WBU Championship events

[gwynndavis]

We are now getting into the season, and new things are being tried. It is fair enough to try something new, but realsm has to prevail. The overall decline in playing numbers long predates the pandemic. It is concerning, but it is important not to draw the wrong conclusions. Some players prefer to play online - but again, it's easy to draw the wrong conclusion from that. One wrong conclusion would be that some WBU competions should move online. That is a mistake, which might have been predicted, and is in the course of being demonstrated. Nor will Congresses succeed online. To try to run Congresses online is another mistake. Competitive bridge will only survive as a card game, played face to face. Try moving to online play if you wish - you'll save money by doing that - but the players won't follow you.
Online play has its place. Some clubs offer a mixed menu, and that can work well. Leagues, where significant distance is involved, can also work well online. But national events, and Congresses, have to be face to face if they are to work at all. In Wales that means they have to be played in the South. By all means experiment with online events, but most of us who play competitive bridge are card players at heart. We are fewer in number than twenty (or forty!) years ago, but we still want to play cards. I will support all Championship events played face to face, and also all Congresses in my locality. I'll also play leagues online, but I won't play anything else. I find it boring. You think I don't speak for the majority? Just watch.

[Tony Haworth]

Fully agree with Gwynn. It's sad to see the Porthcawl Congress 'relegated' to online status. I remember the days when we had 50+ tables in the Seabank hotel in Cardiff.
Also it appears that Llangollen Swiss Teams Congress is no longer - why?
One reason for all of this is the lack of volunteers to administer the events.