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June
Front
Page News
As
I'm always adding things to my pages, Its a good idea to press the refresh
button every now and then.
The
Rearranged Pebworth event went on at Priors as one of the Federations charity
event with a total of Seven Teams.
Holland,
Priors, Lutterworth, 1066, Cupids Hill, Barton & The Groundhogs.
It
was very much one of those days when everyone struggled to make up a team
at the weight they wanted, And as the judge I made a little allowance at
the scales, and allowed a couple of weight for weight swaps as the day
went on under an oppressive sun.
But
when teams travel up from Sussex, across from Wales, and down from Burton
on Trent to support us, no one wants to see them sat on the side lines.
That being said, and it was the same for everyone, and gave us all a very
competitive and exciting days pulling.
Pictures this week by
Pam & Jenny.
The
first weight the 720 Kilos had five teams and set the standard for the day
with Lutterworth taking a fine win from Cupids Hill as runners up.
Cupids
Hill from Monmouth have only recently reformed and should be very
encouraged from this strong stylish performance.
Priors in the 720
Holland take the 660
Kilo 4 + 4
The
660 4 +4 went predictably to Holland. Not Holland fault but the runners up 1066 were
giving away a lot of weight.
The 600 Kilos Also
went to Holland with Priors runners up.
The
680 Kilos was another hard fought weight.
Nobody wanted to sit or lock,
everybody wanted to be up and fighting, which makes the judging a joy.
The
600 mixed pull also went to Holland in a fine controlled style, Though
1066 just could not get the team in they wanted, I was allowing five Kilos
on the scales, but the nearest they could get was seven kilos over. I know
they are looking to make this weight their target for the championships,
when you add Leek to the equation, everything points to some fireworks on
Championship day.
The 640 Kilos
The 640 gave us the
best pull of the day. Though Holland won it and Priors pulled up into
second place. The pull between Cupids Hill and 1066 went all three ends,
with Cupids Hill taking the first end, and all but the last few inches of
the second, only to be pulled all the way back by 1066 who just would not
give in, and took the win from a very tired Cupids Hill.
That just left us
with the Catchweight Which Holland took in storming style, and The Ground
Hogs as Runners up
The Groundhogs
As Organiser I wish
to thank Emma our recorder for the day, Pam Prosser for her help at the
scales & roving camera.
Steve Gardner for the
trophies at such short notice, so short in fact he had to work on them
himself the night before.
To Priors Marston
Club for making the Field and Clubhouse available, and to Stacey who
opened the bar.
And to all the teams
that made it such a good day.
So many good
pictures get left on the cutting room floor each week that I have decided
to put them all up each week after the results.
I always leave
them open so that you can copy any of them yourself.
Results
Priors Marston
720k Winners Lutterworth R/Up
Cupids Hill
660 4+4 Winners Holland R/Up 1066
600k Winners Holland R/Up
Priors TOWC
680k Winners Holland
R/Up Cupids Hill
600 4+4 Winners Holland R/Up
1066
640k Winners Holland R/Up
Priors
Catchweight Winners Holland
R/Up Groundhog5s
I bet he was tired by
the end of the day
Nigel White from 1066
always giving everything,
Very few pictures of Holland this week
considering they took every weight, they may have been reduced in numbers,
but they were certainly not reduced in power and style.
Not for nothing did 1066 come all the way
up from Battle
Cupids Hill from Monmouth in Wales, newly
formed, but with that old Welsh tradition of never giving in.
Lutterworth went to the East of England
show last Thursday in a qualifier for the Young Farmer Championships. They
just lost out to Ashover in a thrilling three ended battle. Whereas in
most areas the top two teams go on through to the finals at the Royal
show. The East of England only send one.
It's something to do with the rules and
the number of teams in an area. But when one of the best Young farmers
teams in the country gets left out, then I think the rules need looking at
again.
This Picture shows
just how much mixing in went on. I understand that the teams in the
midland region may be holding a meeting shortly with a view to registe ring
pullers for the championships.
Believe
it or not, there's been so many Health & safety issues over Pebworth
Fete' ( someone may get hit by a flying handkerchief ) that the committee
have reluctantly cancelled it.
What
a shame, It was a lovely little show, it was what England is all about.
The
Venue will now be held at Priors Marston Sports & social Club.
