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Wrestling in Commonwealth boys' schools  [message #72340] Thu, 22 December 2016 20:14 Go to next message
affies oupa is currently offline  affies oupa

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First, a heartfelt wish that everyone's holiday season is safe, healthy and happy.

During their end-of-term conversations and emails with me I asked my four grand-nephews in Pretoria why wrestling wasn't offered as a sport in South African high schools. None of them knew why, but the general opinion was that wrestling, at least "American" high school wrestling just never caught on. Not only in South Africa but in any British Commonwealth country.

It's odd that wrestling is so popular in the United States, and virtually unknown in the former British colonial empire.

Any thoughts on this?



Affies oupa

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Re: Wrestling in Commonwealth boys' schools  [message #72341 is a reply to message #72340] Thu, 22 December 2016 20:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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The answer is that the British sport is beating the shit out of each other wearing big leather gloves. It pervades the British Army, pervaded British schools, and fucking hurts. I know, I had to do it.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Wrestling in Commonwealth boys' schools  [message #72342 is a reply to message #72340] Thu, 22 December 2016 22:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Pedro

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I have no proof but it wouldn't surprise me if there was a class element or similar as to why it did not spread with the empire.
I think wresting as a sport is historically associated with the remoter corners of England : Cumberland in particular and maybe Cornwall. The nobs probably thought it quaint and old fashioned with grown men groping, sorry grappling, each other. Too much close contact. For that sort of thing there is the noble(?) sport of Rugby Football, which is a team game and therefore 'character building'!
Wrestling was probably too similar to indigenous/native games as well. The locals were probably better at it too.

[Updated on: Thu, 22 December 2016 22:48]




Pedro
Re: Wrestling in Commonwealth boys' schools  [message #72343 is a reply to message #72341] Thu, 22 December 2016 23:15 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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Quote:
timmy wrote on Thu, 22 December 2016 20:53The answer is that the British sport is beating the shit out of each other wearing big leather gloves. It pervades the British Army, pervaded British schools, and fucking hurts. I know, I had to do it.

--
I suppose I ought to have added that the British Army conquered the Empire (not entirely true, the British East India Company was subcontracted to grab India, the United Africa Company to grab Nigeria, etc), and the very British officers liked nothing more than to "Give the fuzzy-wuzzies a damned good thrashing" which involved teaching everyone boxing.

The strange thing is that boxing is also the sport of the "common people", a paradox.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Wrestling in Commonwealth boys' schools  [message #72368 is a reply to message #72340] Tue, 27 December 2016 14:54 Go to previous messageGo to next message
affies oupa is currently offline  affies oupa

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From a very cursory glance through the web, and confirmed by Hendrik, Maartijn, Pieter and Willem (the nephews), boxing doesn't seem to be any more popular or widespread in South African schools than is wrestling. Both sports seem to be confined to private clubs or gymnasiums. Conversely, field hockey is a sport enjoyed by both boys and girls in the Commonwealth, yet in the United States it is almost solely a women's sport.

I was also interested in the nephews' comments about mountain biking, or bergfietsry in Afrikaans, as a growing and popular sport in their country and in the Commonwealth. Here in the United States mountain biking as a high school sport developed in California and is slowly spreading.



Affies oupa

Good boys go to heaven... bad boys go everywhere.
Re: Wrestling in Commonwealth boys' schools  [message #72369 is a reply to message #72368] Tue, 27 December 2016 17:56 Go to previous message
timmy

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I think you need to look more at the time the British Empire conquered the lands in order to see which combat sports arrived. They will have changed markedly over the period since then.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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