THE GOOD NEWS I PROMISED

Scrabble squabble over cheating, playing ban settled in Melbourne court

By James Fettes

5 Jan 2015

A Scrabble player has had a one-year ban overturned but lost his battle to have his name cleared of cheating in a Melbourne court.

Mohammed A Hegazi was issued a one-year suspension by the Australian Scrabble Players Association (ASPA) in 2008 over allegations he created an unpleasant environment for players.

The association claimed Mr Hegazi bullied and intimidated opponents, regularly accused them of cheating and, in one case, allegedly cheated himself.

Mr Hegazi served the ban and returned to play years later, but continued to dispute the suspension.

Ringwood Magistrates Court today overturned the ban and ordered the ASPA print a statement saying the suspension had been revoked in their quarterly magazine, Across The Board.

However, Magistrate Phillip Ginnane said it was not within his power to order the ASPA to make a declaration he had not cheated.

The magistrate also ordered Mr Hegazi pay the ASPA's costs of $3,096.83.

The lawyer representing Mr Hegazi, Robert Frajsman, said the matter was fraught with emotion.

"We are dealing with passionate members of this vocal community," Mr Frajsman said.

Mr Hegazi runs a "Scrabble detective" blog, about Australian Scrabble rules and governance.

Parties previously reached agreement

The court heard the parties had reached an in-principle agreement at a pre-hearing conference in September 2014, but after the agreement was made Mr Hegazi requested the ASPA explicitly state he did not cheat.

"That's why we're here, because we haven't been able to finalise the wording of the agreement," Mr Frajsman said.

But the lawyer representing the ASPA, Adam Baker, said Mr Hegazi had agreed to the settlement without that clause.

"There was no discussion of any word to do with cheating [at the pre-hearing conference]," Mr Baker said.

"We shouldn't be here, and yet we are."

Two hours into the hearing, Mr Frajsman told the court his client would, in fact, agree to the original settlement terms.

Magistrate Phillip Ginnane then made orders to officially revoke the ban.

Outside court, Mr Hegazi said that despite the settlement, the exclusion of the so-called cheating clause was disappointing.

"I'm a bit disappointed because the definition {of conduct unbecoming} is not legally clear," Mr Hegazi said.

"The accusations (of cheating) still stick because they have not been specified."

But asked if he would continue to play Scrabble, Mr Hegazi did not hesitate.

"Yes, there's no reason why not," he said.

 

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The final words on this matter: People with dignity do their hardest to preserve their dignity. People with no dignity cannot lose it, they continue in their positions of presumed power.

M A Hegazi