IRELAND’S senior teams are off on their travels again tomorrow. Both the men’s and women’s team are competing in the world senior champions in Gangneung, South Korea from Saturday until the following Saturday…hopefully.
The women’s team is skipped again this year with two of last year’s team, Bernie Gillett and Louise Kerr also on board. New to the team this time round is Nina Clancy who cut her competitive teeth at international level at the C League in Lithuania last season.
The women play Czech Republic, Switzerland, Scotland, Finland, Latvia and Australia in their group.
The men’s team, skipped by Bill Gray, consists of the experienced back up trio of David Whyte, Neil Fyfe and Ross Barr. Fifth man Jonhjo remains in Kinross at present but a helicopter is on standby.
They will face Australia, Estonia, USA, Scotland, Slovenia, Wales and Norway.
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.
Defending Champions – Team Wilson
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.
THE Irish descended on Stranraer last weekend for the annual social event of the year with four games of curling shoehorned in between the eating, drinking and the craic.
When the dust settled, John Wilson, Alison Fyfe, Craig Whyte and Jen Ward were once again worthy winners of the Magners sponsored Stranraer Weekend having seen off all opposition brave enough to take them on.
The runners-up in the high road were Bill Gray, Nina Clancy, Walter Scott and Alison Scott.
In the low road, the eventual winners were Johnjo Kenny, Gillian Russell, John Burns and Russet Fullerton. The runners up were Kyle Paradis, Carolyn Hibberd, Eoin McCrossan and Geraldine Murphy.
There was, as always, a rush to the bottom to secure the Tayto crisps and this year the lucky four were Guy Topping, Shena Chad, Paul Chad and Carol Topping.
Thanks go to Magners for their excellent and continued sponsorship of the Stranraer Weekend and Gail and her staff for the great ice and the staff of the North West Castle for looking after everyone so well. PJ Wilson did a great job of recruiting players to ensure there were 16 teams in the competition, while lambing sheep at the same time – what a man…
Finally, Saturday night’s raffle raised £317 for ICA funds. Thanks to all who bought tickets and provided a raffle prize.
IT’S Stranraer weekend again this weekend and here is the
draw for the Irish bonspiel on the 25/26th February in Stranraer
Section 1: Games on 25th at 9am and 2pm
J Wilson v R Barr
P Wilson v F Spain
K Paradis v J Whittle
L Beaver v J Burns
Section 2: Games on 25th at 11.10am and 4.10pm
B Gray v S Chad
D Whyte v A Cameron
N Fyfe v J Gilmore
D Paton v A N Other
Can all taking part please bring a raffle prize for the grand raffle draw on Saturday night. Also if you won a trophy last year please bring it back with you!
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.
Neil Fyfe and his team of Mia Andell, John Burns and Erin Furey won the trophy in memory of his parents, John and Isobel Fyfe, at Greenacres Ice Rink yesterday.
After six teams played a Schenkel of four separate four end games, they were the winners with seven points winning the ICA Open Championships and the coveted gold medals.
The runners-up and silver medallists, on six points, were John Wilson, Eoin McCrossan, Louise Kerr and Ari Furey.
Also on six points, but on one shot less than the silver winners, were bronze medallists David Whyte, Alison Fyfe, John Gilmore and Geraldine Murphy.
Alison Fyfe presented the trophy to the winners and President Eoin was master of ceremonies and shots/ends/points counter-upper.
Team Ireland get their international curling campaign off and running today with their first game at the World Mixed Curling Championships taking place in Aberdeen, Scotland. Ireland have fond memories of Curl Aberdeen achieving their best finish at the Championship’s last staging in 2019 reaching the playoff round for the first time. Two of that team make their return to wear the shamrock this time.
Who is Team Ireland?
This year, Ireland are represented by the 2022 Irish Mixed Champions – Team Wilson. They are: John Wilson (Skip), Alison Fyfe, Craig Whyte and Jen Ward. John and Craig were part of the successful 2019 Mixed team as well as the 2022 Men’s team who won the European C-Division gold medal in Lithuania in May. Alison and Jen have played together at several Europeans with Jen making her international debut at the first World Mixed Championship in 2015.
The team are itching to play having been denied the opportunity in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID restrictions and are ably supported by coach Johnjo Kenny – Ireland’s leading caps holder – and Gillian Russell. The team pictured above were successful as winners of the recent Kinross International Bonspiel.
Who are they playing?
Ireland are in group of 9 teams with games against Czech Republic, Sweden, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Nigeria, Ukraine and Chinese Taipei – details below.
