Cornish Wrestling

Cornish Wrestling

Gerry and Ashley Cawley wrestling at Pendennis Castle, 6 May 2002
Focus	Grappling
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Creator	Cornish people
Olympic sport	No

Cornish wrestling (Cornish: Omdowl Kernewek) is a form of wrestling which has been established in Cornwall, a county in Southwest England for several centuries. It is similar to the Breton Gouren wrestling style. The referee is known as a 'stickler', and it is claimed that the popular meaning of the word as a 'pedant' originates from this usage. It is colloquially known as "wrasslin" in the Cornish dialect.

The wrestlers in the Cornish style both wear tough jackets enabling them to gain better grip on their opponent. All holds are taken upon the other wrestler's jacket, grabbing of the wrists or fingers is forbidden as well as any holding below the waist. Although all holds are to be taken upon the jacket, the flat of the hand is allowed to be used to push or deflect an opponent.

The objective of Cornish wrestling is to throw your opponent and make him land as flat as possible on his back. Three sticklers (referees) watch and control each bout whilst also recording down the score of points achieved in play. Four pins are located on the back of a wrestler, two at the back of each shoulder and two either side just above the buttocks. If a wrestler manages to throw his opponent flat onto his back, simultaneously scoring with all 4 pins they score four points in that single throw and this is called a "Back" to which the bout is then finished and the throwing wrestler is the winner. The sticklers will each raise their sticks when they perceive a Back has been achieved. If two sticklers raise their sticks but one does not a back is still awarded.

The Cornish Wrestling Association was formed in 1923 to standardize the rules and to promote Cornish Wrestling throughout Cornwall and indeed Worldwide.

Cornish wrestling has a long history, and Geoffrey of Monmouth suggests Historia Regum Britanniae, of c. 1139 that Corineus wrestled a Cornish giant, Gogmagog or Goemagot upon the cliff top known as Lamm Goemagot.

The earliest written evidence for wrestling in the West Country comes from a 1590 poem entitled "Poly-Olbion" by Michael Drayton, concerning the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. It states that the Cornish men who accompanied Henry V into battle held a banner of two Cornish wrestlers in a hitch.