A world curling champion believes Perth should build an ice rink arena to become the main UK hub for the sport as part of a new leisure facility.
Peter Loudon, who sits on the committee of Perth Curling Club 1988, wants the Fair City to be bold in its plans for a new facility and cement its place at the centre of the Scottish, UK and world curling scene.
While ambitious in scope, the Olympian points to the fact that World Curling already has a main office on Atholl Crescent in Perth.
The arena would be capable of hosting not just curling competitions, but ice hockey and other winter sports and would be the headquarters of Scottish Curling.
Peter told The Courier: “You make it the ice sports hub for the UK in Perth.
“That’s the dream ticket for me.
“It’s not just about curling – I think you need to broaden the view to have more of an ice sports centre.
“An arena which could have an ice hockey team, you could have ice skating, short-track speed skating and curling.
“All of these are are Olympic sports.”
Campaign for all sports
Plans for a new facility are set to come forward in August after the previous proposal, which did not include an ice rink or leisure pool, was rejected by councillors.
Members of the Perth indoor bowls community are also demanding that they are included in any new venue.
The Courier wants to ensure the opportunity is seized to build Perth a leisure centre to be proud of.
Take our survey below and have your say on what you want to see in a new facility.
Grassroots thriving at Dewars Centre
Peter, a European gold medallist, believes removing curling from Perth would seriously impact the sport in Scotland.
He told The Courier that around 20-25% of all under-14 and under-17 players in Scotland are currently coming through Perth.
“We know the heritage of curling particularly in Perth with the number of local people who have come through from grassroots and have gone on to be successful on the European, World, or Olympic stage,” he said.
“Over the last few years, and these things go in cycles, we currently have a really thriving junior club in Perth.
“Traditionally they would fill all eight sheets of ice (at the Dewars Centre) on a Tuesday night, but the demand is such that we have to put on extra nights for them now.
“It’s vital that we have a facility to continue for that to happen, for that pathway for the kids.”
Perth is losing out without an arena
Olympic curling champion Eve Muirhead helped launch The Courier’s campaign to Protect Perth Leisure.
Like Peter, she believes Perth is the home of curling in Scotland and a new facility should be built capable of hosting major events.
Peter, who is chairman of the Perth Masters competition, knows that the appetite is there for curlers to come from around the world to play in Perth.
But he says the city has lost out on Scottish Championship to Dumfries in recent years because they don’t have an arena – despite Perth being more geographically suited to hosting such competitions.
“To have an arena we would not just be able to attract the Scottish Championships, we’ve run World Junior championships here,” said Peter.
“We could continue to do that and continue to be one of the main places in Scotland and the world for curling.
“We know that because over the years, every single year, at the beginning of January we attract the best teams in the world.
“We measure the success of that by some of the teams in an Olympic cycle – sometimes we’ll have 80% of the teams that are going to go to the Olympics will come here to play in the Perth Masters.”
The world champion also wants Perth and Kinross Council to recognise the wider economic impact that hosting such large scale events like the Perth Masters or Scottish Championships brings to the city.
Peter said: “If you’re getting 150 to 200 people coming to play in a competition for seven to 10 days then they’re staying in hotels, they’re eating in restaurants, they’re out and about in Perth, having coffees in cafes.”
Perth and Kinross Council confirmed new plans will come forward in August.
A spokesperson for the local authority said: “PH20 was paused by the council in 2022 for affordability reasons.
“We are currently preparing a revised project scope together with Live Active Leisure to ensure PH20 can be achieved in an affordable and sustainable way and council will consider officers’ recommendations on this in August.”
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