Ranggeln (Austrian Alpine Wrestling)
Alpine folk wrestling on grass. The grip is on linen trousers, there are no weight classes, and the winner takes the title of Hogmoar.
Quick Facts
AustriaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
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 Ranggeln (Austrian Alpine Wrestling)
About Ranggeln (Austrian Alpine Wrestling)
Ranggeln is the folk wrestling of the Alpine valleys, at home above all in Austrian Salzburg and Tyrol and in neighbouring Bavaria. It is contested on grass rather than on a mat, and the opponents wear short linen trousers called the Ranglerhose, which double as the grip: they are seized, and whoever lets go loses his hold. The aim is to put the opponent on both shoulder blades. Strikes, kicks and joint locks are not permitted, so what decides is leg strength, hip work and the ability to disturb the opponent's balance before he can settle. Bouts tend to be short, often a matter of tens of seconds. The best-known event is the Hundstoaranggeln, held in the Pinzgau directly on a mountain meadow below the summit of the Hundstein. It is not fought in a hall or a stadium; spectators stand around a marked circle on the slope and the wrestlers climb up to the place. The winner of the whole tournament receives the title Hogmoar, roughly the highest master, and keeps it until the following year. In its traditional form there are no weight classes, which is unusual for present-day combat sports: the tournament is a bracket producing a single overall winner. Mentions of wrestling festivals in this region reach back into the late Middle Ages, while today's organised shape with rules, associations and annual editions arose only in the twentieth century. Ranggeln is therefore a living custom rather than a sport in the modern sense.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.