Reviving Welsh Wrestling
An introduction and practical guide
If you’re reading this, then it’s likely that you arrived here through curiosity. We believe there could be a real opportunity for those who seek to revive or experience Brythonic culture. The following article is the result of some speculation, but also an invitation for connection, and a proposal to help.
1. The opportunity
Wales is the only Brythonic nation without a living traditional wrestling practice. Cornish Wrestling has been practised continuously since at least the Middle Ages. Breton gouren enjoys full institutional recognition in France. Devonshire Wrestling, extinct for over a century, has been comprehensively reconstructed by the Devonshire Wrestling Society (DWS) since 2014 and codified in the Westcountry Wrestling Textbook (DWS, 2024). Welsh wrestling — ymafael — attested in literary, documentary, and linguistic sources spanning from the Mabinogion to the mid-nineteenth century, yet no reconstruction has been attempted.
This absence is all the more striking given the international context. Jaouen and Nichols (2007), in Celtic Wrestling, the Jacket Styles — the authoritative comparative study of Cornu-Breton technique published under the auspices of FILA — explicitly framed Celtic jacket wrestling as a family of cognate traditions sharing common roots and common techniques, and called for the reintroduction of these arts wherever they once flourished. The TRADWOC project (Traditional Wrestling — Our Culture), an EU Erasmus+ initiative completed in 2018, demonstrated that traditional wrestling styles across Europe can be successfully safeguarded and transmitted when local actors are interconnected in transregional networks and organised within formal institutions (Jaouen & Petrov, 2018). Wales, with its robust cultural infrastructure, is exceptionally well placed to apply these lessons.
This article offers an introductory overview of the evidence and a practical starting framework for anyone considering such a project. It is deliberately cautious: it distinguishes between what the evidence establishes and what it merely suggests, and it proposes a methodology of honest reconstruction rather than romantic invention.
2. What we know
The Pedair Camp ar Hugain — the twenty-four accomplishments of a Welsh nobleman — lists ymafael (grappling) among the four tadogion gampau, the “principal feats,” alongside running, jumping, and swimming. These four were ranked highest because they required no equipment — only the body as born (Jenkins, 2007; Davies Mallwyd, 1632). The Welsh word gwron (warrior) is cognate with the Cornish and Breton word for wrestler, suggesting the categories were not sharply distinguished in the Brythonic world (Pan-Celtic Wrestling, n.d.).
The full Welsh designation — ymaflyd codwm cefn (“back-fall grappling”) — describes precisely the same objective as Cornish wrestling and Breton gouren: throwing an opponent cleanly onto their back from a standing position, using holds taken on the jacket only (Pan-Celtic Wrestling, n.d.). A rural form called purring, combining jacket throws with shin kicks, reportedly survived in Wales until the 1940s (Pan-Celtic Wrestling, n.d.).
No Welsh source describes specific techniques. The case for reconstruction therefore rests on comparative evidence from the cognate Brythonic traditions — principally Cornish wrestling, which the DWS textbook presents with both Kernewek and Brezhoneg terminology (DWS, 2024). Crucially, Jaouen himself — writing in a separate article on Cornish, Devon, and Breton wrestling — directly addressed the Welsh case. He noted that in Wales the clan society had elaborated precise rules of education for elite youth, including wrestling, and that the “Four and Twenty Accomplishments” had existed in this form since at least 1420, composed of five groups encompassing literary games, board games, wrestling and other prestigious physical feats, weapon exercises, and rural sports (Jaouen, 2014). Wrestling, he observed, held an honourable status within this system. This confirms that the art was not merely practised in Wales but was culturally esteemed and formally codified within the aristocratic curriculum — a stronger institutional position than wrestling occupied in either Devon or Cornwall during the same period.
Nevertheless, the absence of a Welsh technical manual remains an honest limitation. Any Welsh reconstruction would be a Brythonic reconstruction in Welsh cultural dress, not the recovery of a specifically documented Welsh technique corpus.
