Curling is an Olympic sport. At the last several Winter Olympics (since 1998), championships are traditionally held among both the women's and men's national curling teams. But to many residents of the post-Soviet space, this game still seems outlandish. And few people know that the history of its origin goes back to the Middle Ages.
The first mentions of curling
The homeland of curling is Scotland. The earliest chronicle mentions of curling can be found in the monastery books of Paisley Abbey, dated 1541. By the way, curling is a verbal noun derived from the Scottish verb curl, which can be translated as "twist" and "twist". This word very accurately reflects the peculiarities of the movement of stones (namely, the so-called shells in this game) on the ice.
Soon, mentions of a similar fun appear in the Netherlands. Only in the Netherlands this game was called not “curling”, but “icestock”. It is believed that the famous painting by Pieter Brueghel "Hunters in the Snow" depicts people playing exactly the ice stock.
From the first curler society to uniform rules
The first society of curling players appeared in the Scottish town of Killsite. Officially, this society was registered in 1716. And then, during the eighteenth century, more than 50 local curling clubs were created.
It should be noted that at that time there was no uniform size of playgrounds, the shells could also differ in size. And therefore, the ancient curlers could not rely solely on their strategy and experience, much depended on luck.
Often, ordinary stones were used for the game, which seemed suitable for the players. There is evidence that the weavers of the town of Darwell played curling with massive stone sinkers, which were used in weaving machines (these sinkers were good because they had a very convenient removable handle).
In 1838, the "Main Curling Club of Caledonia" was established in Edinburgh. This organization has done a lot to develop and popularize curling as a sports discipline. It was in the "Main Curling Club of Caledonia" that the rules of the game and the size of the playing field were improved and brought to a single model, the official weight (19, 96 kilograms) and dimensions (diameter - 29, 2 centimeters, height - 11, 4 centimeters) were established stones.
Curling history in Russia
This Scottish game was brought to the Russian Empire by British diplomats. In 1873, a curling match took place in Moscow for the first time - between the staff of the British Embassy and their German counterparts. Several years later, fans of this game appeared in St. Petersburg.
With the outbreak of the First World War, curling was forgotten in our country for almost eighty years - until 1991. But nowadays in the Russian Federation this sport is quite actively developing. This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that the Russian women's team is among the strongest on the planet - it takes 4th place in the WCF (World Curling Federation) ranking.
