Catch-as-Catch-Can (E. Lancashire, England)

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This article is dedicated to my dear friend “The Lancashire Lad” Mr. Ron Harrison of Manchester who is known to many British wrestling fans as wrestling researcher Ron “Historyo.” Ron inspired me, believed in me, encouraged, supported and helped me in my studies of the history of Lancashire catch wrestling. It was him Ron “Historyo” who suggested me writing “The Story of Catch” after I shared with him the results of my studies and my ideas regarding the birth and evolution of Lancashire wrestling.

Lancashire wrestling (Catch-as-catch-can) was a folk amateur and professional freestyle wrestling culturally unique to the residents of East Lancashire, England. In the early 1850s in England outside East Lancashire this style of wrestling was known as the Manchester or Lancashire wrossle.

Historically, it was practiced on the territory which now includes Greater Manchester, as well as Blackburn, Burnley, Pendle, Rossendale and etc. Traditionally, those areas were known as Salford (South) and Blackburn (North) Hundreds of Lancashire County.

Greater Manchester, the Hotbed of Catc-As-Catch-Can Wrestling

This wrestling style was also popular among the residents of the places bordering with those areas namely Stockport, Stalybridge, Dukinfield, Hyde of Cheshire, Glossop, Marple Bridge, Woodhead of Derbyshire, and Saddleworth, Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford, Batley, Dewsbury of West Riding, Yorkshire. The major Lancashire Catch-as-Catch-Can centers/towns listed from west to east were Wigan, Bolton, Bury, Middleton, Rochdale, Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne.

"Bite him well old Lancashire
Beat and thump his ribs as if thoudst got a kettle drum
Keep him down old Derbyshire
And shake his headpiece till he turns dizzy"

Drawing: "Up and Down Fight. Old Lancashire v Old Derbyshire", 18th Century

Traditionally, Lancashire folk wrestling amateur competitions (wrestling for love) were held during the local folk and religious festivals, such as Wakes week (Rushbearings), May Day, Easter, Whit Monday, Shrove Tuesday, even weekly markets on Sundays and etc.Since time immemorial the challenge matches were usually played out of curiosity “who is the better man” or for a quarter or a half gallon of beer in the muddy enclosure at the back-yards of local pubs or in the nearby field on the green turf. The earliest known semi-amateur (pros were allowed to participate) single-elimination tourneys (such as the 1840s annual tournament at Old Cock Inn, Middleton, Lancs) were wrestled for the “trophy pig” or a silver watch.

"There were also wrestling matches, and Dockham (NOTE: Adam Ridings of Bury, Lancs) and many other powerful men took part in them. The object of the wrestler was to place his antagonist on his back, and in this style of contest no throw was counted unless both shoulders of the fallen man fairly touched the ground. Any kind of rough usage was permissible. The wrestlers were of sturdy build, below rather than above the middle height, with powerful limbs, massive neck, and bullet-headed."--- Rochdale and the Vale of Whitworth. (1897). By Wm Robertson.

Professionalism in Lancashire catch wrestling was introduced in the 1820s and since then this style of wrestling was often referred to as a Catch-as-catch-can after the Lancashire fashion. The majority of professionals were recruited from the local colliers, and the most skilled of them were called the “black diamonds.” The wrestling matches between the champions of Lancashire towns of Bolton and Oldham were the earliest known Lancashire Catch Wrestling Derby. The first major Lancashire catch pro wrestling title was the Nudger Sports Championships at Rochdale, Lancs in the 1840s. It was open to all Lancashire men catch weight single-elimination tournament. The first written rule set of Lancashire catch wrestling was issued in 1856 by the proprietor of Snipe Inn Grounds (Audenshaw, Lancs) Mr. Nelson Warren, aka the Snipe Inn Rules.

In the late 19th century the epicenter of catch pro wrestling moved to Wigan, Lancs. This town which gave birth to so many generations of top-notch catch wrestlers maintained its superiority in the 20th century as well and is known among the fans and practitioners of catch wrestling as the “Mecca of Catch-as-catch-can.”

Lancashire Wrestling Rules
Buffalo Courier, Buffalo, NY, Sunday, 1901-12-29, Page 26

The National Sporting Club of London Rules of Catch-as-catch-can Wrestling which were used in 1908-1910 World Professional Catch-as-catch-can Championships at Alhambra Theatre in London.

