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Eye on the Hog

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A curler releasing the stone just inches before it reaches the hog line. The Eye on the Hog can be identified by its tell-tale silver-coloured handle.

The Eye on the Hog is a sport officiating technology used in curling to electronically detect hog line violations. Commonly referred to as "sensor handles", it is based on a patent[1] filed by University of Saskatchewan that was further developed by Startco Engineering, a company that was later acquired by Littelfuse.[2]

The rule

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The current rule governing hog line violations can be traced back to 1955.[3] Ken Watson had developed the "long slide" delivery in the era when most curlers didn't slide much or barely even left the hack at all when delivering a curling stone.[4][5] The then-controversial slide proved popular with youth curlers, notably Matt Baldwin and Stan Austman, who in the 1950s would slide far down the sheet of ice as a gimmick.[6]

Thus the rule was revised in 1955 to put some limit on the slide delivery, and it has evolved from curtailing it at the tee line, to limiting the slide up to the hog line (1961), to now requiring clear release by the time the stone reaches the hog line (1974).[3][5][6] The penalty for a hog line violation is the removal of the delivered stone.[7]

The first event where this rule was used was the 1974 Air Canada Silver Broom; the 1974 Macdonald Brier that preceded it was still played under the 1961 rule.[8][6]

Human enforcement

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As in golf, the honour system played a key role in the enforcement of the rules of curling.[9][10] However, the hog line rule was eventually enforced by the use of officials,[11] similar to line judges in other sports. This was an immediate concern for the curlers, since visual enforcement is inherently error-prone,[12] and the rule as written favors false positives as it put the onus on the curlers to remove all doubts that there was a violation.[13][14]

In 1982, hog line officials in Canada were placed at an elevated position above ice level. Colleen Jones, who was penalized numerous times, disagreed that this provided them with the best view point to make their calls, and was almost suspended from the 1984 Scott Tournament of Hearts when she used mild vulgarity in a media interview. Canada started placing their officials at ice level in 1985.[15][16][17]

Things did not improve at the 1986 Labatt Brier. Assisted by a physically imposing out-of-town "enforcer", hog line officials pulled 9 rocks in the first draw due to purported hog line violations, including 3 by Mel Bernard. There was further controversy involving Lyle Muyres, where films by an amateur filmmaker and a TV technician, though inadmissible as evidence, were examined.[13][18]

There were also other incidents involving Paul Savage & Russ Howard at the semifinal of the Ontario Tankard provincial competition to qualify for 1987 Labatt Brier,[19][20] Randy Ferbey at the 2001 World Men's Curling Championship,[21][22][23][24] and Colleen Jones at 2002 World Women's Curling Championship.[14]

A technological solution

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Neil Houston played a key role during the initial development of the sensor technology at University of Saskatchewan,[25] and Canadian Curling Association (CCA) became the first adopter of the technology.[26][27]

After testing at Sutherland Curling Club,[28] the sensor handle finally made its high-profile debut at 2003 Continental Cup of Curling[3][29] and CCA quickly committed to using them for future events.

Early on, curlers who insist on wearing gloves during delivery would still be judged by hog line officials,[27] but eventually the rules prohibited the use of gloves to circumvent the sensor handles.[30]

There were rumours that some Manitoba tuckers had to adjust their deliveries.[31]

Notable incidents

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2011 World Men's Curling Championship

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Sebastian Kraupp [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] and Pete Fenson [37]

2015 Tim Hortons Brier

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Carter Rycroft [38]

2016 World Women's Curling Championship

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Amy Nixon [39] [40] [41] [42]

2018 Olympics

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Eve Muirhead [43] [44] [45] and Ma Jingyi[46][citation needed]

2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts

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Emma Miskew [47]

2021 Calgary bubble events

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[48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53]

