| From over 200 applicants a team
of 25 curlers were selected to represent Scotland on the inaugural Canadian
Tour led by the Rev. John Kerr of Dirleton. The itinerary for first tour
was that the team would arrive in Halifax, Nova Scotia around the end of
December 1902 and travel through Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto and
Winnipeg before crossing the border to Minneapolis and St. Paul, Chicago
and New York. The whole tour would take 40 days but allowing for
ocean and railway travel it was anticipated that the team would be absent
for about two months! "It will be seen that
the programme is an ambitious one, but the committee felt strongly that
if things were worth doing, it was worth doing well, and they have every
confidence that the members of the team will prove in every respect worthy
of the high trust committed to them, namely, that of upholding the reputation
of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club". |
| The success of the tour was reflected
in a letter sent from Peterboro in Ontario to the Royal Club which stated,
"I
congratulate you in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club that this long expected
visit has been so happily carried out, and I trust that in the years to
come it may continue to be a fruit on both sides of the Atlantic..." |
| Encouraged by such comment, the
Royal Club at its Annual Meeting in July 1908 decided to "unanimously
and enthusiastically to invite a team of Canadians to Scotland and to return
if possible the hospitality shown by Canada to the curlers from the mother
country in the winter of 1902, it was felt that notice given was very short,
but the eager desire on the part of all concerned was that such a visit
should come off during the year which Lord Strathcona was President of
the Royal Club, his Lordship being such a unique connecting link between
Scotland and Canada, so much honoured by his countrymen on both sides of
the Atlantic." |
| Once news returned from Canada that
the invitation had been accepted there was |
| "...unmingled
delight as there was a general expectation that the visit of the Canadians
to Scotland like that of the Scots to Canada would not only still further
strengthen the bond of friendship between those who are kinsmen but...
would handsomely avenge any defeat sustained by the Scots in their visit
to Canada, which by some strange system of perversion had been very much
exaggerated!!!" |
| That first visiting Canadian team
was gathered in the space of two or three months and included representatives
of every district in Canada from Halifax to Dawson City in the Yukon. |
| In Scotland invitations were drawn
up and issued to Clubs and Provinces and "a most
gratifying response to this communication was received by the Committee,
for virtually the whole of Scotland was prepared to receive and offer hospitality
to the Canadians". The organising Committee had its main
difficulty in the form of whether the matches would be played in the open,
or in the covered artificial ice-rink at Crossmyloof in Glasgow which had
been placed at the services of the Royal Club in the event of John (not
Jack!) Frost not having the decency to provide natural outdoor ice for
the occasion. |
| Apart from visits to
the various districts of Scotland it was "in the
trio of test matches arranged by the Committee that Greek would meet Greek,
and the momentous decision be given on the blackboard as to whether Canada
or Scotland held priority in curling fame. To this great arbitration keen
zest was added by the presentation of the noble President, Lord Strathcona,
of a handsome Challenge Cup... and which it would be averred is without
a superior among curling trophies at home and abroad. This splendid trophy,
which was selected in competition from a number of designs, is cup shape
in form, with two handles. It measures about 20 inches in height
and 14 and a half inches in diameter. |
|
The decoration,
which is chiefly Celtic in character, is artistically applied. A
band of Runic entwined work and circles the upper part, and is continued
on the handles, whilst round the top is the wording in applied letters:
'Presented
by Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club'.
On the silver octagonal base of eight panels there are representations
of a Scottish curling scene, a Canadian curling scene, and also views of
Edinburgh and Stirling castles. Additionally other panels show a
beaver, a maple tree and a scotch fir with a thistle in the foreground.