In the 1870s-80s the Lancashire Wrestling Association (LWA), which was established in 1875-76, was running the annual championship tourneys for professionals at the Grand Circus on Peter-street, Manchester. The founders of that organization were former owners of the famous sporting venues (grounds) of the city of Manchester and the surrounding areas. The LWA competitions were governed by the Manchester’s “Sporting Chronicle” Rules (evolved version of the original Snipe Inn Rules) which soon became standard catch-as-catch-can rules in East Lancashire and remained as such for decades.

During that time the following official weight classes were introduced in Lancashire catch wrestling: 116lb, 126lb, 138lb and 154lb. Just like in the 1860s the most prestigious and “competitive” weight division was the 9 stone championship. [Editor's note: there are 14lbs to a stone].

In 1899 Lancashire catch wrestling finally conquered London, the capital of Empire. The open to all British men tourney was held at National Athletic Grounds, in Kensal Rise, London during the Easter holidays. The championships were promoted in two weight divisions: middleweight (12st limit) and lightweight (10st 4lb limit). Joe Carroll of Hindley, Lancs won the middleweight tourney and was proclaimed the first official British champion wrestler and became the holder of the magnificent gold and silver belt emblematic of that title. The lightweight championship was undecided.

Jim Parr of Wigan, Lancashire, the 1902 world heavyweight champion of Tom Cannon's promotion

In 1899 the champion wrestler of international fame named Tom Cannon (native of Tyldsley, Lancs) organized the first world’s catch-as-catch-can championship wrestling promotion in England. The 1899 Joe Carroll’s British Championship Belt was symbolic of the world title in that promotion. Among Cannon's world champions were American wrestler of Cornish descent Jack Carkeek (winner of the 1899 tourney) and Jim Parr of Wigan (winner of the 1902 tourney).

The official programme of London's Jolly Jumbo 1899,
the first ever "open to all" tournament for the British Catch-as-Catch-can Championship

Painting: "Hark up to Nudger"
"Headlock into Cross Buttock" (detail)
by J. Howarth, 1844

Note: This painting portrays a final contest of the Nudger Sports' Lancashire Catch Wrestling Tournament, 1844.
James Buckley of Middleton, Lancashire defeated Adam Ridings of Bury, Lancashire.

The transformation of professional Lancashire catch wrestling into a present-day sport of pro wrestling (aka Music Halls style) occurred during the so-called British Wrestling Boom Era in the 1904-1910. National Amateur Wrestling Association of Great Britain (NAWA) already existed (est. in 1904) but their wrestling, though also being called catch-as-catch-can wasn't after the "old Lancashire fashion", it was a style which originated in London. That wrestling style was first introduced in England by the German Gymnastic Society (Turners) in the 1860s and soon became popular among British amateur wrestlers.

Since 1904 NAWA Catch-as-catch-can Rules (pinfalls or a referee decision based on points in case the back fall wasn’t achieved) were generally accepted by both amateurs and professionals of Great Britain. During that era all catch wrestling contests (for both amateurs and professionals) in East Lancashire were governed by the updated version of the Manchester’s "Sporting Chronicle" Rules which were in harmony with the current NAWA Rules. Among the most famous pro Lancashire catch wrestlers of the British Wrestling Boom Era were: Harry Mort of Oldham, Tom Rose of Bolton, Willie Collins, Jack Carroll (nephew of Joe Carroll), Jack Brown, William Charnock, Jim Foster and Bob Berry all from the Wigan areas, Job Shambley of Westhoughton, Peter Bannon of Burnley, Jack Winrow of Heywood.

National Sporting Club of London
Catch-as-Catch-Can Championship
"Lord Lonsdale Belt" (1909 ~ 1910)

The international professional championships in the catch-as-catch-can wrestling style in the 1900s were held under the auspices of the National Sporting Club of London (NSC) and according to the London catch wrestling rules. Their first official title was the so-called “1902 Coronation Tournament” (open weight class) which was won by a Swiss athlete Armand Cherpillod. In 1908-1910 NSC held annual international/world championship tourneys (heavyweight, middleweight, lightweight divisions) at Alhambra Theatre in London. In 1909 and 1910 the winners of those competitions received the Lonsdale Championship Belts.