3. Table of techniques
The following table presents the core Cornu-Breton wrestling techniques with their attested Cornish (Kernewek) and Breton (Brezhoneg) names, alongside proposed Welsh (Cymraeg) equivalents. The Breton terminology is drawn from the technique chart published by Jaouen and Nichols (2007, pp. 118–119), which presents eighteen throws in five groups (crook, shoulder, hip and leg, foot, arm, and belt/waist), with correspondences between the Breton names used by the Fédération de Gouren and the Cornish names from the 1978 Art of Cornish Wrestling. The DWS textbook (2024) extends and refines this framework. The Welsh terms below are constructed from standard Welsh vocabulary for the relevant body parts and actions. They are proposals for discussion, not established historical terminology, and are marked with an asterisk (*) to indicate this status.
| English | Kernewek | Brezhoneg (Jaouen, 2007) | Cymraeg (proposed*) | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fore-hip | Klun war-rag | Taol korn reor | *Clun ymlaen | Hip | Lever opponent over the hip from the front |
| Pull over the hip | Klun war-rag a-denewen | Krog da zont | *Tynnu dros y glun | Hip | Arm over shoulder, pull across the hip |
| Cross-hip | Kros eap | Taol dreist diou araok | *Clun groes | Hip | Back-to-back hip throw |
| Fore-heave | Halyans war-rag | Vriad araok | *Codi ymlaen | Heave | Lift and throw forward |
| Back-heave | Halyans war-dhelergh | Vriad adrenv | *Codi yn ôl | Heave | Lift and throw rearward |
| Cross-heave | — | Vriad da c’hostez | *Codi groes | Heave | Lift and throw crossward |
| Teddy-bag heave | Halyans sagh tetis | — | *Codi sach | Heave | Lift over shoulder like a sack |
| Under-heave | Halyans a-dhann | Taol peron dre zindan | *Codi oddi tan | Heave | Duck under arm, lift from beneath |
| Fore-crook | Bagh war-rag | Kliked araok | *Bach ymlaen | Crook | Hook leg, rotate opponent forward |
| Back-crook | Bagh war-dhelergh | Kliked adrenv | *Bach yn ôl | Crook | Hook leg, topple opponent backward |
| The Toe | — | Taol biz troad | *Blaen troed | Trip | Kick or trip with the toe |
| The Back heel | Seudhel | Taol biz troad da c’hostez | *Sawdl yn ôl | Trip | Sweep behind the heel |
| Pull over heel | — | — | *Tynnu dros y sawdl | Trip | Pull opponent over a placed heel |
| The Knock-back | Knouk war-dhelergh | Barrage de côté | *Gwthiad yn ôl | Trip | Step behind, rotate over the thigh |
| Flying mare | Kasek neyja | Taol samm miliner | *Caseg wyllt | Throw | Grip jacket, flip opponent overhead |
| Back step | Kamm war-dhelergh | Krog da zont | *Cam yn ôl | Throw | Step between legs, hook and push back |
| Pull under | — | — | *Tynnu oddi tan | Throw | Counter by pulling opponent underneath |
| Arm-heave | — | Taol peg zao | *Codi braich | Throw | Lever opponent using the arm |
| Single sprag | Lestans unnik | — | *Atal unig | Defence | Hook one leg to prevent being lifted |
| Double sprag | Lestans dewblek | — | *Atal dwbl | Defence | Hook both legs to prevent being lifted |
| Back sprag | — | — | *Atal yn ôl | Defence | Push shoulders back while hooking |
Sources: Kernewek terminology from DWS (2024), pp. 122–253. Brezhoneg terminology from Jaouen & Nichols (2007), pp. 118–119, supplemented by DWS (2024). Cymraeg terms are proposed equivalents constructed from standard modern Welsh vocabulary; they are not historically attested and are offered for community discussion. Descriptions summarised from DWS (2024) and Jaouen & Nichols (2007).
4. Practical advice for a Welsh revival
The following recommendations draw upon the DWS’s decade of experience (2014–2024) and the lessons of the Cornish revival (1923–present).
