Bowls on Ice?

Curling at Eglinton Castle, Ayrshire - 1860

On the ice at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada - 1897

Curling 'Stones'

Sweeping the ice

Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice towards a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles.

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Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called rocks, across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a circular target marked on the ice. Each team has eight stones. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the centre of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones. A game usually consists of eight or ten ends.

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The curler can induce a curved path by causing the stone to slowly turn as it slides, and the path of the rock may be further influenced by two sweepers with brooms who accompany it as it slides down the sheet, using the brooms to alter the state of the ice in front of the stone. A great deal of strategy and teamwork go into choosing the ideal path and placement of a stone for each situation, and the skills of the curlers determine how close to the desired result the stone will achieve. This gives curling its nickname of "chess on ice".

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Evidence that curling existed in Scotland in the early 16th century includes a curling stone inscribed with the date 1511 uncovered (along with another bearing the date 1551) when an old pond was drained at Dunblane, Scotland. Kilsyth Curling Club claims to be the first club in the world, having been formally constituted in 1716; it is still in existence today. Kilsyth also claims the oldest purpose built curling pond in the world at Colzium, in the form of a low dam creating a shallow pool some 100 × 250 metres in size.

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The word Curling first appears in print in 1620 in Perth, Scotland, in the preface and the verses of a poem by Henry Adamson. The game was (and still is, in Scotland and Scottish-settled regions like southern New Zealand) also known as "the roaring game" because of the sound the stones make while traveling over the pebble (droplets of water applied to the playing surface). The verbal noun Curling is formed from the Scots (and English) verb curl, which describes the motion of the stone.

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In the early history of Curling, the playing stones were simply flat-bottomed river stones, which were of inconsistent size, shape and smoothness. Unlike today, the thrower had little control over the 'curl' or velocity and relied more on luck than on precision, skill and strategy.

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In Darvel, East Ayrshire, the weavers relaxed by playing curling matches using the heavy stone weights from the Looms' Warp Beams, fitted with a detachable handle for the purpose.

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Many a wife would keep her husband's brass Curling Stone handle on the mantelpiece, brightly polished until the next time it was needed.

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Central Canadian curlers often used 'irons' rather than stones until the early 1900s, Canada is the only country known to have done so, while others experimented with wood or ice filled tins

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Outdoor Curling was very popular in Scotland between the 16th and 19th centuries because the climate provided good ice conditions every winter. Scotland is home to the international governing body for Curling, the World Curling Federation, Perth, which originated as a committee of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, the mother club of Curling.

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The first world championship for curling was limited to men and was known as the Scotch Cup, held in Falkirk and Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1959. The first world title was won by the Canadian team from Regina, Saskatchewan.

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Curling has been an official sport in the Winter Olympic Games since the 1998 Winter Olympics. It currently includes men's and women's tournaments.

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In February 2002, the International Olympic Committee retroactively decided that the Curling Competition from the 1924 Winter Olympics (originally called Semaine des Sports d'Hiver, or International Winter Sports Week) would be considered Official Olympic Events and no longer be considered Demonstration Events. Thus, the first Olympic medals in Curling, which at the time was played outside, were awarded for the 1924 Winter Games, with the Gold Medal won by Great Britain and Ireland, two silver medals by Sweden, and the bronze by France.

USA v Canada during the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2015 in Sochi

Source: www.wikipedia.com

Images: Believed to be in the Public Domain or used with permission