Twenty-eight members of the ICA dialed in including Katie in LA and Colin and Dale in Ontario.

David Whyte, who has put in a lot of work on behalf of the ICA during his three years in the post as our president, gave his report for the curtailed season, due to the coronavirus pandemic, thanking the members for their support during his time in office. He congratulated Margarita Sweeney-Baird being awarded the British Empire Medal for her work with inclusive skating.

He highlighted the news that the World Mixed Championships were to be held at Aberdeen for the next three seasons meaning John Wilson and his team of Alison Fyfe, Craig Whyte and Jen Ward would be heading there in October to represent Ireland, assuming the 2020-2021 season gets underway. David expressed disappointment that the world health crisis deprived teams of the opportunity to represent Ireland internationally.

The financial report showed the ICA to be in a good financial position to move quickly to establish curling in Ireland in the future although establishing a venue remains elusive. David thanked Craig Whyte for his work on the DAP funding.

The big news was that Eoin McCrossan had been proposed and seconded for the role of president and this was approved by the meeting with a virtual show of clapping hands and thumbs-ups. Eoin arrived on the scene, and memorably disappeared from the ice, at the Four Nations in 2015 down at Fentons. Since then he has become an integral part of Irish curling and has represented his country at the World Mixed Doubles Championships and the European C League. Aged 27, he becomes the ICA’s youngest-ever president.

After his elevation to the top job, President Eoin said: “It is a great honour and quite humbling to become the president of the Irish Curling Association and I am aware of the long line of excellent presidents that I follow, particularly the immediate past president, David Whyte. David always showed considered and thoughtful leadership while allowing others on the committee and wider association to be heard and feel valued. His commitment to the role was shown in the extra year he served as well as leaving an excellent mark through the establishment of the ICA Development Plan and the memorable achievement of our Curling in Dublin in January 2019.“

“I am very excited to build on this excellent work and am touched by the many supportive messages I have received from members and can’t wait to get started. I hope through my term to increase opportunities for association members both on and off the ice, maintain our growth in membership and continue our dedicated march towards ice in Ireland. Who knows – there might even be a few success at the Four Nations and WCF events along the way!“

There was also a welcome onto the committee for John Wilson.

Good luck to Eoin for his two-year tenure and, hopefully, we will all meet again on the ice later in the year.

Mousemaster Eoin McCrossan reports on the recent digital curling challenge between Ireland and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:

“Eight ICA members were victorious in their international digital curling challenge against Saudi Arabia overcoming an overnight deficit to secure a 124-116 victory. The curlers were split into two teams of four and took on four of their Saudi counterparts across the weekend. Eoin, Gillian, David and Clare teamed up in half of the draw with John Wilson, Johnjo, Frances and Tom completing the octet. The competition was based on total shots, with the nation scoring the most winning.

“The competition began with opening ceremonies and greetings between both side with President David welcoming the challenge from the Saudi contingent. A strong start on Saturday morning saw the Irish storm out to a commanding lead before a swift reversal of fortunes and some incredibly dominant Saudi wins swung momentum in their favour and saw them take an overnight lead of eight shots.

“After overnight pep talks and renewed focus the Irish kept everything tight and clawed back shot after shot as things got tighter and then tension rose. Sunday afternoon was the hammer blow for the Saudi effort with some crucial large wins for the Irish squad meant they had an unassailable seven shot lead heading into the last game. An entertaining four ends followed with the ‘Mousemaster’ playing an aggressive game an emerge victorious and cap the tie off with a flourish.

“Closing ceremonies followed with newly formed friendships and potential new curling destinations on the horizons front and centre. Particularly mention must go to John Wilson who not only won all four of his games, contributed 27 shots to the Irish cause – a remarkable 20 per cent of the Irish total!”