Introduction

Each year Yorkshire enters teams for several inter-county competitions, listed on the right. Click on the link for information about the Northern Bridge League and for results in the years 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Scroll down to the bottom of this page for information about the other inter-county competitions.

Interested?

Would anyone interested in playing in a Northern Bridge League team in 2024 (matches are from July to October) please contact the chair of the selection committee before March 2024, when the teams will be selected. You will find the names of the selection committee members elsewhere on this site – click on the ‘About YCBA’ tab and then on ‘Official Documents’. The next section explains the selection criteria.

Inter-County Player Selection

The YCBA Board delegates responsibility for selection of players for the Northern Bridge League, Presidents Cup and Tollemache to selection committees. There are many factors to take into account in selection decisions, but the main considerations are:

Criteria for selection for the Northern Bridge League (NBL)

1. Established or evolving partnerships
   
2. Competing in Yorkshire League and/or Online Yorkshire League Division 1, 2 or 3
   
3. Some experience of playing with success against good standard opposition in national and county competitions.

Criteria for selection for the Tollemache and President’s Cup

1. Established partnerships *
   
2. Recent success in national and county level competitions.
   Weighting for Teams events will be significantly higher than Pairs events.
   
3. Competing in 5 or more NBL Division 1 events within the last 3 years with a positive average butler / cross-imp rating.
   
4. Competing in Yorkshire League and/or Online YL Division 1 or 2 with a positive average butler / cross-imp rating over the last 3 years.

* Exceptions may be made due to late withdrawals, new partnerships with good recent record or other exceptional circumstances.

Entry Fees:

YCBA pays the entry fees, but there is a charge made at the venue to cover the cost of catering & hire of the venue, part of which is paid by the YCBA.

The entry fees for the Tollemache Cup and President’s Cup competitions will be paid in full by the YCBA. If an overnight stay is required, the YCBA may make a contribution to the cost of the stay.

Tollemache Cup

The ‘Tolle’ is the EBU’s principal inter-county competition for teams-of-eight. All county associations are eligible to enter, and most do so. It is played in two stages. A qualifying round is currently played online over a weekend in November. The counties entering are divided into two groups, playing a round robin of matches, and the leading four teams in each group qualify for the final. The final is played face-to-face over a weekend the following February.

In the qualifying round of the 2023-24 Tollemache Cup,Yorkshire finished in a disappointing twelfth place in their group.   

The Yorkshire team was Alan Brosgill (captain), Tony Sowter, Tony McNiff, Sandra Penfold, Brian Senior, Frank Dixon, Paul Brereton, Tom Copeland, Alan Jarvis, Tom Cohen, Phil Morrison and Robin Jepson.

President’s Cup

The President’s Cup is another inter-county competition, initiated by David Stevenson (Merseyside & Cheshire) but currently organised by Cumbria Contract Bridge Association.
The participants vary from year to year, but most are county associations in the north of England. It is played over a single weekend in the summer and the format is a round robin of matches between the competing teams.

In 2024,Yorkshire repeated their victory of the previous year, thus retaining the President’s Cup. The competition was played online using RealBridge over the weekend of 6th and 7th July. Five teams took part – four from the traditional northern county assocations – Cumbria & Westmorland, Merseyside & Cheshire, North East and Yorkshire. To add an overseas flavour, a team from Dublin was also invited.

The contest was quite close in the end, Yorkshire withstanding a late run by Dublin to prevail by 26 imps. The Yorkshire team was Dave Robinson (captain) Tony Sowter, Sandra Penfold, Brian Senior, Ian Cook, Dennis Haines, Alan Brosgill, Robin Jepson, Paul Brereton, Frank Dixon, Nichola Cockerill-Smith, Richard Pike, Keith Joules and Phil Godfrey.

Thanks to all the players, and to the selectors – Alan Brosgill, Dave Robinson and Sandy Davies.

Pachabo Cup

The Pachabo Cup is an EBU competition, for which counties may enter the winning teams or runners up in their principal knockout competition for teams-of-four. In Yorkshire, the knockout competition is the Waddington Shield.
In 2024, the Yorkshire team comprised four players from the team that finished runners-up in the Waddington Shield – Frank Dixon, Paul Brereton, David Waxman & Richard Pike. The winners of the Waddington were unable to send a team. Yorkshire finished in a strong seventh place out of a total of 29 counties taking part. The winners of the Pachabo Cup were Hampshire & the Isle of Wight.

Garden Cities Trophy

The Garden Cities Trophy is another EBU competition, for which county associations may enter the winners or runners-up in their designated competition for affiliated club teams-of-eight. This event is played in two stages, starting with regional semi-finals, from which the leading teams qualify for the final.

The Yorkshire League is YCBA’s designated competition, so the winners of Division 1 of the Yorkshire League are invited to play in the Garden Cities.

The regional final of the 2024 competition took place on Saturday 11th May. Yorkshire was represented by Sheffield., Yorkshire League winners in 2023‐24. Sheffield finished in first place with 41 VPs ‐ congratulations ‐ and so qualifies for the national final. The Sheffield team was Arthur Hughes, Mike Pomfrey, Dave Robinson, Tony Sowter, Bazil Caygill, Matthew Kiggins, Richard  Pike and Sandy Davies.

The national final took place on Saturday 1st June. Sheffield finished in fourth place out of eight teams taking part. The Sheffield team was the same as in the semi-final. The winners of the Garden Ciities Trophy were a team from Cambridge Bridge Club representing Cambridgeshire & Huntingdonshire.

National inter-county league final

The winners of each division of regional inter-county leagues qualify for this EBU competition. For Yorkshire the inter-county league is the Northern Bridge League and, as the NBL is staged in the summer and autumn months, the divisional winners are eligible to play in the NICL final the following year.

In 2024, Yorkshire’s A and B teams qualified for the finals of the NICL, which took place on 2nd June.

Yorkshire won the A team final by two victory points following an appeal. The team comprised Dave Robinson & Tony Sowter, Sandra Penfold & Brian Senior, Paul Brereton & Frank Dixon, and Tom Copeland & Alan Jarvis. Paul & Frank were the leading Yorkshire pair in the cross-imps table, and third overall.

Yorkshire finished in second place jin the B team final, five victory points behind the winners, Hertfordshire . The team comprised John O’Sullivan (captain) & Ian Johns, David Lewis & Colin Fallows, Ian Cook & Dennis Haines, and Rod Hose & David Adams. Ian and Dennis were the top pair overall in the cross-imps table.

Congratulations to both teams add to the selectors.

Corwen Trophy

The Corwen is the national competition for which pairs qualify though a high-placed finish in their county’s princilpal pairs event – which, for Yorkshire, is the Yorkshire Pairs.

In 2024, Yorkshire sent three pairs to the final of the Corwen, and they all finished in the top echelons of the ranking list of the 75 pairs taking part.     Geoff Kenyon & Nick Woolven were 10th, Carole Kelly & Stuart Davies 13th and John Hayton & Mike Jackson 20th.   Well done all.

This page was last updated on 20th June 2024.

Competitions

• Northern Bridge League
• Tollemache Cup (EBU)
• President’s Cup
• Pachabo Cup (EBU)
• Garden Cities Trophy (EBU)
• National Inter-county League final (EBU)