interested in organizing the event, but the KNVB, the football governing body in the Netherlands, wants to be the first to bid to outperform the competition. So far, no official candidacy has been submitted by other countries. The Dutch Parliament supports the idea. First time hosting a women’s World Cup in the Netherlands Although the Netherlands has never hosted the global tournament, it has some experience with international events. The Dutch organized an international women’s tournament for the first time in 2017, the European Championship, and went
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on to win. “We have experience in that respect. The European Championship was unforgettable, although the results also helped. That does a lot for football in this country, but the World Cup in France last year was even bigger. The attention, spectators, organization, media attention; it’s crazy,” says the current head coach of the Dutch women’s team, Sarina Wiegman. The “Orange” team ended up as runnersup in the 2019 World Cup. Germany women’s football has been among the best in the world for decades. The national women’s team became world champion twice and it has won the European title no less than eight times. The country also has experience hosting events like this: the Germans received the European Championship in 1989 and 2001 and hosted the World Cup in 2011.
Belgium has no experience yet with the organization of women’s tournaments and it only participated in a tournament once. In 2017, during the European Championship in the Netherlands, the ‘Red Flames’ did not reach past the group stage, despite a surprising victory over Norway.
Women’s football in all three countries is indeed in different phases of development, but we share the aspiration to give the sport a boost nationally and globally by organizing this World Cup. We believe that with teamwork, we can really make a difference and increase the chance to organize this tournament,” according to the KNVB.
Legends The Dutch, German and Belgian football federations have all designated a “legend” to head the kick-off of the bid. For the KNVB this is Wiegman, as the recent achievements of the Dutch were spearheaded by her. The Dutch team is currently one of the best in the world and has surpassed Germany on the FIFA ranking. “Germany has always been great, with good competition and a presence at tournaments,” Wiegman told AD newspaper. “They now see other countries developing, going faster. There is still enormous potential. And Belgium is a little behind and wants to get a boost with this World Cup, like we did in 2017.” “In the Netherlands, even more people will come to the stadium than at the moment,”
Wiegman continues. “And they will also visit Belgium and Germany. That will give a boost to all three countries. Many companies are still not aware of what exactly is going on in women’s football. It will be an attractive product and it will only grow. In turn, this helps us to get the resources and facilities to put together an even better tournament. Then you keep having that upward development.” The Belgians have called 84-time international Femke Maes forward as representative, while in Germany Silvia Neid has been chosen. Neid played 111 international matches and was the national coach of the German women for no less than eleven years. The three legends appear in a video to promote the World Cup bid. It’s not yet known when FIFA will announce the host(s) for the 2027 World Cup. The upcoming 2023 World Cup will be held in Australia and New Zealand.
Written by Raphael Perachi Vieira
11-11-20 22:35
