Cornish Wrestling
Cornish national wrestling in jackets where only the cloth is gripped. A back wins, a fall on three or four points of the back, and there is no ground fighting.
Quick Facts
United KingdomCharacter & Origin
Training
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Cornish Wrestling
About Cornish Wrestling
Cornish wrestling is a folk wrestling style of England's westernmost county, which Cornwall regards as its national sport. Wrestlers wear loose, sturdy jackets and may grip only those. Holds on the body, wrists or fingers and holds below the waist are not allowed by the rules. Everything takes place standing and there is no ground fighting. A so-called back wins at once, a fall in which three or all four points of the back touch the ground simultaneously: both shoulders and both hips. A weaker fall is counted in points, and if no back falls, their sum decides. After each fall one hitch ends, the wrestlers shake hands and start again. Footwork, trips and timing therefore matter more than brute strength. The bouts are judged by referees traditionally called sticklers, and their majority decides on a back. Before the match the wrestlers take an oath, the gist of which is that good play is fair play. The contests are governed by the Cornish Wrestling Association. Seniors are divided into five weight categories, and newcomers stay in the beginners' category until they earn sixteen points in a season. Folk tradition gives neither a founder nor a year of origin.
History
According to an article by Roberts on the EJMAS website, the Cornish had been meeting their Breton neighbors since 1402. The poet Michael Drayton wrote in 1627 that the Cornish carried a banner with two wrestlers at Agincourt. But it is a verse composed two centuries after the battle, not contemporary evidence. An organized association arose in the nineteen-twenties as the Cornwall County Wrestling Association. Wikipedia gives September 1923, while a study by the historian Mike Tripp describes it in May 1925 as newly founded. It later took the name Cornish Wrestling Association, which it bears to this day. From 1928 Cornish teams met the Bretons in inter-Celtic tournaments, four times in Brittany and three times in Cornwall. According to Wikipedia, miners and emigrants carried wrestling in the nineteenth century to the gold-mining districts of Australian Bendigo and to Grass Valley in California.
How it differs
The closest relative is Devon wrestling. Under the rules of Devonshire Wrestling, which derive from the original rules of the Cornish association, kicking is allowed in it if the kick is measured, purposeful and aimed below the knee. Cornish rules punish kicking outside the wrestling context as a foul. Breton gouren requires the wrestler to guide his opponent in the fall and thus protect him from injury. According to the historian Mike Tripp, Cornish rules have no such obligation. From Cumberland wrestling the Cornish style differs mainly by the jacket: in Cumbria the wrestlers hold each other around the body.
Technique
A hitch begins with a handshake and a jacket grip, according to Roberts usually on the left shoulder and under the opponent's right arm. Only the jacket may be gripped. Choking with crossed collars and pressure on the throat are fouls by association rules, as is using the legs above the opponent's knee. A back arises when three or four of the four points of the back land at once, both shoulders and both hips. A majority of the referees decides on it and it means immediate victory. One point landing gives one point, two points landing give two points. All holds are performed standing, and when a wrestler falls, the hitch ends and a handshake starts a new one.
Training
Senior competitions are divided into five weights: featherweight, lightweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and unlimited heavyweight. Limits are in British stones, from ten stones and five pounds for featherweight to thirteen stones for light heavyweight. Youth compete up to ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen and eighteen years of age, and may enter the senior championship from sixteen. Newcomers have a beginners' category. A wrestler stays in it until he earns sixteen points in a season. Judo players with a brown belt or higher may not enter it.
Ranks and progression
Association rules measure progress by season points. For first to fourth place at a tournament, six, five, four and three points are counted, and other participants get one point. Sixteen points in a season end the beginners' category. Experienced wrestlers may move on to refereeing. Sticklers must be registered with the association and nobody may referee a category in which he competes.
Today
The Cornish Wrestling Association published the first edition of its rules at its general meeting in 1994. Every January it registers with the British Wrestling Association, but wrestles under its own rules, because the style is recognized as unique. A senior bout in the preliminary round lasts ten minutes, a final is two rounds of ten minutes, and children up to ten years wrestle for three minutes.
Did you know
Wikipedia admits that the English word stickler, that is a pedant, is connected with Cornish referees. But an etymological dictionary documents it from the fifteen-thirties in the general sense of an arbiter of a dispute and does not link it with wrestling. On October 23, 1826 the Cornishman James Polkinghorne and the man from Devon Abram Cann met near Devonport before about ten thousand spectators, and the match ended in a draw. The Cornish wrestler Francis St Clair Gregory turned professional, and his bout of November 1955 was part of the first live-broadcast British wrestling program.
Frequently asked questions
What is a back in Cornish wrestling?
A back is a fall in which three or all four points of the back touch the ground at once, that is the shoulders and hips. It means immediate victory. Weaker falls are counted in points.
May one fight on the ground in Cornish wrestling?
No. All holds are performed standing, and after each fall the wrestlers get up, shake hands and start a new hitch.
Who governs Cornish wrestling?
The competitions are governed by the Cornish Wrestling Association. It adopted the first edition of its own rules in 1994 and registers with the British Wrestling Association every year.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.