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Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Another great sporting moment: Winnipeg 1991

I was intrigued to read in the August RCCC Board Minutes that the World Men's Curling Championship could come to Scotland in 2014, to the Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston, Edinburgh, where a rink would be built especially for the event. Shades of the Kelvin Hall in 1985!

Doing the groundwork for the Royal Club has been an independent consultant, Brian Porteous, and his report recommends Ingliston, a decision favoured by the Board. It has been agreed to retain the services of Porteous Leisure to assist in the completion of funding applications to UK Sport, EventScotland and Edinburgh Council.

It's been a while since the World Men's Championship was last in Scotland (2000 it was). Hosting the Worlds again is an exciting prospect, which raises a whole host of questions in my mind. But these are for another time.

Today, I just want to use the mention of the World Championship as an excuse to introduce another rescued video. This comes to me courtesy of Kirsty Letton. Thanks, Kirsty, for sharing this great sporting moment.

The occasion was the World Men's Final in Winnipeg in 1991. Scottish curling fans had waited twenty-four years for this result. The VHS video was taped from a broadcast by the BBC. This was an edited Canadian feed, onto which Richard Harding added commentary post game.

I've pulled out a few highlights, editing it further to bring the clip under the YouTube ten minute limit. There's a bit of a background hiss, but the footage is a real treasure. The Scottish heroes were David Hay, Peter Smith, Graeme Connal and David Smith, skip. Their opposition? None other than Kevin Martin, with Kevin Park, Dan Petryk and Don Bartlett.

Enjoy, by clicking here, or on the image below.

Twelve thousand fans were in the Winnipeg Stadium that day, including some three hundred Scots. And did you recognise me, front row of the press bench? Happy days, nearly twenty years ago.