http://curlingtoday.blogspot.com/2008/06/new-rule-to-limit-damage-to-ice.html

A new rule which was passed at the Royal Club AGM last Saturday --
It replaces the rule which said, "No player shall use footwear or equipment which may damage the surface of the ice." The new regulation says, "No player shall cause damage to the ice surface due to equipment, hand and/or body prints."

At last! Never mind what the consequences of these marks are to a game, I use to spend £10 a day, every day, trying to repair these! That is about £2,500 per year, enough to give the compressors and plant a decent service.

If anyone wonders where all the ice techs are, they're having a celebration party.....

But seriously too, how are people going to be persuaded to change their ways? Suggestions please!

Must back you on the cue delivery, Sandy. I hardly slide as far as that! An interesting point though, someone mentioned to me that the cue delivery allows players to walk the stone to near the sideline and then shove it at an angle. Unfair advantage, you might sya, but it is perfectly legal (unless the rules have changed!). I can recall Roy Sinclair telling me of a team who practised this with a sliding delivery, going out at an angle and then striking from a different line to get around the guards!

With all this in mind, maybe we should try and keep the game as simple as possible with the rules as well. Single continuous delivery released before the hogline, and if you're so poor in movement that you need the cue, before the teeline, and never mind the straight line bit!

I had not seen this thread, when I Posted a rather less serious contribution in the "Tips & Technique" section.

However I had to play with the Que almost all last season. I was first taught, a long time ago, by "Wee Eddie" Griffiths, a Master of the Wind-up and the Book of Rules, if ever I met one.

In the last 7 or 8 years since they first appeared, I have been experimenting and chatting with local luminaries, who were sufficiently open minded to consider its use, such as Graham Boyd and a few from Stranraer and elsewhere.

I would agree that the Hog Line Release Point is inappropriate.

However: Most of those who use the Que are no longer as fit you or I, and I feel that the T Line does not give them time to gain sufficient Momentum.

It is my feeling that the Stone should be delivered, "In a Continuous motion and before any part of the player's foot has crossed the front of the Head (Outer or 6' Ring).

We experimented with the "Body" rather than the "Foot" but it proved almost impossible to enforce/judge.

Almost equally satisfactory was that the Stone be released before it had crossed the same line.

The same might be said of the Teflon shoe.

Maybe we should all go back to sharing Hubert's piece of Sock!

We could go back to the old long fixed hack and no sliding - would that please you?

What sjk says is true, so a compromise has to be found. Generally speaking knees are not too bad, because the melted ice is absorbed by the clothing. The worst marks are caused by fingers, that leave a little frozen lump behind that WILL affect stones. Not all players will be able to lift their hands without falling over, so a glove would help.

Sliding with a wooden broom, crutch and so on is now common, and many players have an old, short broom to deliver with. The rules say you can only sweep with one brush during a game, but this does not include delivery. The wooden brooms and the good crutches do less damage than the plastic varieties, some of which are terrible. The swivel brushes (upside down) will leave long scars down the slides, scattering particles of ice (every pickup a winner) all over the rink. Hammer brushes that have not been taped leave double scars, two for the price of one.

Shoes damage the ice more than stones. Every effort MUST be made to ensure they are not shaving off the pebble and scattering unseen debris everywhere. Just look at the slide path after a teflon game, there will be little pebble left. This can be very difficult to repair as well, sprinkle pebble over it and the area becomes higher all the way past the house, just where a stone from the other direction wants to draw in behind a guard -- it can't, there's a hill. Cutting this off when possible is not so easy, it can take a few days to get it perfect again. The sliding also compacts the ice and makes it harder and very strong, so much so that it is virtually impossible to cut, aggravating the problem.

Asking umpires to sort the problem by sending players off is a non-starter. Education works better, be nice to the ice and respect everyone else who has to play on it. Players who persistently damage the ice in a visible way now do however risk a word from the umpire, and if they keep doing it they deserve forfeiting the game.