Women feel left out of broom debate
CALGARY — Olympic curling medallist Amy Nixon is questioning why women were left out of the discussion that led to a players’ agreement to not use hightech brushes that are believed to have the ability to affect the direction of rocks.
“I think it’s an interesting set of circumstances where a bunch of men’s teams sat in a locker-room in Toronto and made a bunch of statements and agreements to each other that we were not party to,” said the Calgary lawyer, who was third on Shannon Kleibrink’s 2006 Olympic bronze-medal winning team.
From that hastily-called meeting at the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard came a statement signed by 22 elite teams that they would no longer use brushes that featured “directional fabric.” Manufacturer BalancePlus had introduced a new broom head at the Toronto event that raised eyebrows with its alleged ability to drastically alter rock direction and speed, prompting the meeting. The top women’s teams were in Calgary that week for the Autumn Gold Curling Classic.
Nixon and her current team, including skip Chelsea Carey, second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Laine Peters, were among the original group to sign the letter, along with other Calgary-based teams skipped by Pat Simmons and Kevin Koe.
Nixon said she wanted it made clear that she was only speaking for herself, not her teammates. Carey also agreed to an interview, but she was playing at a mixed doubles event in Winnipeg Tuesday and it couldn’t be arranged.
“We received an email containing minutes from that meeting — players’ minutes — via Curling Canada. Then we receive an email from Team (Glenn) Howard, very much a strong stance in summary that (said) ‘we will shame anyone who uses directional fabric,’” Nixon said.
Nolan Thiessen, who plays lead for Simmons’ team and drafted the letter of agreement, responded in a statement Tuesday, saying they consulted with some female players. His team was travelling to the Challenge Chateau Chartier de Gatineau.
“I think it’s a vitally important topic for the elite women’s game and that’s why numerous teams were sent the report before it was released and were included in discussions leading up to it,” the statement said.
Broom manufacturer Hardline Curling, which sponsors Carey’s team among others, issued a statement not long after the letter was released, saying their icePad head was being unfairly targeted and that their cover does not use directional fabric.
Nixon said her team felt pressured into signing. Hardline’s top two men’s teams, both from Winnipeg and skipped by Mike McEwen and Reid Carruthers, also signed. McEwen declined an interview request from Postmedia, saying he wouldn’t be available until after his team had released a statement on the issue.
World Curling Players Association president Jon Mead, who is also part of McEwen’s team this year as a fifth and unofficial coach/ manager, said the players’ agreement was designed to be a quick, temporary solution until the governing bodies can get new rules in place.
“There’s a lot of layers to that in terms of consultations and processes and testing and certification and they just can’t do that on a dime,” he said.
“So there has to be some sort of player/manufacturer moratorium that everyone will agree to in the short term to get us through events with a modicum of professionalism, otherwise we’re all worried that it could go in a direction that nobody wants very quickly.”
Carey’s team will be in the field at the Red Deer Curling Classic, but the World Curling Federation has asked that anyone using so-called directional fabric brooms to turn their brush heads inside out for the event.
“Now I’m basically told that some of the men’s teams have tested the icePad inverted and that’s good enough, so use it,” Nixon said.
“I don’t actually have the kind of resources to pull out four different brooms and test them and video tape them to feel 100 per cent comfortable that I’m on an even playing field with someone who is using whatever they’re using from a different broom manufacturer.”
Nixon said she agrees that the conversation on brush heads should be happening, but not how it started.
“It’s great that the players have started it,” she said.
“I find it a little bit interesting that it’s very male centred in terms of where it started.”
NOTES: Koe fell 8-5 to Saskatoon’s Steven Laycock in Monday’s final at the Canad Inns Men’s Classic in Portage la Prairie, Man. Laycock got to the final by beating another Calgary team, skipped by Charley Thomas, 7-4 in the semifinal, while Koe defeated 2014 Olympic champion Brad Jacobs in the other.