References

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  1. ^ CA 2363877A1, J. Eric Salt, Jarret Adam, Kevin Ackerman, Jason Smith, Johanna Koch, "Curling rock and apparatus and method for detecting a hog line violation" 
  2. ^ Lazare, Lewis (February 18, 2014). "Chicago company helping defuse a controversy in curling". Chicago Business Journal. The concept was initially developed a decade ago by electrical engineering students at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, and subsequently refined and introduced by Startco Engineering, which Littelfuse acquired in 2008.
  3. ^ a b c Weeks, Bob (2001). Curling For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1119691815. pp. 84, 85: This particular rule was brought into play in 1955 [...] at the 2003 Continental Cup, a new system was introduced
  4. ^ "Ken Watson (1904-1986)". Government of Canada. 2016-02-15. fundamentally changed the way the sport is played through his development of the long slide [which] soon caught on, particularly with the young male curlers
  5. ^ a b Garber, David (Fall 2016). "Tales from Sheet Nine: Watson's book packed full of history, attire lessons". United States Curling News. finally [the rule] allowed for graceful follow throughs for as long as the player cared to slide
  6. ^ a b c "National curling body kills rule against sliding past hogline". Montreal Gazette. March 7, 1974. Retrieved 2021-06-13. Matt Baldwin [and] Stan Austman popularized going the full length of the ice
  7. ^ "The Rules of Curling and Rules of Competition" (PDF) (2020 ed.). World Curling Federation. R5(e): A stone must be clearly released from the hand before it reaches the hog line at the delivery end. If the player fails to do so, the stone is immediately removed from play by the delivering team.
  8. ^ Warren Hansen, Kevin Martin (2021-01-21). "40: Expanding The Brier and Scotties to 18 Teams; Our Guest: "The Connor McDavid of Curling"" (Podcast). Inside Curling. Event occurs at 49:33. Warren discusses the history of the hog line rule
  9. ^ Jessica Ouvrard, Warren Hansen (January 7, 2016). "025: Shot Stone: Curling in Canada" (Podcast). Library and Archives Canada. Event occurs at 8:30. it's a great dishonour to have violated any of the rules or etiquette of the sport
  10. ^ Mary Pilon (January 23, 2014). "A Code of Honor, Not a Referee, Keeps Curlers Honest". The New York Times. Curling is the rare Olympic sport that largely relies on self-policing.
  11. ^ Garber, David (Winter 2018). "Tales from Sheet Nine: Sensor handles, and the guys who save the USCA thousands". United States Curling News. To enforce the hog line rule [..] officials were assigned [...]. The job proved deceivingly difficult
  12. ^ Weeks, Bob (2008). Curling, Etcetera: A Whole Bunch of Stuff About the Roaring Game. Wiley. ISBN 978-0470156131. p. 159: there were many charges of incorrect calls, some which cost teams championships
  13. ^ a b Murray Rauw (March 3, 1986). "Testy release point has curlers hog-tied". Calgary Herald. If a hogline official has any doubts as to whether the player has released the rock, then he must make that judgment against the curler
  14. ^ a b Spencer, Donna (April 9, 2002). "Jones has hog-line trouble". The Globe and Mail. There are differences in the way hog-line infractions are called in Canada and at the international level. [...T]he onus is on the player to make sure the official can see the rock released before the hog line[; it] is more restrictive than in Canada with that word 'clearly'.
  15. ^ Jones, Colleen; Lefko, Perry (2015). Throwing Rocks at Houses: My Life in and out of Curling. Penguin. p. 71. ISBN 978-0670068197.
  16. ^ Tim Baines (February 18, 2013). "A mellowed Colleen Jones back at Scotties". Toronto Sun. I used the words 'pissed off' because hogline people were in the gondola above the ice and I kept losing rocks to hogline violations
  17. ^ Sean Fitz-Gerald (February 20, 2013). "Watch your mouth: Scotties rules you might not know about". National Post. They were going to throw me out of the tournament. Fines weren't invented in '84.
  18. ^ Steve Green (February 5, 2013). "Volunteer officials keep a low profile". London Free Press. Officials burst onto the scene with notoriety at the 1986 Brier in Kitchener, where skip Lyle Muyres of Saskatchewan had several rocks pulled for hog-line violations that video later showed to be bad calls.
