Steve Callan Becomes President-Elect

The 2023 Annual General Meeting of the Irish Curling Association was held on 19th March 2023 at Lanarkshire Ice rink in combination with the closing bonspiel.

To begin the day, 6 teams took to the ice in 3 very competitive games. In the spirit of Mother’s Day, the usual rules of keeping family members apart were dispensed, but any combative fireworks that might have been forecast failed to materialise. Inspired by the Women’s worlds, Neil Fyfe threw last and Eoin McCrossan skipped from third in a 6-5 win over Alasdair McIntyre’s team – not quite up to the standards set by Patz and Tirinzoni perhaps. A strong start from David Whyte saw him prevail in the father-son battle over Craig Whyte by a score of 8-5, but it was Bill Gray who won the day with a final score of 10-6. Bill’s team of Steve Callan, Christine Furey and Ari Furey saw off Ross Barr, Alison Barr, John Burns and Eleanor Burns. Bill utilised the hammer effectively with big scores of 4 and 5 seeing him to victory.

Following the bonspiel, Bill paid thanks to all who had participated as well as the staff at the ice rink for providing a great day. Reveling in the victory, Bill noted it had been a good while since he had tasted victory in an ICA bonspiel and this really was one to enjoy.

The AGM followed the bonspiel with a hybrid meeting being offered to all members in a technological first for the ICA. President Eoin chaired the meeting beginning with a moment’s remembrance for those we had lost in the past year, including ICA founding member Liz Knox. Following that members heard reports from the President, Treasurer and WCF reps highlighting the activities of the association throughout the year including WCF competitions, Four Nations success and advancing the cause of ice in Ireland.

Steve Callan was elected as President-Elect meaning he will succeed Eoin McCrossan as president at the 2024 AGM. Steve thanked everyone for their support and said a few words including a touching tribute to the community the ICA provides, giving him his ‘Irish Fix’. David Whyte and Bill Gray continued in their roles as Treasurer and Secretary respectively and new ordinary committee members elected were Kyle Paradis, Brian Mathews, and John Wilson. They join Craig Whyte, Ailsa Barron, and Jason Medhurst who continue in role. Nina Clancy completed the committee being elected as the new female WCF representative.

These elections meant that there were some farewells and President Eoin led the thanks to outgoing committee members Christine Furey and Carolyn Hibberd. In particular, Carolyn’s departure comes after a hugely significant contribution to the association. As a founding member, Carolyn has championed the cause of the association for 30 years. She was the second president, a long-time WCF rep and competed at 5 international championships, the highlight no doubt being a 2010 European C-Division Gold medal. In recognition of this, Carolyn was awarded honorary life membership of the ICA – a truly fitting accolade after a huge amount of service.

In a moment of ICA history, four teams will contest the 2023 Irish Mixed Championship marking the biggest national championship in Irish curling history. Dumfries Ice Bowl once again plays host with games beginning on Friday evening ahead of a potential final on Sunday. The winning team will earn the right to represent Ireland at the 2023 World Mixed Championship in October.

Leading the field are the defending champions John Wilson, Alison Fyfe, Craig Whyte and Jen Ward. They enjoyed the best possible preparation for the event by winning the Irish Weekend at Stranraer and will be keen to represent Ireland once more.

Senior women’s skip, Dale Sinclair, joins three of last year’s runners-up Kyle Paradis, Ailsa Barron and Eoin McCrossan. They ran their rivals close last year and will hope to take that final step to the top of the podium.

The third team of Bill Gray, Nina Clancy, David Whyte and Louise Kerr sees parts of the two Irish Seniors teams heading to Korea in April to join forces to tackle another national championship. Experience may prove crucial this weekend, and if so Team Gray has it in spades.

Brian Mathews rounds out the field with his team of Clare McCormick, Jason Medhurst and Stephanie McDonald. This mostly Ireland-based team is representative of the ever-growing and changing membership of the ICA and they will be keen to play their first national championships.

The event begins on Friday night with a 4 team round-robin ahead of playoffs on Sunday to be determined by the round-robin standings

All games will be streamed live on the Dumfries Curling YouTube channel which can be accessed here.

Ireland’s Men are gearing up for the 2022 European Curling Championship in Östersund, Sweden which marks their first appearance in B-Division for a decade. Östersund plays host to both the A and B Division, with international curling returning to the town after the Mixed Doubles and Seniors were staged there in 2018. The Irish gold medal-winning team from Lithuania’s C-Division returns led by skip John Wilson. John is backed up by third Kyle Paradis, second James Russell and lead Craig Whyte. The team will be supported by coach Eoin McCrossan, in their aim to keep Ireland at this level.

The competition consists of 16 teams, split into two groups of 8. The top three teams in each group will proceed to promotion playoffs with a chance to be one of 2 new teams in the 2023 A-Division and at the other end of the standings, the bottom two teams in each group will contest the relegation playoffs to determine the two relegated teams. Ireland are in a group with England, Wales, Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovakia, Finland and Estonia.

John is itching to get going,

“I’m nervously excited, I can’t wait to get going – I’m very happy to return to international competition and feeling good to have the gold-medal winning band back together. Our preparation has been good, with Craig and I taking part in the world mixed and then joined by James from LA and Kyle from Belfast in the build-up. We have been working hard to get ready for championship conditions as well as getting a grilling from Coach Eoin on strategic scenarios – so we feel prepared!”

