33. Pollok Curling In Holland 1990.
Pollok, Runners-Up in the Windmill International Curling Tournament in Utrecht, Netherlands
Left to right: Gordon Deakin, Sandy Finlayson, Bill Skeoch, Graham Wintersgill
Left to right: Gordon Deakin, Sandy Finlayson, Bill Skeoch, Graham Wintersgill
Early in 1990 Graham Wintersgill wangled an invitation to The Annual Windmill International Curling Tournament being held in Utrecht. April 6th saw four members, Gordon Deakin, Graham Wintersgill, Bill Skeoch and Sandy Finlayson, having assured their wives that Utrecht was nowhere near Amsterdam, set off from Edinburgh Airport to compete.
The first game on Friday was against the Welsh champions. A narrow victory ensured great enthusiasm for the two games on Saturday. An early start at 8.30 a.m. against the Swiss Touring House of Biel had a few interesting features. Each of their players had matching everything – jackets, caps, gloves, pullovers, T-shirts, socks, shoes, trousers, and we believe underwear, which contrasted sharply with our individual sartorial elegance.
The rinks had a bottle of brandy on the barrier behind each head, much to our delight. To our opponents surprise we had a small nip between each end. These tactics had disastrous effect – on the opposition - and we ran out easy winners. Further surprise awaited. We repaired to the bar and waited fully 30 minutes for the Swiss to join us. They had been called by their coach to a meeting to discuss where their tactics had gone wrong. Lack of brandy we suggested! At this point we were approached by a representative of the brandy company who announced that the bottles were for advertising, and we would need to pay for the two we had drunk. Reluctantly would be an understatement.
Saturday afternoon was a routine victory over a mixed English rink which saw Pollok having played three, won three and duly top of the league on shots up. This resulted in an enormous celebration helped by one of the opposition for Sunday morning offering us a drink which he felt would slow us up in the morning. He was told – “you buy them, we’ll drink them”. Sunday morning arrived with no sign of young Wintersgill. A frantic search ensued, as the bus was about to leave for the ice rink, resulted in him being found, still in his kilt dress - just in time.
The game was against The London Club. Our team not at their best lost a five at the first end but fought back to lead by a shot going into the final end. We were lying well when the first shot from the opposing skip wicked off an outlying stone and got jammed on the pot lid. We could not move the stone and the game was peeled. We could still win if the afternoon results went our way. Our match and the other possible winners’ game was covered by Eurosport TV live. Our team found it difficult to hit the brush while smiling towards the cameras going up the rink beside us. We did however win our match and watched as the Belgian national team, which we needed to be beaten, win at the last end.
We finished second overall and each of us received a small silver windmill at the end of a never to be forgotten weekend.
The first game on Friday was against the Welsh champions. A narrow victory ensured great enthusiasm for the two games on Saturday. An early start at 8.30 a.m. against the Swiss Touring House of Biel had a few interesting features. Each of their players had matching everything – jackets, caps, gloves, pullovers, T-shirts, socks, shoes, trousers, and we believe underwear, which contrasted sharply with our individual sartorial elegance.
The rinks had a bottle of brandy on the barrier behind each head, much to our delight. To our opponents surprise we had a small nip between each end. These tactics had disastrous effect – on the opposition - and we ran out easy winners. Further surprise awaited. We repaired to the bar and waited fully 30 minutes for the Swiss to join us. They had been called by their coach to a meeting to discuss where their tactics had gone wrong. Lack of brandy we suggested! At this point we were approached by a representative of the brandy company who announced that the bottles were for advertising, and we would need to pay for the two we had drunk. Reluctantly would be an understatement.
Saturday afternoon was a routine victory over a mixed English rink which saw Pollok having played three, won three and duly top of the league on shots up. This resulted in an enormous celebration helped by one of the opposition for Sunday morning offering us a drink which he felt would slow us up in the morning. He was told – “you buy them, we’ll drink them”. Sunday morning arrived with no sign of young Wintersgill. A frantic search ensued, as the bus was about to leave for the ice rink, resulted in him being found, still in his kilt dress - just in time.
The game was against The London Club. Our team not at their best lost a five at the first end but fought back to lead by a shot going into the final end. We were lying well when the first shot from the opposing skip wicked off an outlying stone and got jammed on the pot lid. We could not move the stone and the game was peeled. We could still win if the afternoon results went our way. Our match and the other possible winners’ game was covered by Eurosport TV live. Our team found it difficult to hit the brush while smiling towards the cameras going up the rink beside us. We did however win our match and watched as the Belgian national team, which we needed to be beaten, win at the last end.
We finished second overall and each of us received a small silver windmill at the end of a never to be forgotten weekend.