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The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling will abide by the World Curling Federation’s new regulations with regards to brushes and sweeping for all of our events effective immediately.

The WCF announced Saturday at their Annual General Assembly their 54 members had approved new or adapted sweeping and equipment rules following a Sweeping Summit held during the off-season near Ottawa in Kemptville, Ont., with the assistance of the National Research Council of Canada.

A summary from the WCF on the rules can be found below with the full release available by clicking here.

– Sweeping Rules R7 (a): The sweeping motion can be in any direction (it need not cover the entire width of the stone), deposits no debris in front of a moving stone, and finishes to either side of the stone.

– Uniform / Equipment C3 (e): Each player must declare his or her approved sweeping device at the start of a game, and only that player can use that sweeping device for sweeping during the game.

– Uniform / Equipment C3 (f): A player may not change their brush head during a game, unless the Chief Umpire grants special permission.

– Uniform / Equipment C3 (g): If an alternate player comes into a game, they must use the brush head of the player they are replacing.

– Rule C3 (h): All Field of Play equipment used at WCF competitions must meet WCF Equipment Standards as defined and published on the WCF Website. Reasons for equipment being considered non-approved include, but not restricted to: damage to the ice surface, non-conformance with existing rules or standards (i.e. – electronic communication devices), performance testing results that give an unfair advantage, failing to register equipment with the WCF office by the deadline date.

– Rule C3 (i): The penalty for using equipment in WCF competitions which does not conform to standards for Competition Equipment established by the WCF: (i) First team offence during a competition – the player is disqualified from the competition and the team forfeits the game. (ii) Second team offence during a competition – the team is disqualified from the competition and all players are not permitted to play in WCF competitions for a 12-month period.

The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling spoke with some players this past weekend at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard to gather their thoughts on the new rules.

Glenn Howard: “Awesome. This is our first spiel this year with the new rules, the proper heads, it’s a fair fight for everyone now and the way curling should be played. The skill’s gone back to the thrower, which is the way I was brought up. That’s the way curling should be played as opposed to the sweeping, which was last year. I hated the whole thing about last year and I think we’ve solved the problem with what I’ve seen so far. Sweeping is still marginally effective, which is what we’re kind of hoping for in our game. It’s one of those things now if you work out and do a good job, you’re bigger, stronger, faster and you’re going to be more effective. That’s what we want to see for our sport.”

Niklas Edin: “That’s awesome to hear. I was in Ottawa at the sweeping summit and heard all the discussions there and I was already pleased in Ottawa. It seemed to come to a really great solution for everyone, to be honest, and especially for the players. Now it’s a fair game. I don’t think we’ll see too many teams complaining now. You’re not doing the same for line, maybe. For the sport it’s exactly what we needed, I think.”

Edin on Rule C3 (i): “I think that’s a good rule. It’s kind of like doping actually. If you can steer a rock like all the teams did last year, us included, but if anyone can use that weapon again it’s kind of like doping. It’s the same thing. Within our sport it should be a hard penalty, so that’s correct.”