Athletic exercises – Charles Vancouver (1813)
The athletic exercise to which these people are mostly addicted is that of wrestling. This is pursued with great fervour and emulation by the young farmers and peasantry in the country It is common on these occasions for a purse of six eight or ten guineas to be made by gentlemen fond of promoting this play and a day is appointed for its being wrestled for generally near some large village or market town. The lists are prepared by a ring formed with stakes and a single rope from fifteen to twenty yards in diameter and in which it will appear that the winner of the purse must toss or throw down five of his adversaries. There seems to be no regulation with regard to the hold they take of each other. The collar arm or any part above the waistband that most conveniently presents to the combatants during the contest which sometimes continues from ten to fifteen minutes and in which is displayed much activity strength and adroitness whilst the shins of the party are often found streaming with blood from the sharp and violent blows they receive from each other but which on no account are ever permitted to be given above the knee.
The usual form is to shake hands before and after the contest and it rarely happens that the play is followed with boxing or that any grudge or ill will is continued from the conquered to those that may have thrown them. The play generally begins between two and three o’clock in the afternoon and so well matched are the combatants that the victor is frequently not declared till after midnight in which case the ring is properly lighted and the same precautions are continued during the whole time to secure fair and prevent foul play. The moor men are celebrated for their hardiness in bearing excessive kicking upon their shins. The ill effects which might be expected to result from such violence is very soon carried off by their excellent habit of body and the peculiar temperament of their constitutions. In the outset of the play every man who becomes a standard for the purse must first throw two men on their back belly or side eight of these standards must be made from the primary competitors for the single play and when the standards are thus made they each receive a crown. These eight playing four of them must fall the other four then engage two of whom must fall when the still standing two enter to decide the purse and the second best man or he who is last thrown usually receives about one in five upon its amount. Three tryers or conductors of the lists are appointed who decide all disputes immediately and without appeal.
By Charles Vancouver, GENERAL VIEW OF THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF DEVON WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE MEANS OF ITS IMPROVEMENT DRAWN UP FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT BY CHARLES VANCOUVER FRUCTU NON FOLIIS ARBOREM ESTIMA, 1813, pp.470.