EVE MUIRHEAD: Canadian national curling championships are as big as ever but Scottish event has diminished in recent years

I’m so pleased that Kelly Schafer has qualified for the Canadian national curling championships later this month.

As I was saying in last week’s column Kelly (Wood, as people over here will remember her) received citizenship in Canada, which made her eligible to compete in the Saskatchewan regional qualifiers with Team Silvernagle.

Well, they managed to win the final and they’ll be off to Kamploops in British Columbia for the nationals in a couple of weeks.

All the big names you’d expect to see will be there – either by qualifying or through a wildcard.

I won’t be going out this year but I’d definitely like to be a spectator at the Canadian nationals at some point.

By some distance, it’s the most competitive domestic event in the world.

In the men’s and women’s events there are plenty of teams who have a realistic shot at winning and there are always great storylines.

Kelly’s is one of them this time around.

Our own Scottish Championships take place next week and unfortunately the status of that competition has been diminished in recent years.

Perth the best venue

For starters, I would have kept it in Perth and not switched to Dumfries.

I know I could be accused of having a bit of bias because the Dewar’s Centre is my home ice but I think if you spoke to most curlers they’d agree that the conditions are usually very good in Perth.

It’s also in central Scotland, which is far easier for teams from up north to get to.

The main thing that Dumfries has going for it is it’s an arena, which is a positive for the sport and I know that there’s going to be a top class ice crew down there for the week, including former Scottish champion Tom Brewster.

Back when I started you had so many strong teams.

There was a Silver League and a Gold League and you had to get through the first one to compete in the top competition the year after.

Next week there will only be eight teams in the men’s and women’s and I think it was a struggle to get even that.

Don't miss Team Henderson looking to make history at the Scottish Curling Championships 2023 in Dumfries. 🥌🤩

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— Scottish Curling (@scottishcurling) February 1, 2023

I understand the merits of the selection route British Curling have gone down in recent years but there’s not hiding from the fact that taking away World Championship qualification has stripped the Scottish of some of its importance.

It’s a real shame that great Scottish curlers like my brothers, Glen and Thomas, who got to the semi-finals of a tour event at Perth recently in their first event in years, won’t be there.

Compromise

The World Championships only carry points for British Olympic qualification in the two years before the Games.

Maybe a compromise would be to give the Scottish its automatic World Championships spot back for the winners for the other two years in the four-year-cycle?

The Scottish Championships have given me so many special memories and being able to call yourself a national champion will always mean so much, whatever the circumstances.

Having a tournament with high calibre curlers and any team being capable of winning has to be the ultimate goal.