Scottish Scrabble champion banned from competitions in cheating storm

JODY HARRISON

Allan Simmons accused of breaking the rules.

showing his full hand. Fellow competitor Lewis Mackay, 32, complained about Mr Simmons breaking the rules after their match at the British Masters in June.

Mr Mackay said he was also concerned with Mr Simmons’s techniques in last year’s World Championship.

This led to Mr Simmons being banned for a year, only for the organisers of the Scottish

Masters to contact the association with their own concerns, saying they had not raised the alarm before because of his standing in the game.

The 60-year-old co-wrote every edition of Official Scrabble Words and Scrabble Trainer.

Mr Simmons, from Coldingham in Berwickshire, is a founding member of the association and its president from 1988 to 1999 and chairman from 2002 to 2006.

He won the British Matchplay four times and the ABSP Masters twice. He has also played at five World Championships.

Mr Simmons has said he will not appeal against the decision, as he did not want to “distract” the association, and plans to retire from competitive play.

However, he denied cheating, saying records of his games show he has suffered the same “untimely bad luck from the bag as anyone else”, The Times reported.

The former champion, who began playing competitively in the 1970s, said: “While I believe I always showed an open hand before drawing fresh letters, if drawing one or two at a time I may not have always had an open hand for each dip in the bag.

“Likewise, holding the bag may not have always been strictly at shoulder height.”