OTTAWA – Curling Canada has followed the lead of the World Curling Federation in banning controversial broom heads for the 2015-16 season.
Olympic gold medallists Brad Jacobs, Brad Gushue, Jennifer Jones and former world champion Glenn Howard were among 50 Canadian and international teams who signed a statement in October, saying their teams will not sweep with broom heads that have “directional fabric.”
Coarse material on the broom heads creates a sandpaper effect on the ice, and with it sweepers have been able to manipulate the rock’s trajectory in ways they never could before.
Fearing that throwing accuracy and athleticism would be diminished, the curlers said they want to protect “the integrity of the game” in refusing to use the brush heads.
The athletes’ decision to police themselves had the sport’s governing bodies scrambling to come up with policies and guidelines for brush head technology.
The WCF instituted an interim moratorium on the broom heads at the Pacific-Asia Championships earlier this month and then extended the ban to all events this season.
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