Nonsense and poppycock. There is no way Bridge can be classified as a sport and I suspect the only reason the Bridge playing fraternity are making the application is to access grants that would come with sporting status.
Bridge is a card game, just the same as chess, scrabble and Monopoly are board games and not sport despite the fact that they are all competitive. A good definition of sport is "usually competitive physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills whilst providing entertainment to participants and, in some cases, spectators."
Bridge may exercise the mind, but it is not a physical activity. Even the person being interviewed from the English Bridge Union (or some such title) virtually destroyed his own argument by continually referring to it as a game. What next - the Sudoku Olympics?
Interesting when you come across a piece of British history when you aren't expecting it. Today went for a six mile walk which took in the imaginatively named Beeston Bump in North Norfolk. Now we all know that Norfolk in general is flat, although parts of Norwich are anything but flat just the same is parts of Lincoln do not live up to the flatness of the remainder of Lincolnshire.
Beeston Bump is quite a climb, but once at the top there are excellent views of the North Norfolk coast and the town of Sheringham in particular. On the top is a notice board explaining the significance of the bump during the Second World War when it was a Y Station. This was a new term for me.
Actually the bump has an interesting history. Once it was two round flat topped hills which were left behind when the glaciers retreated at the end of the last Ice Age. We are talking between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago. The hills eventually merged into one.
The remains of the military installations from the war can still be seen. There is also a triangular pillar which was used for surveying. Beeston Y Station was a secret listening station
which relayed messages to Bletchley Park. The station helped to locate German U Boats and was staffed by German speaking personnel. The line of Y stations throughout the country relayed 3,000 coded messages to Bletchley Park every day.
Beeston Bump is 207 feet above sea level. After visiting this we climbed to the highest point in Norfolk which is Roman Camp at West Runton which is 335 feet above sea level.
You can read more about Station Y at Beeston by clicking here.
Spent some of the evening talking to one of the village's two Brownie groups. Will let you know why tomorrow.