Post
code CV47 7RP
Tea
& Coffee available but please bring your own refreshments
There's
a whole pile of news to report this week, and I'm busy putting it
together now.
Holland
tug of war club just miss out at the Association Nationals with two
bronzes
The Holland Club ever
supportive
Holland
never miss a weekend supporting the grass root teams of the Federation, in
fact they have become in many ways the backbone of our events. Always
quick to lend out pullers from their great squad to help others. Always
keen to see no one is left on the side without a pull.
Holland representing
England in Sweden last year.
I'm
convinced they sacrificed their chances of representing their country
again to support others. Had they pursued a more selfish course and chased
the top teams every week they may well have been looking to do the same
again this year. We the grass root teams have much to thank them for, and
proud of them for it.
1066
put on a great show for both the teams and the spectators.
Report
by Nigel White
1066 held their first open event on
the 21st of June. We were expecting a few more teams but sadly
only four teams showed up, however it didn’t stop the event from going
ahead as there were some good pulls and some good crowd pleasers for the
people to watch.
There were lots of spectators and a
lot of enquires about the sport as most of the people watching had no idea
that tug of war is such a serious sport. 1066 have acquired some new
pullers as a result for holding a local event. This surely is a message to
others in the sport.
The first weight was
the catch and was won by 1066 with Cowbeech second.
Cowbeech had to work
for there runners up spot as the local pub The Rainbow Trout
Made them work for
every inch.
Next up was the 600 K
and 1066 put there 4 + 4 side in for training. 1066 won the 600 with
Hurstpierpoint YFC in second place. Cowbeech and the YFC had a tussle for
second with the YFC just edging it.
The ground was very
hard on one end teams were struggling to to move and stay on their feet.
By the next weight the end had started to improve.
The 600 K produced the
best pull of the day as the pull between 1066 and the YFC went to three
ends. 1066 were on the final (bad end ) and were on the line with the
judge about to blow the whistle when the YFC run out of steam and were
pulled all the way back.
Cowbeech YFC fought
hard to take r/u in the catchweight
The
next weight was the 660 the winners were Hurstpeirpoint with 1066 in second
place. All the teams put up a good fight with many three ended pulls
making up the entertainment
The
Rainbow Trout won the trophy for best sporting team. Well done lads.
The event was judged by Dave Ling and
the 1066 club would like to thank Dave for a great job and for coming down
from Norfolk.
Last year tug of war was regarded as a myth in the
south east but this year we have found five established teams and have
held five events and there are more on the way it’s not top level tug of
war yet, but it’s a start.
Results
Catch
1st 1066 2nd
Cowbeech
680
1st 1066 2nd
The Rainbow Trout
660
1st Hurstpeirpoint 2nd 1066
640
1st 1066 2nd
Hurstpeirpoint
600
1st 1066 2nd
Hurstpeirpoint
The Trophies were all
made by members of the 1066 team.
Five
Years I wrote up the story of Bosley Wood treatment
It
took three trips up to Asbourne to collect photos and talk to Mrs Hickton,
Wife of the late George Hickton one of their great pullers. I also used a
little booklet written by the wife of the old coach Alex Brown.
I
was so overawed by the story that unfolded as the weeks went by, that I
wrote down their record and a verse in praise of them.
Bosley
parish council have commissioned a stone to be set on the Village with the
record and the verse inscribed.
I
was invited to attend the unveiling, But I can't drive at the moment, and
there wasn't time to arrange anything. But no matter I played but a
tiny part.
I
received the following photographs, And am going to put the story up again
for a couple of weeks.
Report
& pictures by
Steve
Gardner
Young
Farmers Success!
Ridware
win at Three Counties to secure a place at the Young Farmers National
Championships at the Royal Show on 7th July.
The Successful Ridware Team
(Photo by Gavin Corden)
The
Ridware lads won without losing an end to qualify for the Royal Show, and
the Ridware Girls, in their first year together, pulled really well to
take third place in the ladies just missing out on qualification.
Ridware Girls on the Rope
News just in: Ingelby
Cross YFC TOWC also qualified for the Royal Show in the Yorkshire rounds
of the Young Farmers.
And Good Luck to Lutterworth
who compete at Lincoln on Thursday for the same opportunity!
