THE ROARIN' GAME

Cue (NZERS), Issue 15, 15 January 1945, Page 30

THE ROARIN' GAME

SOOP5 OOP it up, Sandy.” ’’Break an egg on it, Babbie.” ’’Chap and lie.” The shouts’ in broad Scotch, ring out in the frosty air. A dull roar resounds over the frozen lake. A bottle of whisky is taken from its bed of broken ice and handed from man to man. The bonspiel is in full swing. The game of curling, recognised as the national sport of Scotland, is probably one of the most interesting winter pastimes of the New Zealander. Because it has to be played on smooth, firm ice, and is so beloved of Scots, it is confined almost entirely to Otago. There, in spite of the rapidly increasing interest in skating and ski-ing, it retains a firm place in the winter sports programme. s Where . the game originated is not precisely known, but it has been popular in Scotland for several centuries. It is played, too, in several Continental countries, Canada and the United States, but it is the Scots who have been responsible for its development. At first, it was played on a frozen pond or tarn with rough, whin, boulders in their natural state, except for a hole bored to let in the thumb of the player. As time passed stones were made of whinstone or granite, beautifully rounded and highly polished, with a convenient handle. The stones are quarried and never blasted, as the shock of explosion is apt to strain or split the rock. . : Curlers belong to a brotherhood almost as close as freemasonry. , The parent body is the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, the main duties of which are to further the interest of the game, revise the laws and arrange important matches. The New Zealand Curling Province is . affiliated with the Royal Club, and observes all the traditions of the ancient game. ;

Curling can be described as bowls played on ice. Instead of bowls, large, rounded stones are used and a fixed mark called a tee takes the place of the

jack. Teams of four, called a rink, play out the head in much the same way as is done in bowls, but there are variations due to local conditions. Stones that fail to pass the hog-score, a line drawn onesixth of the length of the rink from the tee, that pass the< back-score or touch the swept snow at the side of the rink are removed._ Each man plays two shots per head, and much skill is required in casting the 40-lb. stone down the smooth ice. A cleverly-imparted twist can cause the stone to curve round an opposing shot or a "thunderin’ cast" may succeed in driving . the scoring stones of the opposition from the neigh-

bourhood of the tee. To speed a slow stone to the tee, one of the rink may sweep the ice in its path, but 'once it passes the tee an opposing sweeper can take over to speed the stone over the back-score. It is a vigorous game, but, if anyone does feel cold, there is always a bottle of whisky at either end of the rink—and somehow even the most enthusiastic curler gets cold. The whisky is always in a bed of ice or snow and it is not done” to ask for water with one’s nipCurling has a language all its own. "Soop it up” means to sweep the ice, "red the ice," clear away the opponents’ stones; "chap and lie " to strike

out a stone and lie in or near its place; "break an egg on it," touch a stone

very lightly; "kizzle-kazzle,” to deliver a stone with a rocking motion; "hands up," stop sweeping; "pat-lid," a stone that lies on the tee.* These and countless other expressions are in use in New Zealand just as they are in Scotland. • On the irrigation dams of the Alexan-

dra-Oturehua-Naseby district are held the annual bonspielsthe curling tournaments in which curlers from the various clubs of Central Otago participate. The powdered snow or fine ice is swept from rectangular patches on the glittering surface of the lake, leaving strips of mirror-like ice to be marked out as the rinks for the tournament. (

The curler is a hardy individual and in most cases has descended from the followers of the "roarin’ game" who brought curling to New Zealand from the glens of Scotland. In the early days these curlers travelled scores of miles by coach, bullock-wagon or even on foot to take part in bonspiels or inter-club games. There is a great fellowship among curlers and the game is played in the best sporting spirit. At the annual bonspiel, which usually lasts two days, one of the important functions is the , "Beef and Greens," the annual curlers’ dinner.

The morning frosts are unbelievably severe in Central Otago, but the sun rises clear and bright to bring a tingle to the veins and a new beauty to the countryside. Usually the lake chosen for the bonspiel is surrounded by snow, and there is certain to be thick snow on the ranges.

While the bonspiel is in progress the curler will tell the stranger to the tournament all kinds of tales of curlers and of Central Otago’s cold. And flapping his arms around his body and stamping his frozen feet, the ’’new chum” .will be ready to believe all of them. The publican who, one morning, finds all his liquor standing on the shelf minus its glass jackets; the milkman who delivers his milk not in cans but in frozen blocks; the child who licks a piece of metal and finds chimself anchored to it by his tongueall these and a score of others are to be heard on the ice. Meanwhile, skaters glide past gracefully or ungracefully, the curling-stonea roar across the ice, and strange Gaelic words stab the crisp air. But of # all things h£ard on the ice, the most welcome is the invitation to a "wee drap o’ whisky."