Olympic and World champions believe keeping a curling facility in Perth is key to the future of the sport in Scotland.
Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds have a raft of international medals between them – Bruce was the reigning European and World champion while Jennifer was part of Eve Muirhead’s famous Olympic winning team in Beijing.
The players teamed up for the Scottish Mixed Doubles Championship at the Dewars Centre in February – a competition they won in 2023 – and spoke of how integral the venue and the city is to the sport.
Bruce told The Courier: “It’s a very important ice rink for holding competitions and a very prestigious rink which has a lot of big names attached it.
“We were losing people after Covid but we’re starting to see a regeneration of athletes coming in and recreational curlers coming in – so it’s very key for Perth to remain open.
“It’s one of the biggest ice rinks we’ve got so it’s very important.”
Facilities important for mental health
Jennifer has played at Dewars throughout her career and the rink is the home of her Olympic winning teammates Eve Muirhead and Mili Smith.
She told The Courier that losing a facility in the city would be a “big blow” for the sport.
“Over the years we’ve lost a couple of big ice rinks so I think it’s even more important that we have something in Perth,” said Jennifer.
“Being able to keep this open and hopefully being able to get a new facility built would be really important for Scotland in general.”
The Olympic champion also believes that having access to such facilities is important for people’s health and ability to socialise.
Jennifer said: “I think just for the general area and the community it’s really important that people have that space.
“These days, especially with mental health, it’s such a big thing to have a space for people to come together and fight the thought of loneliness.”
Campaign for all sports
Plans for a new facility are set to come forward in August after the previous proposal, which did not include an ice rink, leisure pool or indoor bowls, was rejected by councillors.
The Courier wants to ensure the opportunity is seized to build Perth a leisure centre to be proud of.
Take our survey below and have your say on what you want to see in a new facility.
City would lose international competition
If the original proposal by Perth and Kinross Council had come to fruition, Perth would have been left without an ice rink.
As well as seriously hampering the grassroots level of the sport, Bruce says it would also mean the city, and Scotland, would lose an elite level international competition in Perth Masters.
The historic event sees some of the best teams in the world come to compete in the Fair City every year.
“You would lose the Perth Masters which is one of the major competitions that Scottish men and women at elite level play in,” said Bruce.
“We would end up having to travel to another country to play in a major championship like the Perth Masters that’s on the world curling tour.
“The history and the teams that have come over and won that championship are some of the best teams that have ever played the sport, so it’s very important that Perth Masters continues.
“To be able to do that they need a rink to host it.”
Both Bruce and Jennifer agreed that keeping a facility in Perth was of paramount importance but equal to that was that there be no gaps in a new facility being built and the ice at Dewars being lost.
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