The group stage runs from 15th-20th October with the playoffs following. The top 3 teams from each group will qualify for the playoffs. The group winners receive a bye to the quarter finals with the other qualifiers playing off to join them. Sweden and Norway will prove historically stern opposition for Ireland, but a second consecutive playoff place is not beyond the Irish foursome.
How can I keep up to date?
There are three ways to keep up to date with everything at the World Mixed. Firstly, immediate results will be posted after each game on our social media pages – join in the conversation and wish the team well.
Finally, and most excitingly – there is static camera footage available from each game on Recast. Recast is a streaming website where you can spend credits to watch games. Each game costs 50 credits to watch which is the equivalent of 50p – but can be earned by watching ads on the platform. You can find all the games at the World Mixed on The Curling Channel here https://the.recast.app/user/5pYk0
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.
President Eoin presents prizes to the winning team – Alison Barr, Nathan Furey & David Whyte.
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.
CURLING ice in Ireland took a huge step away form the possible towards the probable this week after an exciting development in the Irish capital.
A new feasibility study has made crystal clear the benefits a National Winter Sports Centre would bring to Ireland.
At a meeting earlier this week in Dublin of the Irish Winter Sports Strategy Coordination Group, where the finding of the study were made public for the first time, members of the Olympic Federation of Ireland were briefed by winter sports representatives, government officials and stakeholders.
Eoin pressing the case for curling ice in Ireland
The Irish Curling Association were represented by President Eoin McCrossan and Ice in Ireland champion David Whyte. Scott Arnold, the World Curling Federation’s development officer, also attended the meeting in Dublin to push for the establishment of a centre for curling in Ireland.
Other winter sports stating the case for a permanent ice facility in Dublin were ice hockey and luge.
The feasibility study, conducted by CHL consulting, presented a private investor funded model that would deliver a €60million permanent ice-facility for Ireland at little or no cost to the tax-payer.
In a series of presentations to stakeholders including local authorities, Sport Ireland, and the Minister of State for Sport, Jack Chambers, the benefits of the facility were explained.
The benefits included generating an economic impact for Ireland of €111 million and delivering €25.5 million to the exchequer during construction phase, as well as €2.05 million annually once operational. Besides the recreational and sporting benefits, it is also estimated that it would generate an additional €8.9 million annual spend in the Greater Dublin Area.
The proposed facility would house two Olympic sized rinks, with one rink having capacity for 6,000 spectators, providing multi-use options for ice and non-ice entertainment, concerts, ice-hockey matches and events, similar to Belfast’s SSE Arena, filling a significant gap in the Dublin market for a mid-size, multi-purpose venue.
Besides the strong economic case for support of a permanent ice-facility, the sport and social benefits also align very strongly with the recommendations from the government’s National Sports Policy. Ice sports generally offer complete gender balance, as well as a wide age-range of participants through sports like curling, ice skating and ice-hockey. Ice facilities also play a significant role in social integration, particularly at a time when Ireland is welcoming large numbers of people from countries where winter sports are integrated with their own cultural identity.
ICA President Eoin McCrossan said: “It cannot be understated how transformational creating a home for curling in Ireland would be. We believe our sport, with true inter-generational appeal, would be accepted in the hearts and minds of the Irish public given that chance. We are delighted to be working together with our fellow winter sports showing that collaboration and unity can create special results.
“The backing from the World Curling Federation has been key to this point and their guidance support will be essential in any successful facility. The case we are putting forward has been made tangible by the feasibility study. It will provide jobs for Ireland, economic benefit and true social dividend. We are excited to see the next steps in this process ultimately ending with ice in Ireland!”
Scott Arnold, from the WCF added: “The World Curling Federation is happy to support our valued Member, the Irish Curling Association. They have accomplished so much without a dedicated ice rink, and we are encouraged by what we heard during the meetings here in Dublin this week. We have seen exponential growth from other WCF Member Associations upon the completion of their first dedicated ice rinks and would expect nothing less in Ireland.
“The ICA’s dedication is inspirational, and we look forward to following their progress and continuing to help them achieve their goals.”
Peter Sherrard, the CEO of the Olympic Federation of Ireland commented: “The presentations by the Winter Sports and investors, underpinned by CHL’s feasibility study, show that we have a huge opportunity to create a National Winter Sports centre at little or no cost to the tax payer. Hundreds of new jobs will be created, Ireland will benefit from an investment of over €60m and our sports will at last have permanent facilities akin to almost every other country in the EU. “
We look forward to working with Government and local authority stakeholders to capitalise on this inward investment opportunity for our economy and our sports.”
