Conclusion: The Journey to a National Game for Women

I have spent a lot of time talking about the struggle for women to enter the sport of curling, so I have decided to leave on a bit of a high note. Even if the national game for men known as the briar started in the year 1927 and it took women until 1960 before their first national game could be played. Even then Scotties Tournament of Hearts did not officially happen in Canada until 1982. The first national game for women to be held was a large achievement for them because it was a long road to get there.

It was in the 1950s when women's curling eventually move beyond provincial borders heading toward the national game. At this point, there was the creation of the western Canadian women's championship, but it still a lack of an all-eastern championship. There was interest in the idea of the briar but for women and by 1959 the western championship had a conversation with some eastern curlers to see if it was possible. After a lengthy discussion and debate over sponsorship when February of 1960 arrived the Canadians Ladies Curling Association was formed. The champion of the quickly put-together eastern championship met the western championship in Oshawa to play the first National game. The East finally played the West. Eventually, this did lead to the development of a more Brier format. This game marked an important moment in history because a lot of women put work into it. It was certainly an achievement in more ways than one. It was also one of the first times a sponsor that was aimed towards women had approached a sport as a way of sponsorship. It was the first for a lot of things.

I would like to thank each one of these women who were able to curl during this era that I spent talking about. I want to thank the women who pushed to get their way into clubs. I would like to thank the woman who curled in the past showing how this was not just a sport for men. I would like to thank the woman who works so tirelessly to form the national game. We must appreciate each one of these women because everything that I have learned about the topic tells me that it was not an easy period to curl in. If it was not for them, I would not get to curl today and have this great passion for it. So, I thank and appreciate each one of them because they got women into the sport while making it what it is today.