Ireland last played at this level in 2012 in Karlstad, Sweden and for lead Craig Whyte that was his first international experience,

“I’m excited to be back to try and right the wrongs from 10 years ago! I’m looking forward to playing together again as a team and building on the performance and result from May as well as playing some new teams!”

Although there are new teams lying in wait – Ireland’s first game is against Ukraine in a repeat of May’s C-Division gold medal game. The round-robin portion of the competition runs from Saturday to Thursday with playoffs taking place on Friday and Saturday. You can follow the scores on the WCF website here. You can also keep up to date with the scores and show your support on our social media channels.

The 2022/23 season kicked off in style for the Irish Curling Association as members gathered at Greenacres Curling Rink for an Opening Bonspiel and Training Day. Members were first put through their paces by guest coaches Colin and Drew who helped members shake off any summer rust with drill stations across three sheets focussing on the line-up, working with a laser and sweeping.

This is the second season in succession that an opportunity to get comfortable on the ice has been offered to members and it was once again gratefully received. One member noted, “I’ve never received any formal coaching since I started using a stick to deliver – so that was really helpful”. Another hoped their good form would carry into the bonspiel “It’s not often I get a chance to just practice – when I’m in a game and a shot goes wrong I don’t have any chance to stop and work out why and work on it… Hopefully, this will mean the game later goes totally to plan!”

The opening bonspiel saw 6 teams keenly contest 3 games for early season bragging rights and prizes. The scores were as follows:

• David Whyte 13–4 Bill Gray
• Andrew Gilmore 7-3 Eoin McCrossan
• John Gilmore 9-7 Ross Barr

Some memorable shots were made (and almost made!) by every team. In particular, we were joined by Jordan and Daniel as guests from Glasgow University Curling Club as well as Geraldine Murphy making her first outing to an ICA event.

After the games, President Eoin made the presentations to the winning teams – but that wasn’t all! Following the European Championships C-Division, there was one further presentation to be made. Member John Furey had made the trip out to support both teams in a coaching capacity but was unable to stay for the medal ceremony. Totally unknown to John, Eoin revealed the medal and was delighted to be able to present it. “You’ve really got me there” was all John could muster. Special thanks go to his wife Christine who made sure John was at the rink with no idea of why!

Our next event will take place at Greenacres once again with the Irish Fyfe Trophy Open Bonspiel being staged on 30th October.

Ahead of the Irish Ladies team’s trip to the World Senior Curling Championships on 23 – 30 April 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland, let’s have a look at one of our player profiles:

The final game of the Irish Mixed Championships at the Dumfries Ice Bowl was definitely a game of two halves.

Team Wilson have won all of their games and will represent Ireland in the World Mixed Championships in Aberdeen in October.

Congratulations!!

The Irish Mixed Championships will be held at Dumfries Ice Bowl this weekend.

The first game will take place at 11am on Saturday between Team Gray and Team Paradis. The second game will be played at 14:30 between Team Wilson and Team Gray.

All games will be streamed on YouTube if you wish to see some of the action.

So let’s meet Team Wilson.

The Irish Mixed Championships will be held at Dumfries Ice Bowl this weekend. The first game will take place at 11am on Saturday between TEAM GRAY and Team Paradis. All games will be streamed on YouTube if you wish to see some of the action. So let’s meet Team Gray.

It’s not long now! The Irish Mixed Championships will be held at Dumfries Ice Bowl this weekend. The first game will take place at 11am on Saturday between TEAM PARADIS and Team Gray. All games will be streamed on YouTube if you wish to see some of the action. So let’s meet our first team, Team Paradis.

Two teams will hit the ice in Dumfries to contest the 2022 Irish Men’s Championship. The Ice Bowl will once again play host to the best-of-3 series beginning on Saturday at 11am with game 2 scheduled for 4pm and the final game if required will take place on Sunday at 10am. The winning team will earn the right to represent Ireland at the European Curling Championships C-Division in Vilnius, Lithuania in May.

Coming off a fourth-place finish at the most recent C-Division, John Wilson returns at skip with a slightly altered lineup of James Russell, Kyle Paradis and Craig Whyte. John is excited for the challenge of the weekend

“Craig, Kyle, James and I are all looking forward to getting on the ice on Saturday and competing for the opportunity to represent Ireland in Lithuania. To get back on the ice and play competitive curling is exactly why all of us play the sport. Kyle, Craig and I haven’t been on the ice together since Geneva and we are extremely excited to play in an Irish Championship. Dumfries is always a great place to play, the ice is always prepared to an excellent standard and the venue and competition should be a cracker.”

Adopting the role of challengers are Team Cameron with skip Arran Cameron backed up by David Hibberd, Steve Callan and Eoin McCrossan. The team are happy to play down expectations as Arran explains

“Well it’s nearly here and Team Cameron are feeling excited for the playdowns. Training unfortunately has been a bit sketchy with events on and off and COVID pings here and there, however we did enjoy competing at both the British Open and the Haggis. The team being located across Aberdeen, Ayrshire, Edinburgh and Perthshire doesn’t make for easy logistics but we have enjoyed the craic when we have managed to get together. We go into this weekend as challengers with three of John’s team having competed last year in Geneva and we know we are up against it. We do however feel it’s important for the growth of the ICA to have playdowns where possible and would encourage more to get involved in the future if you can. We are looking forward to some good curling and a few beers with John and his team this weekend”

Scores will be available on the ICA social media channels with a full event write-up available on the website soon after. Good luck to both teams, the long road to Vilnius in May starts with the battle in the bowl!