Two panels have been reserved to inscribe the winners names and the other
the inscription, which coupled with the inscription that the rim of the
cup reads 'Presented by Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal to The Royal
Caledonian Curling Club to Commemorate His Presidency of the Club and of
the First Visit of a Canadian Curling Team to Scotland, January 1909'." |
| John Frost did not oblige and the
three test matches against Scottish Provinces were held at Crossmyloof
Ice-rink with six rinks playing on each day. The first test match
gave a score of 112 to 70 in favour of the Canadians and they followed
this up with 29 shot and 30 shot victories in the remaining two to enable
the Canadians to win the coveted cup by 101 shots. Philosophically, one
of the defeated Scottish hosts remarked, "it micht
have been better, but it micht have been waur". |
| Scots returned to Canada in 1912
with the Canadians successfully retaining the cup although it was noticed
that in the test matches, the loss per rink by the Scots was only on average
one and a half shots per game. The Scottish team captain, Colonel
Robertson-Aikman, further reported that in his opinion "this
was a record that, I contend, after the performance of the Canadian curlers
in Scotland three years ago we need not be in the least ashamed of".
He further claimed that the Scots were at a disadvantage in that the Canadians
played short games of only 12 heads when normally the Scots would expect
to play 16. The test matches however were over 18 heads but again the Scots
wanted more - 21! Further handicaps noted were that they had to play
on a 6ft. radius circle rather than a 7ft. circle! Other excuses
used at the time included the fact there was a tremendous borrow sometimes
as much as 8 feet, which in his opinion "the consequence
of such a borrow is that the game is altered in its character. You cannot
guard a stone as you do here". |
| The final excuse used for the tour
was "...but the strongest man on a tour of two
months must be below his best when continually travelling and banqueting!!!" |
| The First World War prevented any
further tour that decade but in 1921 the Canadians returned to Scotland
and on this occasion Scotland lifted the Strathcona Cup for the first time
by a score of 3-2 over the 5 test matches. However two winters later
Canada regained the Strathcona Cup, winning 5-0 in the test matches and
by an emphatic 210 shot margin. |
| Canadian curlers returned to Scotland
in 1926 where the home country were victorious by 4 to 1 in the test matches
but that was the last tour for some 12 years until 1938, shortly before
the outbreak of the Second World War, when Scotland crossed the Atlantic
once more. |
| The War prevented any further visit
until 1949 when Scotland won the Strathcona Cup in Canada for the first
time. On this occasion there was a change from the normal format
whereby all games in the tour, not just nominated test matches, counted
to the overall result. One game was reported as "keen
interest was shown in all our games and at Nelson, B.C., we had a crowd
of 2000 spectators watching us, although play did not start until 8.30
p.m. and continued until 1 o'clock in the morning!" |
| Subsequent tours reverted to the
format of test matches deciding the destination of the cup with the home
nation being victorious on each of these occasions. |
| However, this format was changed
when the Canadian tourists came to Scotland in 1979 and from that tour
onwards all games have counted equally to the eventual outcome of the trophy. |
| Canada regained the trophy on their
last visit to Scotland in 1998 and currently have 10 victories to 8 of
Scotland but the Strathcona Cup is more than about winning and losing.
The very essence of it is to ensure that curlers from Scotland and Canada
have the opportunity to meet every five years on one side of the Atlantic
or the other to further the friendship between curlers of the two countries
and to uphold the traditions of the roarin' game. |
| With these objectives in mind 56
curlers from Scotland will, unlike their forefathers, touch down rather
than step ashore in Canada on the 8th January 2003. The East Tour under
the Captaincy of Donald Whyte, President of the Royal Caledonian Curling
Club, will similar to those on that first tour, start in Halifax, whilst
the West Tour will start in Winnipeg, another of the cities on that original
itinerary, under the Captaincy of Ainslie Smith, Past President of the
Royal Caledonian Curling Club. |
| For all curlers it will be an opportunity
to mark the Centenary of the first ever Scottish Curlers in Canada when
412 games are played across Canada from Halifax in the East to Victoria
in the West. |
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PREVIOUS TOURS:
(CANADA LEADS SERIES 11-8 OVERALL)
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