The English Bridge Union lost their appeal to be recognised as a sport for tax purposes after judges in a European Court sided with the HM Revenue & Customs that Bridge is nothing more than a game.

The English Bridge Union (EBU) is feeling like the Little Piggy who built the house out of straw, after the European judges in Luxembourg, sheep in wolves clothing blew their house down and gobbled up their hope.

In June, the EBU lodged a claim with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that match fees should be tax exempt as Bridge is a sport. The HMRC disagreed, the EBU appealed via the upper tax tribunal, and the case ended up on the back of a very slow horse to the European courts.

While the judges agreed that Bridge is mentally and physically positive for the people who play the game, especially the older element in the crowd, as it lacked a negligible physical element they could not agree with the EBU and turned down their claim, backing the HMRC’s original decision.