Tom Connor of Salford (late of Wigan), ca. 1908
The legend of Lancashire catch wrestling

The true revival of the catch wrestling in East Lancashire happened in the 1920s during the glorious era of British amateur wrestling. Lancashire County Amateur Wrestling Association (LCAWA) was established in October 1923 and remained a member of NAWA till April 1927 when a decision was made to expel them from affiliated membership for promoting “their own championship titles.” The best among the LCAWA champions, holders of the challenge gold and silver belts also became British Amateur Wrestling Champions. The greatest of them was a 9st champion Joe Reid of Leigh, Lancs, a collier by trade, he held 6 British titles for 5 consecutive years between 1930 and 1935 inclusively, and represented Team Great Britain at 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, USA. Reid was "Teddy Lowe of 20th century" and was considered among the best and most scientific pound for pound catch wrestlers of the modern era from East Lancashire. Despite LCAWA’s membership in NAWA was discontinued they didn’t stop promoting and holding their own amateur tourneys (titles) in East Lancashire till mid-1930s. George Gregory of Bolton, Lancs who during his amateur years was LCAWA champion (welterweight and heavyweight divisions) later became a world-class pro wrestler, the British All-in wrestling heavyweight champion.

In order to popularize professional combative sports among local men in 1930 the Wrestling and Boxing Comrades’ Association (W&BCA) was established in Wigan, Lancs. The chairman of W&BCA was a former pro wrestler and famous rugby coach T. McCarthy. Among the associates of that organization were legendary Joe Carroll and famous Billy Riley, who was a father of the modern Wigan catch wrestling (aka the “Snake Pit” Catch).

After WW2, the British Amateur Wrestling Association changed the name “catch-as-catch-can” to “freestyle” wrestling. It was the beginning of the modern era of amateur catch wrestling in Great Britain. The greatest representative of that generation was ten-time British Champion Herbert Hall of Oldham, Lancs.

The origin of Lancashire catch wrestling goes all the way back to the 1300s. Notably, outside the area of East Lancashire a wrestling style, which allowed catch-holds of any part of the person’s body as well as the ground-wrestling, was unknown in Medieval England. Those two major features of Lancashire catch wrestling were of continental origin.

In 14th century they were brought to the Salford and Blackburn Hundreds of Lancashire County, England by the Flemish immigrants who were invited to England by King Edward III (1312-1377), who was married to Princess Philippa of Hainault with Flemish ancestry since 1328.

The textile workers from Flanders (aka Flemish weavers) who were destined to establish the cotton industry in Lancashire at first settled in the vicinity of the town of Bolton, Lancs, that happened in 1337. That is why the rough-and-tumble Lancashire up and down style of wrestling was often called the “Bolton Method.” Around the same time Flemish appeared in the areas surrounding the town of Rochdale, Lancs. In 1350 and 1363 the communities of Flemish weavers were established in the Lancashire cities of Salford and Manchester respectively.

The traditional folk freestyle wrestling of Flemish people existed in the forms of two jocose and fun wrestling games:

Painting: "The Establishment of Flemish Weavers in Manchester. AD 1363"
by Ford Maddox Brown, 1882

Flemish immigration to East Lancashire continued in 16-17th centuries and reached its peak during the persecution of the Protestants in the Spanish Netherlands. During the era of religious wars in Europe, besides Flemish, the German and French Protestant textile workers also fled to the areas of East Lancashire and West Yorkshire. Arrival of those continental weavers largely influenced the growth and rise of the textile industry in that region of England.

Since the times of the English Civil War (17th century) in East Lancashire and West Yorkshire the most common way of resolving disputes between two men was to have a fight after the Lancashire fashion. This fighting style was known as Lancashire up and down fighting, or purring. It usually was described as a combination of “wrestling, throttling, and kicking.” The best purrers of Lancashire came from the Rochdale areas. The up and down fighting match featured a wide variety of brutal, non-wrestling tactics and was an “all-in wrestling” affair. Lancashire fighting was a degenerated form of up and down catch wrestling. In that sport fighters appeared in the ring stripped to the waist, wearing a loin-clothes and a pair of spiked clogs. The wrestling skill was a decisive factor for winning the up and down fighting contest. According to the rules of Lancashire up and down fighting the victory was awarded only for “submissions” (usually a strangle hold, a hang or a full-Nelson) or “unable to continue” condition. The defeat had to be admitted verbally, or by raising the hand. Despite being called a “fighting style” the rules of Lancashire fighting often didn’t allow punching with the fist during the matches, and it was proficiency in wrestling skills (both standing and on the ground) which was a decisive factor in winning those contests. Professionalism (prize ring) was introduced in Lancashire fighting at the very early stages of its existence. Before a pro Lancashire catch wrestling ring was established, up and down fighting was the only professional combative sport of local men. Due to the great number of deaths which occurred during up and down fights this combative sport became illegal in the 1820s. Because of that up and down fighting prize ring was soon replaced with the pro Lancashire catch wrestling. After the introduction of professionalism into Lancashire catch wrestling, up and down fighting slowly ceased to exist and by the end of the 19th century it became extinct. Most of the professional Lancashire catch wrestlers of the 1830s and 1840s generation had up and down fighting background. All first pro catch wrestling stars were former purrers.

