-History behind curling
Curling is a game that has more than 500 years of history. It is still not
clear where the game originated, but it was in Scotland where the game was
popularized over time.
Scotland is also where The Royal Caledonian Curling Club was formed in 1838,
which was the mother ship of curling clubs. Throughout the centuries the game
has developed and progressed in many ways. The latest development in the game
was introduced in 1990 when the free guard zone rule was introduced.
When the game was first played the rocks only weighed 2 or 3 kg and was formed like a hand. Over time the rocks became what they are today. Some people called the early rocks, boulders, put handles on them, and rounded them like the rocks you see today. At first the main idea of the game was to shoot the rock from one point and get it to stay on another, but there were no precise rules. In the early days there was no specific rink size specifications along with the size and weight of the rocks. Therefore there were some actual boulder size rocks in the 18th Century. The biggest was called the Jubilee Stone and it had a mass of 58.5 kg. If Curling continued with the big rocks, it would be a sport of strong man instead of anyone who understands the physics of the game.
In
the beginning the curlers used Round Stones that had a mass of approximately 20
kg. It was not until 1784 that Tam Pate introduced the hollow grind, which
gives the surface contact a doughnut shape. This hollow grind made it possible
to make the rocks curl and changed the game forever.
In 1668 in Kinross, Loch Leven, the first Curling club was founded. In 1838
the first national association, the Grand Caledonian Curling Club, was
founded. “In 1843, the club got the
privilege to be the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. This Club was the World
Federation, till 1966, when the ICF (International Curling Federation) was
founded. Since 1991 the ICF is called WCF (World Curling Federation)”
(Hubacher).
The true origin of curling is still not clear and possibly lost in time. The game of curling has come a long way throughout the years to become what it is today. There is little to dispute that the Scottish are the true developers of this great game on ice. They came up with many new innovations in the equipment and rules, along with spreading the games popularity to the rest of the world.
Info and images
taken from- http://library.thinkquest.org/26974/e_history.htm and
http://www.geocities.com/mjlarochelle/more/curling.html
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