An EBU Disciplinary Committee recently considered the following charges against Michael Quinn (BBO name Smiler19) and Norma Quinn (BBO name myboys12) at a hearing in March.
- That when they played in online games on the Bridgebase Online (“BBO”) platform organised by the EBU and by the Horsham Bridge Club between June and September 2020, they had knowledge of some aspects of each other’s hands obtained by illicit communication with each other.
- That they took advantage of this information to make calls and plays which they were unlikely to have made had they not known the layout of the hands, to the benefit of their bridge scores in those sessions.
The defendants denied the charges, and a disciplinary hearing was held. The Disciplinary Committee found the charges proved to their comfortable satisfaction, and that the defendants’ conduct constituted an offence under paragraph 3.2(iv) of the EBU Disciplinary Rules, being unfair or dishonest play.
The Committee imposed a sanction of suspension of EBU membership for a period of three years.
The defendants appealed and the Appeal Committee summarily dismissed the appeal as disclosing no grounds for concluding that the Disciplinary Committee had erred, and forfeited the deposit.
May 13, 2021