Basel belongs to New Zealand

No it is not a delayed April Fool - I was there and I saw Glenn Howard play at just 67% (allegedly) and lose at an extra end to Peter de Boer and his Kiwi team. Cue pandemonium in the arena as Peter's last stone tapped Canada's red one out of the shot position. With Tom Brewster and Scotland having just qualified in second place it was a good half hour for all the Scots in the arena.

I think I have probably missed out a meeting or two in my reports - so where was I - Wednesday morning we found out that the WCF have recently received a further $5million form the IOC and currently have $16m in the bank!! And there was good news for those who curse and swear that they cannot get webstreaming of the games from Canada on You Tube - this may change very soon and next season we should be able to see as much curling as we want on the internet!! So fingers crossed that You Tube can get agreement from the broadcasters to show web streaming in competition to TV broadcasts.

Today was the European Curling Federation semi-annual general meeting and after the regular business of the meeting was done, the main discussion under any other business was the future of the ECF. The ECF Board had met and discussed their options and now asked the members what they wanted. It was disappointing that there were no options provided by the Board for the members to consider and the answers to many of the questions that were put were, in one person's words, wishy-washy.

It is not clear whether there is a reason for the ECF to exist if the WCF's proposals for a European Commission come to fruition - in the words of one delegate should it be "put into a sleeping bag" to be resurrected if something should happen to the WCF or should it be consigned to the annals of history? With a very limited budget from its Member Associations there is little it can do without any other financial input and in all my years at ECF meetings I have never seen any plans for development of the sport for example. The ECF exists to run the European Championships, but even that is very much beholden to the resources of the WCF.

I personally find it difficult to justify to my members that the ECA pays a 500 Euro subscription to the ECF and then entry fees of 500 Euros for the Mixed Championships and 700 Euros for each team at the European Championships - a total of 2400 Euros when the total ECA subscription income is just over £3000. There are many more ways I would like to spend that 2400 Euros to help develop the sport in England especially when the members are usually set against even a modest increase in their ECA subscription of £25!! However I was told that the decision on the ECF should not just be about the money side - but with no development plans from the ECF or any other ideas on how our money can be spent it is difficult to see what else I can prioritise in my decision about the future of the ECF.

Anyway enough for tonight. WCF Annual General Assembly tomorrow with elections to follow - could be a long one!!