Begin with wrestling, not weapons. The DWS curriculum begins with unarmed grappling on the principle that body control precedes weapon use (DWS, 2024). The Pedair Camp ar Hugain independently endorses this hierarchy (Jenkins, 2007). Start with the twenty techniques above before exploring staff or sword.
Train in the Cornish style first. The closest living cognate to whatever the Welsh practised is Cornish wrestling, which is itself virtually identical to Breton gouren (Tripp, 2009, vol. 1; Jaouen & Nichols, 2007). Jaouen’s technical manual explicitly states that the eighteen core throws it presents are common to both “brother styles” and can be performed with either the Breton or Cornish jacket (Jaouen & Nichols, 2007, p. 117). Contact the Cornish Wrestling Association (CWA) or the DWS for training. Learning from a living tradition is always preferable to learning from a book.
Be honest about the gap. The DWS draws a rigorous distinction between traditional material (transmitted through unbroken embodied lineage) and canonical material (reconstructed from historical documents). A Welsh project would be almost entirely canonical at the outset. Acknowledge this openly; it strengthens rather than weakens credibility (DWS, 2024).
Use Welsh, but mark what is new. Naming the techniques in Cymraeg is culturally important and follows the precedent set by the DWS’s use of Kernewek and the Breton federation’s use of Brezhoneg. However, the proposed Welsh terms in the table above are modern constructions, not historical survivals. They should be presented as proposals until vetted by Welsh-language scholars and the wrestling community.
Establish provenance criteria. The DWS requires that any canonical source must have a demonstrable connection to the south-west of England and must document a method known to have been practised in the region (DWS, 2024). A Welsh project should adopt equivalent criteria: the source should have a Welsh or pan-Brythonic connection, and the method should be consistent with the standing, jacket-based, throw-oriented character of the Brythonic wrestling family.
Build institutional structure early. The Cornish revival succeeded because the CCWA (1923) provided written rules, weight categories, a points system, and a governing body — all firsts for any Westcountry martial art (DWS, 2024). A Welsh project should establish a clear organisational identity, a constitution, safeguarding policies, and insurance before holding public sessions. The TRADWOC project’s conclusions are instructive here: the lack of governing bodies at regional level was identified as the principal obstacle to the development of traditional wrestling across south-east Europe, and the researchers concluded that being a member of a national Olympic wrestling federation was “not a determining key factor for the development of traditional wrestling” (Jaouen & Petrov, 2018, p. 56). A Welsh traditional wrestling body should therefore seek independence from, or at minimum a distinct identity within, the existing Welsh Wrestling Association (Cymdeithas Reslo Cymru), which currently governs only Olympic-style wrestling.
Treat wrestling as culture, not merely sport. The TRADWOC project’s central recommendation was that traditional wrestling should be understood and promoted not merely as sport but as culture and education — as intangible cultural heritage in the UNESCO sense (Jaouen & Petrov, 2018). The 2015 Verona Declaration, endorsed by representatives of multiple European traditional sports organisations, called for the introduction of traditional games and indigenous sports into school programmes (Jaouen & Petrov, 2018). A Welsh project should frame itself within this triple identity — sport, culture, education — and pursue recognition from heritage bodies (Cadw, the Arts Council of Wales, the National Library of Wales) alongside sporting organisations.
Connect to the Eisteddfod tradition. Iolo Morganwg envisaged the Pedair Camp ar Hugain as part of the Eisteddfod (Jenkins, 2007). A demonstration of Welsh wrestling at a local or national Eisteddfod would provide cultural legitimacy and public visibility that no amount of social media can replicate.
Contact the FILC. The Fédération Internationale des Luttes Celtiques, founded at Cardiff in 1985, provides an international framework for traditional Celtic wrestling (Tripp, 2009, vol. 1). Wales is not currently represented. A Welsh body practising a recognised Brythonic style would be eligible for membership, providing access to international competition and cross-cultural exchange. The FILC was formally recognised by FILA (now United World Wrestling) in 2006 (Jaouen & Nichols, 2007), giving its member styles a degree of international legitimacy that no purely local organisation can achieve.
