Where is British Curling headed?

British Curling is an enigma! In the run up to the Vancouver Olympics it was the key player. The organisation, under the chairmanship of Chris Hildrey, was charged with all aspects of the selection, preparation and performance of the British curling teams. In theory, British Curling is the body recognised by the British Olympic Association/British Paralympic Association and UK Sport as responsible for the preparation, selection and performance of the teams for those events which require the participation of a 'British' curling team i.e. the Olympics, World University Games and the Youth Olympics. But read on!

A new era dawned last year with the appointment of a new board (see here), with Mike Gillespie as Chairman. The Royal Club has a bigger stake in the organisation, Willie Nicoll having a seat on the board and Bruce Crawford being the chief operating officer.

Over recent months it has been apparent that all is not well.

For one thing, the organisation's website (here) has been 'down for maintenance' for a while. Then there is the (unconfirmed) rumour that all the Olympic money from UK Sport - more than £2,200,000 - has gone to the sportscotland Institute of Sport, and preparations for Sochi are already being masterminded by Dave Crosbee and his team there. What role then for British Curling?

Then last month it was announced, see here, that Mike Gillespie had resigned as Chairman of British Curling. I believe he is heading abroad to work.

The British Curling Board met recently to discuss the way forward. Adverts will appear soon for the position of chairman, with interviews scheduled for early August.

In the interim, Hew Chalmers will head up the organisation. Safe hands indeed. However, Hew has indicated that he will not be applying for the BC chairman's post as he is on the Board of the British Olympic Association (see here), and there could be conflict of interests at BOA board level.

I had hoped that with the appointment of the new board back in December that British Curling would no longer be the 'secret society' it had been. Some hope!

Hew has promised that the selection of a new chair will involve 'an open transparent interview process'. That will be a good start. We all will be looking to see what role British Curling will have in the years ahead.

BOA Board for Hew

Hew Chalmers has been elected to the board of the British Olympic Association. Hew was nominated by the National Olympic Committee – the BOA’s decision and policy-making body – to represent the interests of the winter Olympic sports on the BOA’s board. He replaces David Cranston of the British Biathlon Union, who is standing down.

Hew has been a director of British Curling since its inception four years ago and has considerable experience of high-performance sport and Olympic competition, having coached national teams to medal success at European and World Curling Championships. He has also attended multiple Winter Olympic Games – including the 2010 Games in Vancouver earlier this year – as a team leader and team manager. Hew is currently one of the Royal Club's representative members on the World Curling Federation.

Lord Colin Moynihan, chairman of the BOA, said, “I am very pleased to welcome Hew Chalmers as the new winter sports representative on the BOA’s board. We had excellent winter sport candidates running for election, which shows the commitment and support of the winter sports. I am sure that Hew’s expertise will greatly benefit the board.”

Hew said, “I am delighted to join the BOA board and look forward to working with my colleagues to further develop winter sports here in the UK. I will also support existing relationships to ensure that the BOA continues to have a strong, independent and powerful voice both here in the UK and internationally. London 2012 is a unique opportunity and will shine a bright light on all Olympic sports, both summer and winter, creating the platform to transform lives through the power of the Olympic values and success of Team GB.”

I believe Hew is only the second Scot to serve on the London board, the other being Sir Craig Reedie, former Chairman of the BOA who is still a serving representative on the International Olympic Committee.

I've known Hew a long time, and many congratulations to him! It is great to see our sport sitting at the top table. Just goes to show how the profile of curling has changed in the UK in recent years because of the Olympics.

One other thing that may not be apparent on reading this, is that it confirms Hew's continuance as a director of British Curling. Interviews for other positions on the BC Board have apparently been held, but appointments have not yet been made public. British Curling's website is here.

The announcement of Hew's appointment was in a BOA news item, see here, which would also seem to confirm continued support for elite sport in the immediate future, post 2012.

Hew's photo is © Skip Cottage