WHERE ARE ENGLAND'S WRESTLER'S

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 160, 12 July 1906, Page 4

WHERE ARE ENGLAND'S WRESTLER'S

A NORTH COUNTHr MAN WHO WON 240 BtfT/LS.

When ono sees a Russian champion and a Turk competing in JUnghsit soil for the wrestling champion.smp ol vie world isnv-s Tit-3;iits). '-no cannot help woi dering what has boconie oi the prowoas ol our athletes of Devon ami Coruwail, of Cumberland and. )Ackmorland, that they do not throw dm» n tho gauntlet and prove tbat tiea muscles are as strong and their skill as "reat as in the days when the Lritish\vrestler was tho recognised champion of tho world. But because England seems to bo tor th"- moment eclipsed in this essentially British snort we must not ra.siny conclude that her v/rcstling days are over. If such a statement were made, twice ten thousand Britons from Cornwall to the Lakes would challenge it with. on'>- voice ,and bo quite ready to make their challenge good by doughty deeds on the ccreen. In Cumberland and \V>;troorUuid the love of wrestling rims in the blond; it is inherited from countless generations of ancestors, ana you will scarcely find a village lad m cither county -,vho needs a second invitation to "throw down his cap and 't^l-e hod," or who would not scoft at the delights of cricket or football wacu compared with the supremo bliss or " .'n-ssriinf" aivowponcnt. As long ago as Edward Vl.'s time Westmorland sent her champion, Herd, to wrestle before the King, and so delighted was His Majesty with tho riant's strength and agility that he rewarded him with a house ana lands in his native county. And from that day down to our own time there has been no generation which hrts not produced out- or.more worthy successors of the historic Herd. The palmiest days for North-Conna-y wrest-line, however, were in the eighteenth and in the first half of the nineteenth century. Each county had its great meeting-T)lace, where the doughtiest wrestlers struggled for supremacy —Stone Cars, near Greystroko, Langwathby, Mclnierby, the Swifts at Carlisle, Egremont, Arcledon, and many another centre, where thousands gathered from every remote corner to applaud their favourites. And on the Sunday following hirs victory the champion went to church in state proudly wearing his challengebelt, and on the next Sunday displayed his decoration at the neighbouring church by way of challenge. And what famous wrestlers there were in those days ! William Richardson \o'i Caldbeck* who won no fewer than 240_balts in his long and brillknit career: Longmiro, who wan his 175 th belt with Charles Dickons among thn spectators of his prowess ; Dodd and Faweett, Miles and Rowland, McLanghlin and Walksr, and many others whcf.s names and deeds are held in higher esteem in the dales of Westmorland and Cumberland than those of our greatest statesmen and soldiers. In scores of remote fell-side farms you niay f:c-o still some of these treasured belts, with a framed record of the achievements oi: their winners in longgone days. In those times athletes wrestled for tha sheer love of the sport and the prido ot1 winning, and not, ay to-day, for costly belts" and purses of gold. Tho prize was not, as in the old Olympic games, a .single garland of leaves of the wild olive. It was a simple leather bolt, the value of which was at most a- few shillings, while for tho loapers it was a pair of gloves and for the foot-racers a handkerchief. It was Christian Wilson, of Elleray, who first introduced money prizes, when he got up a ring at Amblesido, and to-day £120 is the sum set apart for the great annual contest at Grasmere, which is now the Olympia of wrestlers in the North: nor, as an authority says, can we consider £15 and a belt too large a reward for tho actual exertion involved in six or eight hard bouts for the championship. In England, it may be interesting to note, "there aro at least throe distinct styles of wrestling in favour. In Cumberland and Westmorland tho men crasp each, other round tho body and do not relax their grip until one or the other touches the ground with any part of the body, except, of course, his feet. In Lancashire the competitors catch hold w-lwo they can, and the struggle continues until both shoulders of the boate» man tench the ground ; while the Cornwall and Devon system is for tho two men to lay hold above the waist or by any portion Gf the jacket (the wro'stlers wear strong, loose iinen jackets), and the bout ends when cue competitor is thrown flat on his back and his two shoulders and hip, 0!- two hips and one shoulder, are in contact with the ground.