Probably the most famous reference to Lancashire wrestling comes from the 1892 book called “Wrestling - Styles and Systems” by Walter Armstrong who was a renowned advocate of Cumbrian Back-Hold and London’s Catch-Hold styles of wrestling. In that reference he cited the “unknown” Lancashire writer:

“A Lancashire wrestling match is an ugly sight: the fierce animal passions of the men which mark the struggles of maddened bulls, or wild beasts, the savage yelling of their partisans, the wrangling, and finally the clog business which settles all disputes and knotty points, are simply appalling.”

The sentence which follows this pretty vivid description of what Armstrong (and its unknown author of course) called “Lancashire wrestling” says: “In all matches the wrestlers compete in stockings or barefooted”, and etc. followed by the rules of the contemporary Lancashire catch wrestling which was free from all brutalities and non-wrestling tactics. Basically, the sentence which goes right after the famous quote contradicts the quote itself (“clog business” v fair play in “stockings or barefoot” and etc). This makes it obvious that the well known passage talks about the “long forgotten” pro up and down fighting rather than about the modern pro Lancashire catch wrestling. This makes it clear that the whole purpose of even having that paragraph in the text was just to demonstrate (or reveal) to the reader, that despite the introduction of the modern day “safety rules” the origin and background of the professional Lancashire catch wrestling is well known as being that of the professional up and down fighting i.e. “purring”, and that this fact is not forgotten and is still well remembered.

Summarizing the above, the original up and down wrestling which was brought to East Lancashire and West Yorkshire by the Flemish textile workers over the centuries transformed into the up and down fighting, a professional combative sport which in the early 1800s became illegal and in the first half of 19th century with introduction of the fair play rules evolved into the pro Lancashire catch-as-catch-can up and down wrestling.

The first and the last champion catch-as-catch-can wrestlers of Lancashire:
Adam Ridings of Bury and George Gregory of Bolton

Historically, there were two modes of Lancashire catch wrestling: the standing freestyle (“wrossle for a thrut”, wrestling for a throw) and the up and down freestyle. In the former style (wrestling for a throw) the goal was to throw the opponent over his head on his back (that the back of his head and neck, and his shoulders come to the ground first, Lancashire’s fair back fall) from a standing position (flying fall) with or without the attacker falling down himself. The commonly utilized techniques were: Head Between The Legs Attack and The Backwards Throw (Back Body Drop), Flying Horse (Crotch Hold Bodyslam), Flying Mare (Throw Over The Shoulder), Buttock (Giving The Back) and Crossbuttock (Giving The Hip), and Bear Hug Suplex. In this style tripping wasn’t favored, it was a lift and throw mode of wrestling. Sometimes just like in other English folk wrestling styles back fall was substituted with three falls on any part of the body except hands, knees and feet. The wrestlers competed having their clothes on, though no holds of the clothes were allowed. This style was a very dangerous form of wrestling and often the outcome of such contests was the death of one of the participants due to the spine injuries sustained by the wrestlers.

In the latter style (up and down wrestling) after the takedown the wrestling match continued on the ground until one of the two wrestlers admits his defeat verbally and quits the contest either being placed on his back and restrained from any movement, or through exhaustion, or being unable to continue through injury or for some another reason. The wrestlers competed stripped to the waist.

The original up and down Lancashire catch wrestling was basically a variation of the Flemish “Cockfighting” wrestling game. In that style to give a fall/throw/take down wasn’t enough and the victor had to master his opponent on the ground by “capturing” him (keeping him immovable underneath in a submissive position) for the previously agreed amount of time or making him admit his defeat verbally or by raising his hand.