More
Pictures courtesy Pam Prosser
Caswell YFC
Tewkesbury YFC (ladies)
Stratford YFC
Unfortunately
I've damaged my new knee and although I was offered a seat to Haywood, the
boss was very unhappy about my going.
So
Thanks to Steve Gardner I offer his report of how it all went.
Ridware 640 kilos
Two Dales 680 kilos
The sun was out all day as eight teams
battled it out by the river at Haywood's club competition. The tug of war
was hot and hard all day, and the standard of pulling was excellent.
The teams taking part were: Two Dales, Lutterworth, Haywood, Triple F,
Holland, Barton, Groundhogs and Ridware. Holland and Barton between them
managed to take six of the seven weight classes on the day, but were
pushed all the way by the other teams, what a day!
Holland 600 kilos
Triple F 600 kilos
The 720 saw 4 teams go, and the ever
improving Groundhogs pulled really well to finish in the runners up
position behind Holland, despite a good performance by Lutterworth and
Haywood. In the 660 4+4 Holland finished ahead of Haywood to take
the win, with Holland looking very polished. The 600 kilos was a monster
of a competition, a straight seven on two ropes, but with a slight
downhill end, and many of the teams being very close to each other in
ability: there were three enders everywhere. All of the teams pulled well
with every pull lasting a long time. Hollands team pulled hard but lost
too many points on the three ender roller coaster, and Two Dales pulled
through to finish in runners up position with Barton, (pulling with 5 lads
and three girls) coming through to clean up and take a superb win.
Haywood 720 kilos
Lutterworth 680 kilos
In the 680 kilos Holland hit the
ground hard, giving nothing away they went through as winners, but a great
performance from Haywood saw them finish ahead of Lutterworth and Barton
and Two Dales to take the runners up position! In the second mixed weight
class of the day Holland pulled well once again to take the 600 4+4, with
Haywood finishing as runners up. The 640 kilos was another seven, but this
time pulled in two groups, and again it was a cut throat affair, and those
that faltered and weakened were left in the dust. The four teams
that made it through to the semi final cross over were: Ridware versus Two
Dales and Barton versus Triple F. After a great pull between Ridware and
Two Dales, it was Two Dales that progressed to the final, and Barton made
it through also, overcoming Triple F in the other Semi Final. When the
dust had settled it was a win for Two Dales, with Barton finishing as
runners up. Holland rounded off the day winning the Catchweight
competition with home team Haywood again taking the runners up spot,
taking 4 runners up positions in all on the day!
Barton 680 kilos
Groundhogs 720 kilos
As in England 25
years ago there has been a split in America between their Association and
some of the teams. The new group go under the name of The Blackhawk
Federation.
Many of us will know
some of these teams, such as Mount Vernon and GLD, A new website has been
opened up by this group run by one of the GLD pullers Carolyn Davis.
http://s1.webstarts.com/tugofwarblackhawk/index.html
Unfortunately
Blackfordby has been cancelled.
Many
of our teams will be going to the Association Nationals on the Saturday,
and
don't normally turn out on the Sunday.
This
year 1066 are holding a competition on Sunday 21st
Both
Dave Ling & myself will be there Judging. It would be great if only a
few from some of the teams went down, even if we have to mix up, I have
three free seats going early Sunday morning and coming back that evening.
1066
have traveled up twice to us this year, so it's not an impossible trip.
Venue
the field next door to:
Rainbow
Trout Pub
Chitcombe
Road
Broad
Oak, Brede
Rye,
East Sussex
TN31
6EU
The above picture was
cut from the Rye & Battle Sports Paper last week, and features 1066 at
the Inter-Counties where they won two silver medals.
( My apologies for
the poor quality of my scanner )
This
week saw the five a side at Barton, Now called the Five A Side
Championships
Originally
a blank weekend the five a side was a stop gap affair, though it proved so
popular with the teams, and has taken on a cock- pit type aggressive fast
and furious atmosphere
all of its own.
For
teams that struggle a bit turning out the numbers, it is an ideal venue,
and a very exciting one for the spectators, not something I would like to
do every week, but one I wouldn't miss the week it does come round. Read
on and see how special this years was.
This
has to be the Competition report of the year, Well done Steve, and Jenny
for the the brilliant
Pictures.
