Canadian curling lived up to its freewheeling, no-holds-barred reputation on Sunday as an Olympic champion’s team was kicked out of a tournament for being “extremely drunk”.
Ryan Fry, who won curling gold for Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and his teammates Jamie Koe, Chris Schille, and DJ Kidby forfeited their final match at the Red Deer Curling Classic after complaints from opponents and fans.
“They went out to curl and they were extremely drunk and breaking brooms and swearing and just unacceptable behaviour that nobody wants to watch or hear or listen to and it was just ‘enough was enough,’” facility manager Wade Thurber told CBC Sports.
“There was some damage in the locker room and other teams complaining about their stuff being kicked around in the locker room. So at the end of the day, it was like ‘OK, that’s enough of this gong show.’ The committee for the bonspiel collectively decided that we needed to remove them from the spiel for this year and what happens down the road, I’m not sure yet.”
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Fry later apologised for his team’s behaviour. “I allowed myself to lose control and I offended people with my actions. I wish nothing more than to apologize to everyone individually,” he told CBC Sports. “I will be taking proper steps to ensure this problem can never happen again and I will strive to become a better version of myself while contributing positively to the sport and curling community that I love so much.”
The Red Deer Classic is part of the World Curling Tour, and the tour has asked the event’s organisers to file a formal complaint. Thurber said the team may be banned from the tournament in the future. “People were commenting and saying ‘I suppose they just have to apologise and they’re back in next year.’ So we kind of said it in a way that there’s no guarantee that’s what’s going to happen – an apology may not cut it.”