Academy of Wrestling – Jock Hall
Submitted by: Sally Brewis - 24th November 2021
I was always interested in wrestling from a boy but never had much of a chance to learn properly. Then about the summer of 1947, a few of us lads got together one night a week at Campville – Jimmy Wood’s place. We used to run, jump, and wrestle – in our own style.
One of the lads had a motor-bike and he and I decided we’d go to Yetholm Show and we’d enter the Open Wrestling. More by luck than by good technique, I managed to get into the final of the All Weights – 12 stone and over.
Now Jimmy Wood’s father, Dan, was so impressed that I had got into the final that he thought we should start a wrestling school at Harbottle. He got together with Adam Foster, the shoemaker and George Common, the water-bailiff. They were installed as instructors. George had been very successful at wrestling, and Adam was an awful good runner.
We had a whipround among the lads, and folk that were interested, and we bought some carpet underfelt, about £25. That was all that we had for a mat. There were some sore elbows and heads and toes! We had about fifteen members. The youngest was 10. I was one of the oldest. I was 30 then. We rented the village hall one night a week for two hours. When the light nights came we went outside onto the Peels haugh and wrestled on the grass. We did make quite a bit of progress. I was always very dedicated.
After the first year Major Renwick at Holystone Grange said that if we could raise half the money to buy a proper mat he’d give the other half. And I think it cost £110. We raised the half by whistdrives, a dance, various other things. We got in touch with St. Dunstan’s for the blind. They made the mat. It was four squares of thick cici-matting each nine foot square. We fastened them in the centre and put a tarpaulin sheet on top.
The first Open Wrestling that we were interested in was Morpeth Olympic Games. They were noted Sports. They had two days – Saturday and Monday of August Bank holiday. I managed to win the 12 stone wrestling. That was the first triumph for the school – I got £10 in prize money.
We registered as an Academy with the Cumberland Wrestling Association. We had a wrestling strip. It was composed of a vest – generally cotton; longjohns – they could be wool or cotton; and a seat-piece – briefs actually. They were velvet. Harbottle Club was red velvet. Just socks on the feet… The wives and mothers washed the strips. Sometimes they could get absolutely filthy, I’ve seen the water and the mud squeezing up between our toes.
I was always willing to travel. I travelled as far south as Bootle in Lancashire, and north to Thornton in Fifeshire, and the Bridge of Allan in Stirlingshire. We would come back the same day. George Common – he was one of the first in the area to have a car – he drove us to Berwick, and we caught the train into Scotland. That’s actually the only two times I have been on a train.
I was lucky, I worked for Major Renwick. He was very interested and he gave me time off. I was a shepherd. Most of us were shepherds or farm workers. Plenty of walking kept us fit. Strong legs you see. If you were a little bit overweight and were going into a competition you would take a bit of weight off just by probably dieting, a bit of running or something like that.
The first home match we ever had was in the tent Alwinton Show night, back-end of 1948. The home team always put on a supper. All the local shows ran wrestling competitions. The Shows were venues for sports.
We had a terrific following in them days. It had been off all during the war and then it was revived. We had two matches in Rothbury Mart. The crowd… We could hardly get them all in. We’d generally have a couple of Open Competitions after the match.
There was seldom animosity, just good natured rivalry. All good sportsmanship. You had to shake hands before and at the end of a match. And if you had a Fall. A Fall means if any part of the torso or upper arm touches the ground. You got one point for each Fall. And you had to keep hold round each other’s back. If you broke hold during a bout you lost the Fall.
You learn to fall in a sort of roll so that you’re not hurt. I think it comes with experience. There was no biting or thumping, kicking or anything like that. Striking with the inside of the instep on an opponent’s leg wasn’t classed as a foul, but kicking, or gouging with your knee… If a fella got his knee badly twisted, you know twisted in the wrong position, he could get a broken leg, but that’s about it. You learn as you go.
A team consists of 18 wrestlers: six lightweights at 10 stone, six middle weights at 11 – 11.5 stone, and six All Weights at 12 stone and over. Each wrestler wrestled three bouts with his opponent. They were matched on the programme. A lightweight could go into a heavyweight but it was on his own head. I’ve actually felled men of 18 stone when I was 11 stone. Not very often, mind. You can feel, the moment a man moves, you can feel instinctively on your chest what he’s trying to do.
Just about read his thoughts if you are in practice. If he was a big man, aggressive, you turned his aggression into a Fall. Like join with him and turn him when you’re nearly at the bottom. Turn him below and you on top of him. That’s the science of wrestling.
I think this televised wrestling these days is very much a fake. With being a wrestler it is obvious to me that these fellows are putting on a show. It’s a straightforward science to me. And I hardly think that it’s a very womanly sport. There’s not much glamour attached to it.
I never won a World Championship. But I was twice runner-up. They made me a Life Member of the Cumberland Wrestling Association. I’ve done a lot of judging for them.
I cannot actually remember how long the club at Harbottle carried on. Quite a few year – t’would be ten or twelve I think. But just gradually the membership got less and less. Folk got away you see. They had transport, different interests. But it’s coming back now, this last two or three year. The sponsoring’s bringing it back, a bit better prize money. Wrestling was always a rather poorly paid sport.