The Lancashire version of the Flemish “Cockfighting” wrestling game was still around even in the first half of the 20th century.

A famous journalist, TV producer and writer Don Haworth (1924-2007), in his book called “Bright Morning: Images of Lancashire Boyhood”, gives an account of the local wrestling game which was popular in Burnley, Lancs and which he remembered from the days of his youth in the 1930s, and which we assume was passed down the generations from the elders to the youths. He describes that game as follows: “Sometimes there was a general melee, but more often champions fought each other in ritual wrestling matches. The aim was to down an opponent and sit on him until he gave in.” According to Haworth some unfair methods were practiced during those contests. The most common of such non-wrestling strategies was pressing with hands against your opponent’s throat (AKA throttling) in order to place him on his back underneath yourself, and then by trying to keep him immovable in that submissive position to make him surrender. This “tactic” was definitely inherited from the “long forgotten” times of the “glorious days” of the Lancashire up and down fighting when one wrestler went down under his adversary’s weight and then was “put in the damper” as they called it in East Lancashire. Such act of “throttling” was strictly prohibited in Lancashire catch wrestling matches since 1850s when the very first written rules were introduced.

Demonstration of holds and throws by the Collins brothers

In the “modern” Lancashire catch wrestling (this style became the only official style of Lancashire wrestling since the introduction of the 1856 Snipe Inn Rules) the wrestlers, after shaking hands in a sign of fair-play, started their match on the “green sward” at a distance from each other carefully looking for an opening and then suddenly attack, rushing into their adversary. Often they would snatch one another by the hands, intertwining their fingers and using all their strength to try and force their opponent down to his knees. Another common start was to catch their adversary by the back of his neck (head-holds). By proceeding this way they would close and break until the proper close quarter clinch hold (hug) was achieved. This wrestling style was a hand-to-hand combat. Wrestlers were allowed to take any hold of their opponent’s body above and under the waist and switch holds as often as they pleased in order to achieve the advantageous hold which led to a throw. The use of legs and feet for throwing (hooking and tripping respectively) was allowed, but it wasn’t favored. Instead the “lift and throw” technique dominated that style. The most popular throw/thrut inherited from the standing catch wrestling was called the Buckfang which is “running in with the head between the legs” and flipping the opponent “heels over head” thus giving him a heavy violent fall. In modern pro wrestling this throw is known as backdrop or back body drop. This freestyle wrestling featured such techniques (holds and throws) such as various headlocks, fireman's lift and cross-buttocks (both versions, arm around the neck and arm around the body) as well as different kinds of Nelsons (both ways, from the standing position and on the ground). Throws which were given from the leg attacks were mostly the double leg and the high crotch (single leg attack) lifts. In par-terre a various techniques were applied from both the front and behind of the opponent.

The objective of the wrestling match after the Lancashire fashion was to give opponent a fair back fall, the back fall when both shoulders touched the ground simultaneously. If the victory wasn’t gained from the standing position the struggle continued on the ground until one of the two achieved a fair back fall. All kinds of quick (instant) fair back falls counted, namely flying falls, pinning falls and rolling falls.

Watertown Daily Times, 1921-12-01 (Thu), Watertown, NY, USA, pg 8

The Lancashire wrestlers’ attire was limited to shorts (originally drawers) and socks (originally spiked pumps, hob-nailed light shoes which were worn in order to prevent slippery). According to the above mentioned Snipe Inn Lancashire Catch-as-catch-can Rules, just like in the old Lancashire up and down fighting neither party could use resin or be rubbed with pernicious (ingridious) drugs or grease of any description.

All foul acts or willful brutality, any unmanly techniques and tactics of the past (atrocities which were common during the up and down fighting contests), namely hanging (putting on the hang) or throttling, kicking, as well as head-butting, biting, gouging and scratching and etc. were strictly prohibited.

In this short paragraph Frank Gotch defines the art of catch-as-catch-can wrestling, he expressly denies any form of brutality and promotes clean catch wrestling under the National Police Gazette Rules (see in Pioneers’ Catch); he also explains his most famous hold, the toe-hold, a wrestling hold which some wrestling history researchers of the modern age erroneously classified as a "submission hold'' (in the generally accepted modern understanding of it) and which, as it is clearly seen from this Gotch’s interview, in fact was not. There were two kinds of holds and combinations in catch wrestling: those that lead to directly forcing the opponent onto his shoulders, and those that make him turn his shoulders to the mat himself.

