(by Jason Malloy)
An online petition has been started in Prince Edward Island to remove the relegation round from Canadian curling championships.
He now knows it may be little harder with a change to the format being instituted next season by the Canadian Curling Association.
Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Yukon and Nunavut will play in a tournament with the winner qualifying for the 2015 Brier. The other three teams will not compete at nationals.
“I was disheartened to be honest,” MacPhee said of his initial response to the change. “It’s tough to grow/sustain curling levels, especially at a competitive level, if you’re counting people out.”
MacPhee started an online petition on Monday to show numerical evidence of the amount of people against the change. The petition will be presented to the association later this year and he hopes the association takes another look at the change.
“It’s lacking unity as a Canadian championship if all your provinces are not being represented,” MacPhee said.
Al Cameron, the association’s director of communication and media relations, said members from across the country passed the motion leading to the change. It was done to create equitable opportunity to access national championships.
“Not every curler in Canada was eligible to compete,” Cameron told The Guardian.
“We had to rectify that situation.”