  19. ^ Bob Weeks (2008). Curling, Etcetera: A Whole Bunch of Stuff About the Roaring Game. Wiley. ISBN 978-0470156131. p. 192: instead of the necessary two hog line officials—one on either side of the sheet—there was only one.
  20. ^ Russ Howard, Bob Weeks (2007). Hurry Hard: The Russ Howard Story. Wiley. ISBN 978-0470839553. p. 71: At the 1986 Brier [...] forty-seven rocks were pulled from play
  21. ^ "Slammy Hammy calls out "spineless" Swiss at Euros". Calgary Herald. December 9, 2010. Ferbey had two rocks pulled for thoroughly bogus hog-line violations by a Swiss official (who was later seen swapping hand-shakes and hugs with Schwaller's team after the game).
  22. ^ "Sweden wins men's curling title; Ferbey loses bronze". CBC Sports. Apr 8, 2001. curled well enough to win against the host Swiss [...] but were thrown off by three hog-line violations, two of which were shown by replays to be unwarranted
  23. ^ Jones, Terry (Apr 3, 2015). "Randy Ferbey inducted into World Curling Hall of Fame". Toronto Sun. the loss of the semi-final to Switzerland at the Lausanne worlds in 2001 when he was called for a bogus hog line violation by a Swiss official
  24. ^ "Ferbey out to make amends at curling worlds". CBC Sports. Apr 5, 2002. we're trying to put our hand on the ice before the hog-line
  25. ^ Officer, Jill (April 8, 2011). "Regina Worlds: Cardboard Cheaters and More". The Curling News. Did you know that Neil Houston [...] was the mind behind the invention of the sensored hog-line handles?
  26. ^ "Eye on the Hog: History". The CCA was the first organization to purchase the system for use in their competitions
  27. ^ a b Kevin Mitchell (2003). "High on the hog" (PDF). The StarPhoenix. tested in top-flight competition for the first time at last weekend's Continental Cup, and it will be used at all CCA championships this season [...] CCA -- its first customer -- purchased 12 sheets worth [...] If a curler insists on wearing potentially problematic gloves at the Brier, the CCA will appoint an official to serve as his personal hog-line judge when he throws
  28. ^ Doug Maxwell (December 2002). "Coming soon, to a hog line near you, the Startco sensor" (PDF). Canadian Curling News. Paul Savage, Lyle Muyres, Colleen Jones, Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin [...] are just a few of the country's top shooters who say they've been jobbed by the eyeballs belonging to biased officials. [...] Sutherland Curling Club, just down the street from Startco, is the site of the work-in-progress
  29. ^ "2003 Continental Cup of Curling Media Guide". Canadian Curling Association. 2003. For the first time, there are no hogline officials being used for this event and for others this season which are sanctioned by [CCA]
  30. ^ "The Rules of Curling and Rules of Competition" (PDF) (2020 ed.). World Curling Federation. R10(e)(ii)(e): When a properly functioning electronic hog line device is being used, a glove or mitt must not be worn on the delivery hand during the delivery of a stone.
  31. ^ George Karrys (January 11, 2012). "Are 'tuck' sliders getting the red light?". Toronto Sun. opponents were watching them practice on site just before the start of the Canada Cup, and the lights on McEwen stones were flashing bright red
  32. ^ McCormick, Murray (5 Apr 2011). "Jeff Stoughton team sweeps to 5-0 mark". Calgary Herald. The game was unique in that the teams restarted the second end
  33. ^ "Ford World Men's Curling Championship 2011 Day 3 Evening". World Curling Federation. after discussions, the teams agreed to replay the second end when there was a malfunction of the sensor handle lights
  34. ^ "Replayed end a first at Ford World Men's". Curling Canada. 2011-04-04. was found to involve a defective battery
  35. ^ Officer, Jill (April 4, 2011). "Regina Worlds: Lighting It Up". The Curling News. it was not the first time this week there was a malfunctioning light on a rock
  36. ^ Paul Wiecek (April 5, 2011). "Thirty-rock end sends Swedish skip for a loop". Winnipeg Free Press. all the handles were checked prior to this event [...] there have been several malfunctioning handles, but nothing extraordinary