Sunday 7th June -
Federation 5 a Side Championships
Barton under Needwood,
Staffordshire
The Arena at 11am just as the
brook was bursting its banks
On the wettest day of
the year so far, 10 teams weighed in to contest for the medals at the
Federations National 5 a Side Championships. Teams competing were: The
Brickmakers Haywood A Haywood B Groundhogs A Groundhogs B
Lutterworth The Swan Ridware Boys Holland and Barton. It
seemed as though the elements were trying their level best to stop the tug
of war taking place, not only was the rain so heavy and hard, just as the
weigh in started the brook that runs alongside the pulling area broke its
banks and completely flooded the pulling area. Tug of War is not to be
defeated though, 'those who wish to pull shall pull' and after an
inspection of the rest of the site the organisers came up with another
area of ground to be used and the arena was quickly moved.
Holland 380k
Once the pulling
actually started the rain subsided and it turned into a reasonable
afternoon, unfortunately the ground where the pulling took place was a
massive mud bath as one might have expected, and when all the pulling was
done it did look a fine sight (nothing a good rolling wouldn't put right).
The tug of war was hard going, five a side is always hard anyway, add to
this the severe mud and very slippery ground, you can imagine all the
pullers had a real good workout as they fought to stay on their legs as
well as win pulls! (We must really love our sport Ha Ha)
Brickmakers 390 3+2
Barton Catchweight
The competitions for the five weight
classes were all eagerly contested, the catchweight competition was on
first and 8 teams went in two fours, with Holland and Barton making it
through to the Semi's from one group, and Ridware and Lutterworth
from the other. Holland and Ridware won their place in the final, leaving
Lutterworth and Barton to fight for the Bronze Medal. After a great pull,
Lutterworth took the Bronze, and then Holland managed to overpower Ridware
in the final to take the Gold. The 390 3+2 was the next weight, and again
the pulling was very close, at the end of the pulling Holland had won the
Gold with Lutterworth taking a good Silver medal over the Brickmakers in
the Bronze medal position
Groundhogs 430k
Haywood B Catchweight
The 430 kilos
competition was the hardest and closest of the competitions on the day, 8
teams went again in two groups of four, and Holland and the Swan made it
through to the Semi Finals from one group and Ridware and Lutterworth from
the other. Ridware and Holland made the final, leaving Lutterworth and the
Swan to battle for Bronze. After an epic battle it was Lutterworth who
took the Bronze, and then in what was a great Final, the Ridware team
managed to wrestle the Gold medal from Holland who took the Silver. The
second mixed weight of the day: the 420 3+2 was just as hotly contested as
the 390k, this time Holland took the Gold over Lutterworth in Silver and
Barton finished ahead of Ridware to take the Bronze.
Lutterworth 430k
The last event of the
day was the 380 kilos lightweight competition and 7 teams went in two
groups. The semi finals saw Ridware Boys, Lutterworth, Holland and Haywood
make it through. This was Haywood's best weight of the day, after pulling
hard all day it was great to see them make it to the Semi Finals. As
Holland and Lutterworth headed for the final, the bronze pull off was
another epic pull, but Ridware managed to hold on to it to take the Bronze
medal. The final saw another fine performance from Lutterworth, but they
could not stop Holland from taking the Gold medal and were pleased with
their Silver medals! The Groundhogs pulled very well all day, and were a
constant threat in all weights, almost making it through to the semi
finals in the Catchweight, the Groundhogs continue to improve all the time
and if they keep up the progress it wont be too long before they are
challenging for medals!
Ridware Boys 430k
The Judging was done by
Steve Gardner and Glyn Lawrence and Sue Lawrence looked after the
recording. After the pulling was over everyone retired to the club house
to dry out and warm up. Steve Gardner thanked all the teams that turned up
to support the event and then the medals were presented by Sue and Glyn.
The Swan 430k
The
Federation Chairman Dave Ling & Harold Jackson of the association amongst
others do a great deal of unsung work for the YFC Tug of War Section both
at grass root and county level. Wouldn't it be nice to see some of these people
invited to the finals one day.
Young Farmers
Eastern Area Finals - Beds. Sunday 7th June
Two Reports by Dave
Ling
After battling through
a near monsoon just past Cambridge I arrived at shuttleworth College,
Bedfordshire in bright sunshine to judge the young farmers eastern area
finals. Teams from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Essex and
Hertfordshire competed to go through to the finals at the Royal Show.
