Canada Speak Out as World Curling Make Another Rule Change

The drama in the curling at the Winter Olympics has taken another twist after another rule change was announced midway through the competition.

It all kicked off in the match between Sweden and Canada last week when the Swedes accused their opponents of breaking the rules by double-touching the stone on throws.

That led to a foul-mouthed confrontation between Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson and Canada’s Marc Kennedy, with the latter telling his opponent to ‘f*** off’. The Canadian was given a verbal warning following his behaviour.

Despite Sweden’s accusations, Canada were not adjudged to have broken the rules after their complaint was raised. Canada went on to win the match 8-6.

World Curling Make Another Rule Change

World Curling changed the rules in the aftermath of the controversy between Canada and Sweden. In a statement, they clarified that double-touching was not allowed and also stated that ‘two officials will move between all four sheets and observe deliveries’ in every game going forward.

They have now reversed that rule change, though, as they now confirmed that two available umpires will only monitor athlete deliveries at the request of the competing teams.

They said: “This change in protocol will see the two umpires who had previously been actively monitoring athlete deliveries remain available in the field of play, but will now only monitor athlete deliveries at the request of the competing teams. The umpires, when requested, will monitor deliveries for a minimum of three ends.”

Canada Coach Speaks Out After Rule Changes

Canada coach Paul Webster has now spoken out as he criticised the governing body for changing rules midway through the competition.

He said, per thegrandslamofcurling: “If you listen to what Sweden said, I think they’re right. This has been a problem that they’ve tried to identify to our international federation, and it wasn’t acted on. Now, we’re trying to quickly fix things at an Olympics, and I think it’s the wrong thing to do.

“We have untrained people doing things they’ve never done before and we’re not at some bonspiel (curling tournament) in Saskatchewan just trying things out. We’re at the Olympics.

“I have a lot of respect for people who are here and volunteering their time, but I think we really have to question if we’re doing new things at the Olympic Games. We’ve had four years to prepare. Our teams, all the 20 teams here, have done a really good job preparing for these Olympic Games. I would like our international federation to match that effort.”

Kennedy shared his relief that World Curling had reversed their decision and gone back to the old rules. He said: “I think they made a good decision. If you think somebody’s violating, you bring somebody out to take a look. I think that’s a step in the right direction.

“They’ll have to take a look at the rule book again and make the changes that they want to make going forward. It sucks, but you’re in the middle of it, so you just adapt and do the best you can.”

While Brad Jacobs, the skip of the Canadian men’s team, added after their win against China: “It felt great (playing under normal officiating standards). We went out there and we played an awesome game… without any interference or distractions or anything like that.”

Canada are now 4-1 for the Games and will continue their campaign on Monday when they take on Czech Republic.