THE INTERNET WORLD

I found the Swedish article below, while surfing the net. All I could recognise was the image of a scrabble board and my own name. Curiosity might have killed a cat, but I wanted to find out, regardless. Being a translator myself, between Arabic and English, I thought I might have a look at what Google translation would produce. The result was amusing and confirmed the fact that computers, together with human editors, would never be able to replace a genuine human translator. Incidentally, while Scrabble Victoria scandal received worldwide attention in 2015, I never thought it would have gone as far as Scandinavia.

 

Alfapet-bråk avgjort i domstol

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En långdragen Alfapet-tvist där ord stått mot ord har nu avgjorts i australiensisk domstol.  Spelaren Mohammed Hegazi har slagits mot fuskanklagelser sedan 2008.

Alla vet att sällskapsspel kan leda till bråk men det är sällan som det går så långt som till domstol. Men efter att Alfapet-spelaren Mohammed A. Hegazi blivit avstängd från att tävla av det Australiensiska Alfapetspelarförbundet drog han igång en konflikt som nu avslutats i domstol, rapporterar Herald Sun.

Bakgrunden till konflikten är att förbundet 2008 stängde av Mohammed Hegazi, en före detta lärare, i 12 månader. Anledningen till avstängningen var, enligt förbundets advokat Adam Baker, att Mohammed Hegazi skapat en otrevlig spelmiljö eftersom han klagat på motspelarnas sätt att hantera brickorna och grundlöst anklagat dem för fusk. Dessutom anklagades Mohammed Hegazi själv för att ha fuskat vid ett tillfälle. Han ska nämligen ha iakttagits av en åskådare när han gömde en bricka under sitt ben vid en turnering.

Mohammed Hegazi avtjänade sitt straff och återvände några år senare till turneringsspel men han slutade aldrig att bestrida avstängningen. I september lyckades han också komma överens med förbundet om att upphäva avstängningen i efterhand men när han krävde att även anklagelsen om fusk skulle upphävas officiellt vägrade förbundet och ärendet gick till domstol.

Nu har alltså domen fallit, med blandat resultat för Mohammed Hegezi. Domaren beslutade visserligen att avstängningen skulle ogiltigförklaras i efterhand men något officiellt upphävande av fuskanklagelsen blev det inte. Dessutom tvingas Mohammed Hegazi att betala förbundets rättegångskostnader på 3 096,83 australiensiska dollar motsvarande 21 000 kronor.

– Det är en moralisk seger men en finansiell förlust, sa han utanför domstolen enligt Herald Sun.

Google Translation:

The elongated alfapet noise went all the way to court

A long-term Alfapet dispute where words were spoken against words has now been settled in the Australian court. Player Mohammed Hegazi has been fired against cheating charges since 2008.

Everybody knows that soccer games can lead to trouble but it's rare that it goes as far as court. But after Alfapet player Mohammed A. Hegazi had been suspended from racing by the Australian Alfabet Players Association, he started a dispute that has now been terminated in court, reports Herald Sun.

The background to the conflict is that the 2008 federation closed off by Mohammed Hegazi, a former teacher, for 12 months. The reason for the suspension was, according to federal lawyer Adam Baker, that Mohammed Hegazi created an unpleasant game environment because he complained about the opponents' way of handling the tiles and basically accused them of cheating. In addition, Mohammed Hegazi was accused of cheating on one occasion. He must have been observed by a spectator when he hid a tray under his leg at a tournament.

Mohammed Hegazi earned his penalty and returned to tournament games a few years later, but he never stopped contesting the suspension. In September, he also managed to agree with the federation to suspend the suspension afterwards, but when he demanded that the allegation of cheating be officially terminated, the union refused and the case went to court.

Now the sentence has fallen, with mixed results for Mohammed Hegezi. The judge decided that the suspension would be annulled in retrospect, but no official suspension of the falsification was not. In addition, Mohammed Hegazi is required to pay the federal court costs of 3 096.83 Australian dollars corresponding to 21 000 kronor.

"It's a moral victory but a financial loss," he said outside the court, according to Herald Sun.

How to Pick up a Date

Adam Kretschmer posted this on a public forum:

While pondering the shorter-than-usual entries list for this year's SA Champs, I noted that there are 4 'competing' events on this weekend in Qld, NSW, Vic and ACT.

This time last year, I recommended through my state committee that ASPA works to avoid these clashes to help states run strong championship events. This fell through the cracks and it was not discussed at last year's AGM.

I am re-raising it this year and making it more public to ensure it gets a proper consideration and discussion this time.

My proposal is: that by some cutoff date (Martin can advise), each association nominates their championship weekend for the following calendar year. That locks out that weekend for other states to hold rated events on those weekends. If an association does want to run a clash tourney, they MUST negotiate approval from the association that has the weekend reserved in order for the event to be rated.

A lot of effort goes into organising championship events and it would be really disappointing to see this watering-down continue.

AK

My comment:

Adam is a very intelligent and caring person. He sensed a problem and has been asking for a solution. Martin Waterworth is a  hard-working and seemingly busy person, with little extra help, if any. His focus is on scrabble statistics and maintaining records. He has no time for figuring out a workable solution to Adam's problem. He could only help with some pertinent information.

So, what Adam should do is to actually put forward a feasible plan for solving the problem. Here is a suggested tentative plan :

Many people would like to attend most of championship tournaments, but only if they are spaced reasonably evenly and are not running concurrently with other regional tournaments.

There are 52 weekends per year and a total of 8 championships. The year 2019 is no exception. So, it is possible to plan ahead in order to have a span of 7 or 8 weeks between any two major events. This should be done in advance, and the dates suggested by one person (Adam?). States should then be consulted and allocated their mutually agreed dates. This should be done before any State plan their future tournament calendar.

So, here is a suggested job for you, Adam: I hereby bestow on you the honour of being "Championship Dates Coordinator". Otherwise, your complaints would continue to fall on deaf ears and you may at best get the same waffle you may have already received. See ya in a few days.