Embrace the art as open-ended. Jaouen and Nichols (2007) make a point of considerable importance for any revival project: Cornu-Breton wrestling is “a very ancient art; it is complete, but it is not yet a completed art” (p. 11). New techniques can and will be developed by practitioners who master the core throws. A Welsh revival should therefore resist the temptation to treat the reconstructed curriculum as a museum piece. The art must be practised, tested, and allowed to evolve — just as it did in Cornwall and Brittany — while remaining faithful to its core identity as a standing, jacket-based, throw-oriented combat art.
Publish openly. The DWS released its textbook reasoning that generosity of access drives growth: sixty-two per cent of their enquiries came from outside Devon, and twenty per cent from outside the UK (DWS, 2024). A Welsh project should follow this model.
5. A closing caution
This article does not claim that the techniques listed above are historically Welsh. They are historically Brythonic — attested in Cornish and Breton practice, consistent with what we know of the pan-Brythonic wrestling family, and plausibly representative of what was practised in Wales before the art’s extinction. The proposed Welsh terminology is a starting point for community discussion, not a declaration of recovered fact.
The case for reviving Welsh wrestling rests not on certainty but on probability and on cultural justice. If the evidence is sufficient for Devon — where the art was equally extinct — then it is at least as sufficient for Wales, which possesses a deeper literary tradition, a more vital language, and stronger institutional infrastructure. What is needed is not more evidence but more practitioners.
The Four and Twenty Accomplishments’ (Y pedwar camp ar hugain):
“Domestic and literary games…
1- Barddoniaeth, or bardism, including the philosophy and knowledge in general
2- Canu Telyn, or playing on the harp.
3- Darllain Cymraeg, or reading Welsh.
4- Canu cywydd gan dant, or singing a poem with the harp or violin
7- Herodraeth, or the art of conducting an Embassy.
To which may be added four inferior games.
8- Chwarau gwyddbuyli, or playing at chess.
Those regarded as the most reputable were exercises of activities.
12- Cryvder dan bwysau, or displaying strength in hurling a stone, or throwing a bar.
13- Rhedeg, or running.
15- noviad, or swimming.
16- Ymavael, or wrestling.
In addition to these were exercises of weapons.
18- Saettili, or archery.
20- Chwarau cleddyv Lenddwm, or fencing with a sword and buckler.And rural sports
22- Hela a milgri, or hunting with a greyhound.
24- Hela aderyn, or falconery.
References
Davies Mallwyd, J. (1632). Dictionarium Duplex. London.
Devonshire Wrestling Society. (2024). Westcountry Wrestling: A Comprehensive Guide. The Devonshire Wrestling Society.
Jaouen, G., & Nichols, M. B. (2007). Celtic wrestling, the jacket styles: History of an old sport and techniques of Cornu-Breton wrestling, winners 1928–2006. Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées.
Jaouen G. Transforming cornish and devon wrestling (britain) and gouren (brittany – france) through sportification. International Journal of the History of Sport. 2014;31(4):474-491. https://bl.idm.oclc.org/scholarly-journals/transforming-cornish-devon-wrestling-britain/docview/1641838806/se-2?accountid=26490. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2013.869219.
Jaouen, G., & Petrov, P. (2018). Traditional wrestling — Our culture (TRADWOC). Associazione Giochi Antichi.
Jenkins, B. (2007). The twenty-four measures of a man: Iolo Morganwg’s fighting fit! Linacre School of Defence.
Pan-Celtic Wrestling. (n.d.). A historical overview. Retrieved from https://www.scribd.com/document/127285873/PanCeltic-Wrestling
Porter, J. H. (1989). The decline of Devonshire wrestling. Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 121, 199–208.
Tripp, M. (2009). Persistence of Difference: The history of Cornish wrestling (Vols. 1–2). Doctoral thesis. University of Exeter.