Seems the WCF might be getting serious about all the floppers out there when it comes to protecting the ice. According to this there will be a new rule in place this season. Now what is not talked about is how and who will determine if "damage" has occurred. As for the penalty, I can just see it now as they ask John Morris to leave the ice and he takes out an official with his broom.
Wonder if the same rule applies to curlers with "hot feet"? Better get those shoes fixed MF.
Later,
JH
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3 comments:
LOVE IT!! Hope they do it!!
I'm actually surprised this hasn't come up sooner. Ever since the switch from brooms to brushes, ice quality has been more essential to the game. This is an issue that has been mostly ignored. It is good to see that the WCF is being proactive in this issue.
It should be interesting when officials start calling it on the ice. It could make for some bad blood if people start calling it at the club level - but people will learn, and hopefully get over it.
This is fine for competitive curling, but for the casual once-a-week curler club leagues it could be a disaster if people start nit-picking about it. Laying on the ice to watch a shot is one thing, but if you're out there to just have a few yucks and someone starts bitching because a piece of stuff came off your broom or you slipped and put your hand down for a second to catch yourself it's going to be a turnoff.
It'll be interesting to see if this trickles down to the club level and further exacerbates something I've observed over the last few years which is the disconnect between trying to get "new blood" and casual curlers to swell the membership ranks (and coffers) of clubs vs. wanting to develop elite curlers ready to compete on the national and international stage. At a certain point a club has to decide whether it can be solvent catering more to the elites than to the once or twice a week slobs like, well, little ol' me who view the sport as recreation and socialization rather than a ticket to stardom. A tough decision that I wouldn't want to make.
Perhaps in the future the sport will be big enough to have a golf-like split where you have your elite-type clubs to hothouse future Olympians and you'll also have your "bars with a few sheets of ice behind 'em" type places for The Great Unwashed. I know where I'll be if I'm still around.
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