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• In the summer of 2006, Fenson’s Olympic team broke up as John Shuster, who played lead, left the squad to form his own rink.

OLE MEXICO

Curling isn’t one of the more popular sports in Mexico, to be sure, but there are a few participants in the tropical country. In fact Josele Garza, a car racer who has participated in the Indy 500, is one of the country’s original rock throwers.

After seeing the sport in the 1998 Olympics, he organized a group intent on setting up the sport in Mexico. The group travelled to Winnipeg for some instruction and a crash course on strategy. With only five arenas in Mexico City, it’s difficult to get ice, but thanks to Garza and his group, there is an official curling club, and Mexico is a member country of the World Curling Federation.

LONG-GONE EQUIPMENT

It’s been a long time since a straw broom appeared in any major competition around the world. In fact, straw brooms were last made in 2003, having succumbed to the success of the push broom. While only recently extinct, the straw broom is far from the only piece of equipment that has disappeared from the game over the years. Here are a few more items that were once common on curling rinks around the world.

Centre skittle

Years ago, before rings were permanently painted into the ice, a small wooden skittle was positioned at the exact centre of the ice. This allowed players at the throwing end of the sheet to have a visual idea of the location of the button.

Tassels

Hard as it may be to believe, many years ago, rocks weren’t identified by coloured tops. That’s primarily because each player was required to provide his or her own pair of stones, and there was no idea of what team he or she would be on for that game. Instead a small piece of coloured wool was tied to the handle—eight handles, actually—to determine which rocks belonged to which team.

Crampits

The name is perhaps more closely associated with mountain climbing, but a crampit (also called a crampon) was an attachment that was tied on to the bottom of a shoe or boot and had prongs on the underside that provided a hold on the ice. For a short time, players kept the crampit on their foot the entire game, while throwing and sweeping, which caused some horrendous conditions as they ran up and down the sheet. In later years, crampits were affixed to the ice and remained in position for the entire game, usually by putting the metal fixture into hot water and then melting it into the ice.

The Duster

The name came from the fact this was usually a cloth, much like something used for dusting. It was placed on the ice to show where the rock was to come to rest. If it was placed on top of a rock, the shot was a takeout.

These French curlers are using a duster (just above the rock on the left) to show the centre of the house on this outdoor rink.

CLOSET CURLING FANS

Although they are better known for other endeavours, the three people listed below have a soft spot for the roaring game. It’s just that nobody knew!

Wayne Gretzky—hockey’s all-time scoring leader is a devoted curling fan who said he regularly follows the Brier and other events. And he admitted to another secret in a column he wrote in the National Post. “You’d be surprised how many National Hockey League players can be found sitting in their hotel rooms in the middle of winter watching [curling] somewhere.”

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper—Harper became the first prime minister to sit through an entire draw at the Brier, attending an afternoon at the 2007 event in Hamilton. Before the match, he met and had his photo taken with Kevin Martin’s Alberta team. Harper, who said he’s not a curler, still loves to watch the Canadian championship on a regular basis. “I’ve been following it for years and back about a decade ago when I was travelling a lot I happened to be in Winnipeg when they were having the Brier,” he said, “and I made a point of going. Then I decided every year to