In this paragraph Frank Gotch advocates the knowledge of wrestling, for him wrestling is very important in self-defense and can be a decisive factor in rough-and-tumble fights, the street fights in which all is in.

Putting someone in a hold was allowed not for delivering the punishment to make the opponent quit the contest (as it was in up and down fighting) but for the sole purpose of achieving a fair back fall (flying fall, pinfall, rolling fall).

The Referee had to stop the match if he saw a wrestler applying any dangerous holds on another wrestler for the purpose of willfully hurting, maiming him or to make him quit.

Lancashire Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling explained by Jim Parr of Wigan, Lancashire

The interview appeared in the 1902 issue of "Buffalo Courier", Buffalo, NY

At this time the Lancashire catch-as-catch-can wrestling in its original traditional wrestling format is not practiced anymore.

The last attempt to revive folk wrestling in East Lancashire and West Yorkshire was done in the late 1970s. In 1978-2019 there was a championship knock-out tournament the "Longwood Thump" which along with other old pastimes was part of an annual morrismen festival in Saddleworth, Yorks called the Rushcart. It was a freestyle wrestling competition, fair back fall to decide the winner (both shoulders on the ground for count of three) open to the morris dancers from different parts of England who represented their ensembles at this great folk gathering. At some point that freestyle wrestling championship was decided in what was called the “Saddleworth Style” which was described as the “first one to hit the floor loses, best of 3 falls”. The tournament winner held a perpetual trophy the leather belt mounted with silver. The last champion was Jacob Frohawk-McLucas of "Rose and Castle Morris" (Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire). This competition was discontinued due to the numerous injuries sustained by participants of the wrestling matches.

The last time the old 1856 Snipe Inn Catch-as-catch-can Wrestling Rules were used in pro wrestling contests was in the State of New York (USA) in the early 1920s. The chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) the former American and World champion wrestler William Muldoon re-introduced the original rules of Lancashire catch wrestling. "Two falls to win, flying, rolling and pin falls to count, no holds barred but the strangle hold, except when headlock, scissors or toe holds be used for purely punishing purposes, when at the command of the referee such holds much be loosened." Muldoon’s attempt to revive catch wrestling in its original format didn’t last long and failed first of all because it has never found support from the masses, fans didn’t like it due to the fact that all the contests were decided in a very short time (flying and rolling falls came so quickly and that killed the business/entertainment) under the “new rules of pro wrestling”.

In the twentieth century catch-as-catch-can was one of two official wrestling sports of the Highland Games in Scotland. In the 1950s entry fee of the professional catch-as-catch-can tourneys (contested in 2 weight classes, under 12st and open weight) was 1 shilling, and the winner usually received the prize of 2 or 3 pounds). In 1962 the great Scottish pro wrestler Andy Robin was a winner of the Crieff Highland Gathering catch-as-catch-can championship.

Currently the wide variety of professional catch wrestling styles which evolved from Lancashire catch-as-catch-can wrestling or were inspired and influenced by it can be found all around the world. The knowledge of catch wrestling became an essential skill for every mixed martial artist of the modern era.

The most informative and detail oriented catch-as-catch-can wrestling manual up-to-date still is A Hand-Book of Wrestling written by Hugh Leonard, a successful professional catch-as-catch-can wrestler who performed and trained with the very best in his profession.

-A HAND-BOOK OF WRESTLING. By HUGH F. LEONARD, Instructor in Wrestling at the New York Athletic Club. Edited by Frederick A. Fernald. New York, E. R. Pelton, 129 Fifth Ave., 1897. -An excellent book. It contains 220 illustrations, the finest we have yet seen in any book on physical training. Preceding the positions, etc., there is a history of wrestling, and as a wind-up a chapter on the different styles of wrestling.

Lancashire catch-as-catch-can wrestling exhibition at the New York Athletic Club, 1900s. Performers are likely the 10st wrestlers. Utilized techniques: the art of quickly getting behind your opponent and application of various nelsons combined with crotch, leg, foot and waist holds; variety of escapes including the famous “walking on the head” technique.

Ruslan C Pashayev is an expert-member of the Traditional Sports Team of the Instytut Rozwoju Sportu i Edukacji (the Institute of Sport Development and Education), Warsaw, Poland.