Registered: Apr 2014
Location: In the House
Posts: 608

Curling Canada has, as expected, followed the lead of the WCF with regards to broom heads.
At least they've clarified it to a degree by naming the pads which are permitted, along with the conditions under which the Hardline IcePad will be permitted...

I still say that disallowing the IcePad's plastic insert while allowing the foil insert of the EQ and the ridges of the TX and Norway Pad smells of bias against Hardline (I have no affiliation with Hardline, nor do I even use any Hardline products). Especially considering that Curling Canada and the WCF are sponsored by Balance Plus, which is the company which instigated and perpetuated the accusations and 'bullying' against the IcePad and the teams who use the IcePad.

Details here (.pdf):
http://cloudfront10.curling.ca/wp-c...nal2.pdf?730590

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Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Peterborough
Posts: 1120

Here's another link from TSN morning news.

http://www.tsn.ca/curling-canada-se...nology-1.400717

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: the Banana Belt
Posts: 990

Yep. Im pretty sure a layer of anything under the fabric makes it stiffer than fabric with nothing under it. EQ heads should have the foil removed and the Norway head should not be allowed the ridges, just foam and fabric for everyone. Then we can hold a national pool to see what BP complains about next concerning the Hardline brooms.

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Registered: Mar 2005
Location: St. Albert
Posts: 839

Interesting. Note the line "Curling Canada will continue
to work with the World Curling Federation and the Players Association"

No mention of companies in this statement.

I wonder if Hardline was approached prior to the release of this decision.

I'm not a lawyer, but it's possible the wiggle room of "inverted, remove insert" may make this difficult for Hardline to challenge in court. A judge may rule that Hardline is able to sell their product (albeit, used for competitive play in a modified form) and there is no clear compensation that they would be entitled to.

I might agree with the "foil too" arguement, but then again, we have not seen any definitive and independent study that explains what impact these brooms have on the motion of a stone. Because of the short time frame and limited budget of these organizations (not suggesting they're broke but they never planned for this expense in their original yearly budget) a decision has been made based on player experiences, of which the higher majority of these players do not use the main broom impacted by this decision.

I have faith in the intention of these teams and believe that if the position were reversed (ie. most teams used icePad), players would also be pushing for ruling to help curb technology. However, the impact on rocks using newer techniques with earlier technology (EQ, etc) should be examined as well.

When time allows, an open discussion on what the allowable variances and factors should be (distance, curl, etc) needs to takes place, before we even start testing the actual products.

Maybe we'll all determine synthetic brushes should all be banned and we use hair brooms.

My only other thought, Gerry should move this thread under the other "Hi tech brooms banned..." thread so we keep growing it. I'm interested to see how far this discussion will go. I have the over/under at 34 pages.

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: the Banana Belt
Posts: 990

I'm curious as to why some innovations are challenged and banned before any definitive testing is done, across the board. When Balance Plus released shoes that had a hole in the slider ( later multiple holes) it was seen as an innovation and provided perimeter weight distribution on the sole of the shoe, thus providing better balance for curlers that may have lacked a strong balanced slide. Were there claims by players that this gave an unfair advantage to those players using them? Did the governing curling bodies ban the product until such time as a study could be done to determine if the new surface configuration of the slider ( with its extra edges) was damaging the ice? If they did, I don't remember it. Other manufactures adapted and produced new and better products of their own.

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Registered: Nov 2012
Location: Toronto
Posts: 621

quote:

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Originally posted by milobloom


I have faith in the intention of these teams and believe that if the position were reversed (ie. most teams used icePad), players would also be pushing for ruling to help curb technology. However, the impact on rocks using newer techniques with earlier technology (EQ, etc) should be examined as well.

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: the Banana Belt
Posts: 990

" However, the impact on rocks using newer techniques with earlier technology (EQ, etc) should be examined as well."

we are seeing the same results achieved with hair brooms and north-south sweeping. Time to take the ban off the brooms and enforce sweeping rules, or throw the sweeping rules out and turn it into a free-for-all.

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Registered: Feb 2012
Location:
Posts: 324

Yes, a free for all. Officials will just need a container of Silly Putty in their pockets. If one team complains the other teams' brooms are damaging the ice, the officials can whip out the Silly Putty, press it on the ice which is claimed to be damaged and Voila! with the naked ice we can all see if the ice was damaged or not.

Micro scratches won't show on Silly Putty? Please. The damage to ice from the old backswing delivery or any corn broom caused more damage than any microscratches from current fabric or sealed broomheads.

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