  37. ^ "Team USA eliminated from playoff contention at World Curling Championships". The Pioneer. 7 April 2011. a game ripe with sensor handle malfunctions early on that threw off the rhythm of the game and slowed it down
  38. ^ Donna Spencer (March 4, 2015). "Brier 2015: Northern Ontario out front, Team Canada switches skips". The Canadian Press. Alberta saw the sensor in the stone's handle had malfunctioned and told Rycroft to throw the stone again
  39. ^ "Chelsea Carey stays perfect at curling worlds/Electronic hog line sensor malfunction causes controversy". The Canadian Press. Mar 20, 2016. Instant replays show that she had released the handle before the line. Canada was allowed to re-throw [..] and red lights would be ignored for the rest of the game.
  40. ^ Austin, Daniel (March 21, 2016). "Angry Chelsea Carey rink still rockin' at the Worlds/Controversial hog line violation puts a damper on win over U.S." Calgary Herald. Replays showed the sensor was clearly wrong [...] but officials nonetheless removed the rock.
  41. ^ Cam Hutchinson (March 21, 2016). "Curlers seeing 'red' - Rock incident puts damper on Canuck win" (PDF). Eye Opener. Curling Canada. On the next end, with an official monitoring the hogline, Nixon's light turned red again. After much discussion, Nixon was allowed a redo.
  42. ^ Dave Komosky (March 22, 2016). "Red light, green light; technology still rocks (mostly)" (PDF). Eye Opener. Curling Canada. Curling Canada has 220 handles and upgrades 20 or more of them each year.
  43. ^ Phillips, Mitch (February 18, 2018). "Curling: Red light spells danger, and defeat, for Britain against Sweden". Reuters. Television replays appeared to show that Muirhead had let go in plenty of time and had not "double-touched" but the sport's rules do not allow for the use of replays
  44. ^ Ben Bloom (February 18, 2018). "Calls for curling to bring in video technology after controversial foul leads to Team GB defeat". Telegraph.co.uk. All sports are progressing and we probably have to start looking at video footage as well
  45. ^ "Winter Olympics 2018: Eve Muirhead 'gutted' after controversial curling decision sees Sweden beat Britain". The Independent. 18 February 2018. there's nothing we can do, we have to move on
  46. ^ PyeongChang 2018 Replays: CHN v USA (Round Robin) - Women's Curling. Olympic Channel. Event occurs at 1:52:00.
  47. ^ Donna Spencer (February 21, 2020). "Northern Ontario's Krista McCarville claims Scotties playoff berth". The Canadian Press. In a moment of sportsmanship, the Manitobans told Homan third Emma Miskew to re-throw a stone in the sixth end after her second hog-line violation of the game.
  48. ^ "Defending champion Einarson wins opener as bubble play begins at Scotties". The Canadian Press. February 19, 2021. electronic hog-line sensors [...] were not used [...] The honour system was in effect and officials can observe the hog line if requested
  49. ^ Ted Wyman (February 20, 2021). "ON THE ROCKS: Scotties game postponed as player falls ill, but COVID-19 not suspected". Toronto Sun. Curlers at the Scotties gave a collective shrug to the news that there are no electronic sensors in the rocks to monitor hog-line violations this year.
  50. ^ Gregory Strong (March 6, 2021). "Defending champion Gushue beats Epping in opening draw at Brier". The Canadian Press. Electronic hog-line sensors on the stone handles were not used for the second straight event due to equipment delays as a result of the pandemic. The honour system was in effect.
  51. ^ "Mad Curling Brier Geniuses". The Curling News. March 15, 2021. the sensor handles were missing (as they were for the women's Scotties) for the first time since 2004"
  52. ^ Donna Spencer (March 31, 2021). "Brendan Bottcher leads Canada at world curling championship in Calgary bubble". The Canadian Press. Rock handles will be equipped with hog-line sensors for the world championship. Canada's three domestic events operated without them.
  53. ^ Jonathan Brazeau (April 1, 2021). "Inside Curling: Why electronic rock handles are needed for top events". The lack of electronic rock handles in the Calgary bubble has caused a bit of a buzz in the curling world.
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