The British Bridge League (BBL) was founded in 1931 by A. E. Manning Foster. [1] It formerly selected bridge teams to represent Great Britain in European and World competitions and organised the Camrose Trophy, the Gold Cup, the Portland Cup and the Lady Milne Trophy.
In June 1999, the European Bridge League agreed that England, Scotland and Wales could compete as individual nations from 1 January 2000, rather than (as formerly) under the banner of Great Britain. [2] (Other than in the Camrose Trophy, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland compete as one nation, Ireland, under the auspices of the Irish Bridge Union. [2] )
With its responsibility for selecting a national team obsolete, the BBL was dissolved at the end of 1999 and was superseded in its organisational functions by Bridge Great Britain. [3]
The Sheffield Sharks, currently known as "B.Braun Sheffield Sharks" for sponsorship reasons, are a professional basketball team from the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The Sharks play in the British Basketball League and play their home fixtures at Ponds Forge. They are one of the most successful teams in the history of British basketball, second only to Newcastle Eagles, and dominated the domestic scene throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
The British Basketball League, often abbreviated to the BBL, is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the country. The league is contested by 11 teams, with representation from both England and Scotland. The BBL runs three additional knockout competitions alongside the BBL Championship; the BBL Cup and the BBL Trophy, and the end-of-season Play-offs.
The Ireland men's national rugby league team, known as the Wolfhounds, is organised by Rugby League Ireland and represents Ireland in international rugby league. The representative team is composed largely of players of Irish descent who compete in the Super League as well as the Australasian National Rugby League. Ireland is also represented by an Ireland A side, which is made up of players from the Irish domestic competition.
Association football is organised on a separate basis in each of the four constituent countries that make up the United Kingdom (UK), with each having a national football association responsible for the overall management of football within their respective country. There is no United Kingdom national football team. Football has been the most popular sport in the UK since the 1860s. Rugby union, rugby league and cricket are other popular sports.
Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture. The United Kingdom has given birth to a large majority of the team sports including association football, badminton, billiards, bowls, boxing, British baseball, rounders, cricket, croquet, curling, darts, golf, fives, field hockey, netball, rugby, tennis, table tennis, snooker, Motorcycle Speedway, squash, water polo, and shinty. Moreover, the standardisation of various sports, such as in rowing, dancesports and motorsports occurred in the United Kingdom.
London Towers were a professional basketball team based in London, England. They enjoyed considerable success in the 1990s, collecting 3 titles in the British Basketball League (BBL) as well as regularly competing in European competitions such as the Euroleague and EuroCup. They contested a fierce rivalry with fellow London team Greater London Leopards for much of this spell. After several years of decline with financial difficulties and venue issues, owner Costi Zombanakis pulled the first team from the BBL in the summer of 2006, and although the team continued in the regional English Basketball League, the London Towers brand folded in 2009.
Rugby union in England is one of the leading professional and recreational team sports. In 1871 the Rugby Football Union, the governing body for rugby union in England, was formed by 21 rugby clubs, and the first international match, which involved England, was played in Scotland. The English national team compete annually in the Six Nations Championship, and are former world champions after winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The top domestic men's club competition is Premiership Rugby, and English clubs also compete in international competitions such as the European Rugby Champions Cup. The top domestic women's competition is the Premier 15s.
Rugby union in Italy is governed by the Italian Rugby Federation. Rugby was introduced into Italy in the early 1900s. It is also known as pallovale or palla ovale within Italy. Two Italian professional teams compete in Pro14, a league that also includes sides from Ireland, Scotland, South Africa and Wales. One of the teams is guaranteed a place in the European Rugby Champions Cup; the other normally plays in the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The Top12 is the main national club competition. Four Italian clubs from the national championship compete in a qualifying tournament that awards two places in the Challenge Cup. Italy competes in the Six Nations Championship and Rugby World Cup, and is classified as a tier one nation by World Rugby.
The English Bridge Union or EBU is a player-funded organisation that promotes and organises the card game of duplicate bridge in England. It is based at offices in Aylesbury. The EBU is a member of the European Bridge League and thus affiliated with the World Bridge Federation, which promulgates the laws of the game.
Sport in England plays a prominent role in English society. Popular teams sports in England include football, field hockey, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, and netball. Major individual sports include badminton, athletics, tennis, boxing, golf, cycling, motorsport and horseracing. Cricket is regarded as the national summer sport. Association football is the most popular sport, followed by Cricket, Tennis and Rugby. A number of modern sports were codified in England during the nineteenth century, among them cricket, rugby union, rugby league, football, field hockey, squash, tennis, and badminton. The game of baseball was first described in 18th century England.
Raymond Slater Brock was a leading English bridge player and then a long-time administrator. He was a member of the Great Britain team that finished second in both the 1987 European Bridge League championship and the 1987 Bermuda Bowl world championship, and fifth in the 1988 World Team Olympiad. This success came during his partnership with Tony Forrester, which lasted from 1982 to 1990. He achieved the rank of World International Master through his performances.
Richard Anthony (Tony) Priday was an English bridge player and journalist, who had a longstanding and successful partnership with Claude Rodrigue. He was a member of Great Britain teams that finished third in the 1962 Bermuda Bowl and the 1976 World Team Olympiad, and those that won European Bridge League (EBL) championship teams-of-four in 1961 and came second in 1971.
The Camrose Trophy or "The Camrose" is an annual bridge competition among open teams representing the home nations of Great Britain and Ireland: England (EBU), Northern Ireland (NIBU), Republic of Ireland (CBAI), Scotland (SBU) and Wales (WBU). As such it is the open teams-of-four component of the "Home Internationals" organised by Bridge Great Britain.
Nicola Patricia Smith MBE, née Gardener, is a world champion English bridge player. She has many successes to her credit in more than 30 years of international competition, initially as Nicola Gardener. Currently ) she ranks first among Women World Grand Masters both by world masterpoints (MP) that decay annually and by placing points (PP) that do not.
Rugby league is played across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but it's heartland in the North of England is where the sport is most popular, and is where the majority of professional clubs are based. The sport was first established in the George Hotel, Huddersfield, where 22 clubs from the Rugby Football Union split to form the Northern Rugby Football Union.
Anthony R. (Tony) Forrester is an English bridge player and writer. He is a British and English international and a World Bridge Federation World International Master. Forrester was a bridge columnist for The Daily Telegraph from 1993 until 2019 and for The Sunday Telegraph from 1996 until 2019.
Brian R. Senior is a professional bridge player and writer from Nottingham. He has represented Great Britain, England, Northern Ireland and Ireland in international competition and has won all the major English Bridge Union teams competitions. Senior is also the editor and publisher of the annual official world championship book, under World Bridge Federation auspices.
Bridge Great Britain is an organisation which was formed to continue the organisational functions of the British Bridge League from 1 January 2000 when that body was dissolved at the end of 1999. It organises the Gold Cup and several annual international bridge competitions between teams representing England, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; including the Camrose Trophy and like events.
Patrick David Jourdain was a British bridge player, teacher and journalist. Over six decades he played in more than seventy international matches for Wales, more than any other player. He was bridge correspondent of the Daily Telegraph from 1992 until his death. His World Bridge Federation obituary described him as "the bridge-journalist’s journalist". According to the English Bridge Union's death notice: "Ever the dedicated journalist, he penned his own obituary to ensure that the media would have their copy in timely fashion."
