Scottish Rinks Weathering Storm Author: A desperate curling campaign has succeeded in desperate times. Scottish curling’s grass roots, already struggling with recent facility closures before the COVID-19 pandemic, got a recent boost when the government pledged U.S. $2.7 million in direct support. The windfall could mean the difference between some of the nation’s rinks surviving past the pandemic and into the next 2021-22 curling season. “I was delighted to hear that the work had paid off,” said 2014 Olympic finalist and two-time world men's champion skip David Murdoch. “The last few months have been extremely difficult for all our rinks. They’ve had had incredible pressures of finance, dilemmas of feasibility of opening, and a yo-yo of open or close restrictions.”