On October 1st, World Curling announced a new policy taking effect immediately about the replacement of broom heads during their events. According to this new policy, it will now be mandatory for every member of a team to start each game with a new broom head. The only exception to this is that skips will only need a new broom head at the start of a competition.
The championships who are targeted by this policy are: World Men Curling Championship. World Women’s Curling Championship and the Olympics (4 person curling and mixed doubles).
For all the other world championships, it will not be mandatory to change broom heads every game, but it will be recommended. For these events, officials will be allowed to ask a participant to change their broom head if it is deemed that the one they are using is to dirty or could have a negative impact on the playing surface.
On Curling Canada’s side, the decision has been to apply the same mandatory broom head change at the Championship leading to the ones listed for World Curling : The Brier, The Scotties Tournament of Hearts, The Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship, The Canadian Curling Pre-trials and The Canadian Curling Trials. For the other national championships, it will only be a recommendation.
For Curling Quebec, we have taken the decision that this would only remain a recommendation for all our championships. Even though we encourage the participants in our championships to change their broom heads regularly, we are
aware that some participants may choose to change theirs less frequently for financial reasons. We will not force each player to change broom heads every game. Officials will be allowed to ask a player to replace their broom head if they deem that it has or could have a negative impact on the playing conditions.
It will be each team’s responsibility to make sure they have the necessary equipment during championships. If it is deemed that they must replace a broom head, they will have to comply. We recommend that teams have a few extra broom heads since the host club might not have the proper equipment in their pro shop.
For any questions regarding this announcement, please contact our Director of Competitions, Émile Asselin (emile.asselin@curling-quebec.qc.ca).
