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The Curling News
Infamous Curling Finger Poke Banned From Competition
- Story byThe Curling News
- Infamous Curling Finger Poke Banned From Competition
Boopgate no more.
World Curling has ruled the infamous finger "poke" on curling stone granite – after initial release – is now illegal.
Violations will result in the stone being immediately removed from play.
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Curling exploded into worldwide pop culture awareness during February's Olympic Winter Games in Cortina, Italy in a men's fours game between Sweden, the defending champions, and Canada.
After some sniping among multiple team members on both sides, Swedish third Oskar Eriksson took verbal issue with Canada third Marc Kennedy's style of release, accusing him of violating stone delivery rules.
Kennedy reacted in explosive fashion, which led to a global scandal – though some might argue it was a scandal of perception.
Anil Mungal-The Curling News
Everyone can agree that what took place was unprecedented.
Sport fans with limited knowledge of curling rules and their unfortunate grey areas declared the Canadians to be cheaters.
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Media influencers, equally hapless in their knowledge of the Roaring Game, disgorged gigabytes of online meme content.
Athlete sniping continued throughout the tournament, from both Sweden and Canada.
The event officials attempted rapid mid-tournament enforcement changes , which backfired and were soon withdrawn .
Athlete sniping also continued after the Games, although The Curling News declined to publicize those incidents.
Depending on one's perception, the furor was either the greatest or worst thing to ever happen to the "Gentlemen's Sport" that traces its roots back to the year 1511.
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In the end, Brad Jacobs' Canada outfit captured Olympic gold while Niklas Edin's Sweden finished last in the standings.
CAN women got caught in the furor • Anil Mungal-The Curling News
As World Curling begins its annual Congress today in Slovakia, the relevant rule now reads: "The curling stone must be delivered using the handle of the stone. Touching the granite at any time after the tee line at the delivery end is not allowed and considered a touched moving stone which results in the stone being removed from play."
The question of double-touching the handle of the stone during delivery was also considered. Given that the direction is now crystal-clear – that the curling stone must be delivered using the handle – and it is also clear the athlete must clearly release the stone before the hogline, multiple touches of the handle before the hogline is considered permissible. This is reflected in the Moving Stone rule clarification:
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"Between the tee line at the delivery end and the hog line at the playing end: I. If a moving stone is touched, or is caused to be touched, by the team to which it belongs, or by their equipment, the touched stone is removed from play immediately by that team. A double touch of the stone handle by the person delivering the stone, prior to the hog line at the delivering end, is not considered a violation."
It was a tough year for officials • Anil Mungal-The Curling News
Hans Frauenlob is a columnist for The Curling News and an international curling broadcast commentator who also serves on World Curling's Competition and Rules Commission.
"We thought this made it much clearer about what is permitted, and what is not," said Frauenlob, who was also on site at Cortina d'Ampezzo. "It also made a 'difficult to officiate' aspect of the sport as clear as we could reasonably make it."
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Frauenlob says the roots of all delivery rule issues can be traced back to technology, from advanced slide materials in the 1980s and 90s to modern release detection software and hardware. His next column for The Curling News will delve deeper into the thinking and execution behind the rule change as well as others that now take effect with the 2026-27 season.
Earlier today, Curling Canada confirmed full, formal adoption of the World Curling rulebook, including new rule R5(d). For the first time in history, curling's biggest member nation will not operate under a separate set of competition rules.
"I think for us it was just a situation where we said, 'Look, there's not a lot of benefit to us trying to do this on our own,' " said Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen.
