The Nanny State?

Well, 'twould seem the officials from the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC) have not the extreme huztpah of the Burning Man event organizers who safely get 50,000 people on and off a Nevada desert playa during an always lethally blistering Summer week with their own volunteer ranger/mediators and medical personnel. It seems the RCCC's Grand Match was scotched by some worries from the local constabulary about a wee number of curlers and their fans (10,000) arriving on a two-lane road with less than good driving and parking skills - plus some cooties about liability - and two local landowners who are not total fans of the Grand Match car parkers.

Hmmm.

Plenty of curling on outside ice in Scotland is happening anyway this winter- including many already curling on the Grand Match Aborted January 12, 2010 site itself, the Lake of Menteith. Bob Cowan's Skip Cottage Curling blog has the best info and news about such outdoor curling. Maybe a big Scottish match will happen on the Grand Match site next week....with or more likely without the suits from the RCCC. Maybe they could be inspired by the self-starters of Burning Man and provide their own "rangers" force as the Burners do to ensure as reasonably as possible everyone's safety?

Stay tuned...