Chairman’s Corner

No.4, September, 2005

The ANC has come and gone and without question Bruce Neill and his organising committee did us proud. Ominous rumblings from various quarters prior to the event quickly dissipated and I’ve heard nothing but compliments from the ABF, our brethren organisations in other states, and most importantly from the participants in the event. So on behalf of the NSWBA I would like to formally thank Bruce, Chris Nettle, Kim Neale, Julian Foster, Matthew McManus, Judy Mott, Judy Frazier and Ross Stuart, all of whom worked tirelessly to stage the 2005 ANC, as well as the countless other volunteers, too numerous to name, who contributed to its success.

It was naturally gratifying that the NSW Open and Seniors’ teams won their respective Interstate Championship, while the Women’s team placed second in their event. Such a strong showing in a national championship would suggest that perhaps the tournament structure and selection methods used by the NSWBA to pick its representative teams are not entirely without merit. Also notable, was Bruce Neill’s remarkable effort in winning the Open Butler, easily the most gruelling event in the Bridge calendar, despite the burdens of being the convener.

The other major event held in Sydney last month was the World Youth Teams championships which attracted teams from 17 countries. Staged under the auspices of the WBF and the ABF, it was jointly convened by David Stern and Peter Gill. While the NSWBA’s formal contribution was limited to sponsoring the Opening Ceremony, there was ample opportunity to showcase the Bridge talent we have here in NSW, with Ish Del’Monte, Kieran Dyke, David Beauchamp, Richard Jedrychowski, and Bruce Neill providing much of the Vugraph commentary and Ron Klinger co-editing the Daily Bulletin.

An important date to note in your diary is the weekend of 10-11 December when a special event will be held to pick the NSW team for the 2006 Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship. This event, which is a precursor to the Commonwealth games being held in Melbourne next March, will provide members of the NSW team an opportunity to gain championship experience at the highest levels as it is anticipated that at least 20 international teams will compete. To give all pairs a fair chance, the NSWBA proposes to run the selection event as a Butler Pairs, with the top three pairs comprising the NSW team. Moreover, the event is being held on a weekend to give non-metropolitan pairs the opportunity to compete. I look forward to seeing you there.

Dr Alex Yezerski