Charles Martin Hardie - Curling at Carsebreck - Google Art Project

The Grand Match, also called The Bonspiel, is an outdoor

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

tournament, or

bonspiel A bonspiel is a curling tournament, consisting of several games, often held on a weekend. Until the 20th century most bonspiels were held outdoors, on a frozen freshwater loch. Today almost all bonspiels are held indoors on specially prepared ar ...

, held most recently on the

Lake of Menteith Lake of Menteith, also known as Loch Inchmahome (Scottish Gaelic: ''Loch Innis Mo Cholmaig''), is a loch in Scotland located on the Carse of Stirling (the flood plain of the upper reaches of the rivers River Forth, Forth and River Teith, Teith, u ...

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, when the weather is cold enough. Traditionally it is a match between the north and south of Scotland.

History

The last tournament was held in 1979. From then until 2010, a

loch ''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or "inlet, sea inlet" in Scottish Gaelic, Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes calle ...

never froze to the required depth of seven inches of ice to allow the tournament to take place. It can attract thousands of curlers when it is held. The Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC) stated in December 2010 that the

is no longer suitable for holding a Grand Match due to the logistics involved, with Loch Leven and the Piper Dam in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

now the preferred sites. In total, the Grand Match has taken place on 38 occasions, of which 33 were on outside ice: one in November, nine in December, 16 in January, and seven in February. The five indoor matches were held at the

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

ice rinks. On 5 January 2010, following weeks of freezing weather conditions throughout the UK, the RCCC met to discuss holding the event for the first time in 30 years. However, just days later, the plans had to be scrapped as Health & Safety issues could not be resolved in the short time available. Nevertheless, upwards of 20,000 people turned up over the weekend in defiance of the police, and numerous matches were held on the ice. An unofficial tournament was planned for a few days later, not sanctioned by the RCCC. This had to be abandoned due to warmer weather making the ice dangerous. To celebrate the millennium, an Indoor Grand Match was inaugurated in 2000, and this proved so popular that it became a regular event, being held every five years since. It is spread across several indoor ice rinks across the nation, with the last Indoor Grand Match in October 2015 being won by the south.

List of national bonspiels

Penicuik Penicuik ( ; ; ) is a town and former Police burgh, burgh in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River Esk, Lothian, River North Esk. It lies on the A701 road, A701 midway between Edinburgh and Peebles, east of the Pentland Hil ...

, 15 January 1847 - 96 competitors *

Linlithgow Loch Linlithgow Loch lies immediately north of the town of Linlithgow in West Lothian, Scotland. 1.3 kilometres in length and 0.4 in breadth, its area of 41 hectares makes it the largest natural freshwater loch in Lothian. It is, however, shallow, wit ...

, 1848 - 680 competitors, 6000 spectators *Barr Meadow, 1850 - near

Castle Semple Loch Castle Semple Loch is a inland freshwater loch at Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Originally part of an Estate (land), estate of the same name, it is now administered by Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park as a List of water sports, watersport ...

* Carsebreck, near Blackford - 25 matches between 1853-1935, on leased land which was specially flooded to provide good, safe ice - the final match, on 24 December 1935, attracted 2576 competitors *

Loch of Aboyne Loch of Aboyne is a shallow, artificial formed, freshwater loch in Grampian, Scotland. It lies northeast of Aboyne and west-southwest of Aberdeen. An earthen dam was constructed around 1834 to retain the loch. It also served as a reservoir for a ...

was used for a

on the 10 February 1891 between curlers from the south and north of the River Don.Curling History
/ref> * Loch Leven, 1959 *

, 1963, 1979

References

External links

Royal Caledonian Curling ClubAm Baile - Highland History and Culture - Curling Bonspiel
1847 establishments in Scotland 1847 in British sport Curling competitions in Scotland Sport in Stirling (council area) Climate of Scotland {{Curling-event-stub