Cassell’s Book of Sports and Pastimes (1890)

WRESTLING.

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IT is very difficult to give directions for wrestling in intelligible language. If you had hold of me, I could say, “Now put your foot so, and turn your hip so—that’s it;” and how a sudden heave like this,” and so forth. But so in attempting the task on pencil, or by word of mouth, it is different. The only consolation to offer some of the “chips,” as they commence wrestling you will find the tricks and the meaning of them, and so others will become clear to you. How wrestling fares I know not, but it does you no harm to commence unscientifically; in fencing, on the contrary, two beginners may wrestle together and learn something by practice, and whereas experience, and I am find when they get found learn something that, will be the more able to turn him to account for their previous rough-and-ready attempts.

Well, at any rate, I can tell you how to be hold and start wrestling, fairly, premising that we follow the Cumberland and Westmoreland rules. The ignoring Cumberland and French wrestling altogether, as too rough for encouragement in any way.

On taking hold, then, the wrestlers stand chest to chest, each placing his chin on his opponent’s right shoulder and grasping him round the body. When both have got hold, and are ready, they commence, and are allowed to use every means to throw each other, with the exception of kicking.

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To strike an opponent’s leg with your own leg, so as to knock it from under him and make him lose his balance, is not kicking, and is perfectly fair.

If either party break his hold—that is, leaves loose, though not on the ground—and the other still retain his hold, the one so leaving loose is the loser: the one so strives against him as he fall side by side, or in any such way that the umpires cannot decide which was first on the ground, or the ground, it is called a “dog-fall,” and must be wrestled over again.

But if it both fall, and one touches the ground first, or falls under the other, he is the loser.

If either get any combatant touches the ground with a knee, or any other part of his body, he is not allowed to recover himself, but is considered thrown, though he may still retain his hold.

These rules are few and simple; now can you get an advantage?

Well, in the first place, in taking hold, your right arm is under your opponent’s left; it is obvious, then, that the farther you can force your right shoulder beneath his armpit the greater purchase you will have to keep your left arm well under your pressed inwards, to prevent his getting his right shoulder too far you must keep your right shoulder beneath yours, and at the same time, you must the same time you won’t hold” does not satisfy you, wait on the defensive, and try to make it a better one turning the struggle.

The Back-heel consists in putting your foot behind your opponent’s heel, and endeavouring to bend him over it. One great advantage of this chip is that it renders your own position so very firm. When the back-heel is put in on you, the way to meet it is to suddenly slacken your hold (don’t let go, mind), that cannot be done without losing), and try to shoot your own foot for a block.

The Buttock is done by turning as far as possible, so as to get under your adversary, and so to shoot him over you. It is not easy to do, but is very effective when neatly managed. If you get him right, over your shoulder he is bound to shoot.

The Hank is a chip which any beginner might practise, without knowing what it was called. You simply turn sideways, twist your leg round that of your opponent, and endeavour by sheer strength and strength to pull him backwards and tumble on him. When the hank is tried on you lean forward, and strengthen your hold.

The Cross-buttock comes in when your adversary has succeeded in getting behind you. It is done by crossing both his legs with one of your own at exactly the right moment.

The Outside Stroke.—Lift your adversary and twist him round, striking his leg from under him with one of yours. Or, if you cannot lift him, you kick him not kicking, mind; the leg is struck with the leg.

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What is called the Click consists of pulling your opponent towards you, to make him resist you and drag back, and then unexpectedly darting forward and simultaneously clicking his left leg with your right (or his right leg with your left), and if he is pressing backwards at the moment, send it is prevented by your click from stepping back to regain his balance, down he must come. If you click your opponent’s right leg with your right leg (or his left with your left), it is called a “cross-click.” If you are much stronger than your adversary you may throw him by grasping him firmly and swinging him from side to side till you have him over. This is the Twist from the Chest.

We now come to the Hipe, which is the high art of wrestling. Make your adversary go round to your left, at the same time getting your right shoulder as far as you can under his left; then lift him up with all your strength; catch his left leg with your right leg, and drag it up. If all this is done simultaneously and cleverly, down he must come on his back. Or you may make him go round to the right and hipe him with the left leg, but your left arm being under his right you cannot lift him so high. However, if you fail you are then left in position for the buttock, as when he says himself; his left foot will touch the ground first, and you have the chance of crossing it with your left leg.

Another chip is to get your left leg round your adversary’s right and raise it; then suddenly release it and cross the left leg, on which alone it has been standing, before he is firm upon the other. This is the Hitch Over.

To sum up, the first thing is to get your hold right, with hands clasped behind your opponent’s back, not to be unclasped till the struggle is over. Then you endeavour to get him down by swinging him sideways, shooting him forwards, or pressing him backwards; these efforts being combined with varieties of tripping difficult to explain on paper. If I have done so with any clearness, it is only fair to acknowledge the assistance received from a few short paragraphs in Mr Walter Armstrong’s admirable little work recording the wrestling-matches of a London society, and entitled “Wrestliana.” Its descriptions of the principal chips were so much more lucid than those in more elaborate treatises on the art that I took note of them, with practical advantages which I hope that you will share.

In the Cumberland and Westmoreland wrestling it is customary to take off the shoes, and compete in stockings, by which means kicking becomes impossible. I have said that this style of wrestling is the only one we need take much note of; but it is only fair to confess that there are other people who think differently, and Cornish men may boast that their style is the true old English one without some show of reason. For in it the competitors wear a short strong jacket, and the object of taking hold is to seize the jacket with one hand as far as possible behind the shoulder, and with the other grasp the sleeve of the opposite arm about the wrist or elbow. And in the old accounts of the exercise we find that the hold was by the collar and waistband in ordinary wrestling, and when the competitors were stripped for the prize contests, in which no garments were worn above the waist, each had a girdle over one shoulder and under the other for his opponent to take hold of. And except in the Northern counties of England this was the accepted style of wrestling; and the great matches between London and Westminster, and those held at Bartholomew’s Fair, were competed for in this manner. Indeed, the objection to Cornish wrestling lies, not in the hold, but in the practice of kicking.