Hryggspenna Glima
Old Icelandic strength wrestling in a clinch around the torso, in which opponents try to break each other backward. In 2024 the Iceland Open Hryggspenna tournament was held.
Quick Facts
IcelandCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
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About Hryggspenna Glima
Hryggspenna is an old Icelandic wrestling style, whose name the 1874 dictionary of Cleasby and Vigfússon explains as a wrestling term for an arm clasp around the opponent's back. The expatriate paper Lögberg wrote in 1917 that hryggspenna was apparently practised in ancient times among all the Nordic nations and is very simple and undoubtedly ancient. According to Þorsteinn Einarsson, the Jónsbók law code, adopted at the Alþingi in 1281, classed it together with glíma, lausatök and axlatök under leikfang. According to The Icelandic Canadian of 1947, the wrestlers embraced each other with their arms, the right arm under the opponent's left arm and the left over his right, and clasped their hands on the back. Each then tried to bend the opponent backward until forcing him to the ground. Þorsteinn Einarsson describes a firm grip around the torso at the waist, without techniques, only with strength to break the opponent backward. Lögberg adds that strength decides, but techniques were always used in hryggspenna to some extent. The annual report of Glímusamband Íslands lists the Iceland Open Hryggspenna tournament on 27 October 2024 in Vogar. The relation to the British backhold is disputed. Morgunblaðið wrote in 2012 that backhold is at its base hryggspenna, whereas Þorsteinn Einarsson in 1987 classed the Scottish backhold with axlatök with a grip over the shoulders.
History
The 1874 Cleasby and Vigfússon dictionary lists hrygg-spenna as a wrestling term for clasping the arms around each other's backs. The Icelandic expatriate paper Lögberg of Winnipeg wrote in 1917 that hryggspenna was apparently practised in antiquity by all the Nordic peoples, is very simple and is undoubtedly ancient. According to the same paper, grips around the waist appear in all kinds of wrestling based mainly on strength. The Icelandic Canadian reported in 1947 that the first settlers brought two kinds of wrestling to Iceland, hryggspenna and lausatök. According to Þorsteinn Einarsson, the Jónsbók law code, adopted at the Alþingi in 1281, classed hryggspenna together with glíma, lausatök and axlatök under leikfang. A 1992 list of the kinds of leikfang from the free-state era gives hryggspenna as a test of strength without holds, in which the opponent is broken backwards. A reviewer in the journal Skírnir wrote in 1918 that wrestling long began as lausatök and passed into hryggspenna or something between the two, that is, into glíma or something of the kind. The old glíma rules, which the journal of the Icelandic Literary Society cited in 1900, stated that hryggspenna does not count in glíma.
How it differs
The glíma rules Glímulög prescribe a firm grip on the belt and thigh strap, and according to them a fall is a touch with the thigh, buttocks, trunk, shoulder, head or upper arm, while supporting oneself on hand and knee is allowed. Þorsteinn Einarsson distinguishes hryggspenna from axlatök in that in axlatök the hold ran around the trunk high up over the shoulder blades and the throws were made with the legs and hips, whereas in hryggspenna the hold was at the waist without throws. The relationship to British wrestling is disputed. In 1917 Lögberg wrote that hryggspenna persists as a separate sport among the English too, under the name Cumberland-wrestling. In 2012 Morgunblaðið described backhold as basically hryggspenna and in 2014 Víkurfréttir as very similar. Þorsteinn Einarsson, however, in 1987 classed Scottish backhold with axlatök with a high grip over the shoulders, and in 2005 Bændablaðið described backhold as wrestling gripping the shoulders and back instead of the belt.
Technique
According to The Icelandic Canadian in 1947, each wrestler put his arms around his opponent, the right under the opponent's left arm and the left above his right, and clasped his hands at the back. Each then tried to bend the other's body backwards until he forced him to the ground. Þorsteinn Einarsson wrote in 1987 that the grips were tight around the trunk at the waist, no holds were used and only strength counted, which breaks the opponent backwards. Charles Nathan Hatton describes a bear-hug stance and writes that, given the almost complete absence of technique, hryggspenna favoured men of brute strength and size. Lögberg stated in 1917 that strength decides and skill helps a little if holds are used, which to some extent have always been used. According to the same paper, the winner usually falls on the loser. In 1991 Þorsteinn Einarsson described a variant with glíma holds in which whoever touches the surface with any body part other than the feet loses. Anyone who has wrestled an eager opponent knows, he says, how hard it is to release the grip on the opponent's back and get the left arm under his right.
Training
In the magazine Skinfaxi in 1991, Þorsteinn Einarsson described hryggspenna as a game. Trainees stand in pairs facing each other, grip each other around the trunk with the hold up at the shoulder blades, step with the glíma step stígandi and bend one another backwards without throws, if agreed beforehand. When one lets go of the hold, the bout stops.
Competition
According to the Glímusamband Íslands annual report, the Iceland Open Hryggspenna tournament was held on Sunday 27 October 2024 in Vogar, a day after the Iceland Open in glíma. Among others, the report lists the categories junior women over 70 kg, junior men up to 74 and over 74 kg, women over 75 kg and men up to 84 kg, and a head referee with two assistants ran the bouts. In 2007 Austurglugginn and Skinfaxi printed hryggspenna results with competitors from Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Today
In the 2024 calendar of Glímusamband Íslands, one of eight tournaments is in hryggspenna and the others in glíma. According to the same report, the federation sent seven competitors in February 2024 to a backhold tournament in Pontivy, Brittany, where over 200 competitors from six countries competed. In 1995 Morgunblaðið announced demonstrations of old fangbrögð, including hryggspenna, for residents and foreign tourists.
Did you know
According to the federation, the Icelandic glíma wrestler of the year 2024 was Hákon Gunnarsson, who won the junior, weight and open men's categories at the Iceland Open in hryggspenna. The programme of the Viking festival in Hafnarfjörður in 1997 listed a competition of glíma wrestlers in hryggspenna. A speaker cited by the magazine Skinfaxi in 1926 said that buxnatök, hryggspenna and axlatök are known also in some regions of Norway.
Frequently asked questions
What does hryggspenna mean?
The 1874 Cleasby and Vigfússon dictionary explains it as a wrestling term for clasping the arms around the opponent's back.
How is a hryggspenna won?
Older descriptions say that the wrestler tries to bend the opponent backwards until forcing him to the ground. In the variant with glíma holds, according to Þorsteinn Einarsson, whoever touches the surface with any part of the body other than the feet loses.
Is hryggspenna the same as backhold?
The sources disagree. Morgunblaðið in 2012 called backhold essentially hryggspenna, whereas Þorsteinn Einarsson in 1987 classed it with axlatök, with a grip over the shoulders.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.