There was just two ladies sides Beds and Essex. Essex were represented by
Chelmsford yfc and they won through by two straight ends. The men's
competition was pulled between five clubs and ended with three teams very
close on points. Essex, represented by Malden yfc won with 11 points,
Cambs had 9 and Beds 7. The best pulls of the day were between Cambs and
Essex, which went 2 - 1 to Essex, and Beds and Cambs which ended 2 -
1 to Cambs. Congratulations to Malden and Chelmsford. David Ling supplied
the pictures of Chelmsford ladies and Maldon men.
Chelmsford Ladies
Malden from Essex
Norfolk Young
Farmers 4+4 Competition - Sunday 7th June - Norwich
Harold Jackson traveled
to Easton College near Norwich to judge the first 4x4
competition to be held by Norfolk Young Farmers. Four teams competed:
Dereham,
Wymondham, North Elmham and Diss. and this was also the order in which
they finished, well done Dereham. I hope to keep the teams interested in
this sort of competition as clubs who cannot field a full ladies or men's
side may still be able to find a mixed side. If it shows to be a success I
will put a trophy up for next years winners.
Well
done to both of you
Twif
add Mixed pulling to their World Championships weights.
In
the recently published minutes of The Tug of War International Federation Congress meeting. It states amongst
other things that
a 600 Kilos Mixed event will be a designated weight in a future World
Championships.
I
have in the following paragraphs tried to set down the events that led to
mixed pulling coming into existence and gaining recognition by The Tug of War International
Federation (TWIF )
Acknowledgments
In
doing so, I hope I have not left anyone out or understated their endeavors
or contribution to its success. It is of course written from my perspective
of events. In the eighteen years it has taken, I have meet some
fine upright people who joined the cause and took it on beyond my
capabilities. I am also aware that there are a lot of people in other countries
that I have never meet who were doing the same, I wish to record here my
acknowledgments and thanks for there efforts too.
Looking
back on it all now, I feel I had little to do with it, other than to throw a
pebble into the water and watch the ripples spread out.
From
Little Acorns
I
believe the
story of mixed pulling goes back to 1991, when two teams turned up at
a little English village fete'. Trouble was, one was a big teams of men, the
other a little team of Ladies. What was to be done ? It was obvious they
couldn't pull against each other. After some quick thinking,
I asked them to split up and pull with Four men and Four Ladies on each
side, just to
put something on for the crowd who were watching and waiting for something
to happen.
It
was with some trepidations that I dropped my hands to start the Pull. I
remember it being very endy, and that we pulled it over the best of five
ends, of course being so endy it went to a toss up for fifth and final end. The
crowd who were silent at first, soon began to cheer and shout for first one side then the other.
It was a great exciting success, and the teams really enjoyed it. It could
so easily have been something of little consequents, and I would not be surprised
it hadn't happened before somewhere. Perhaps the difference this time was I listened to the crowd, I watched the teams and took in
their enjoyment of it, they told me how much harder it had been than they
expected.
Later
that week at
my own teams next training session, I paired them off
into two mixed teams. Over
the next few weeks we practiced it and perfected it.
I took a mixed team out and pulled it against other teams. It stood up
very well, though we got some strange looks from some of the more traditionalists.
The
time came for me to take the idea to a Federation council meeting. Many of
them had seen it in action. though to recognise it as a weight to be
pulled
each week was a bit to much for some. It took nearly a year before we saw it
accepted as a logical progression to the accept ants of ladies into the
sport. Something in itself that was very slow coming. Once it was accepted
it quickly grew in popularity, especially with the ladies who
preferred it to the all ladies events.
In
1995 it became part of the Federation Championships with Holland tug of
war club winning the first one..
In
1996 Bedford Ladies who pulled under the name Kempston, joined the
Federation and won it for the next four years.
It is them we have to thank for telling other teams about
it on there international duties to the continent and beyond.
It quickly spreading
across the continent and became just as popular there. I'm not sure who
the people were that carried it across the Atlantic to America
and Canada were they called it Co-Ed, but I believe it all stemmed
from what we were doing in the Federation.
For some years Twif did not recognise it. advice they had taken said it
was unsafe for men and women to compete on the same rope. Though it continued to
be practiced as an unofficial weight.
In
2003 Matt Matzger from the Blue Water team in Canada, invited teams to Toronto
in what I think was the first Mixed Inter-National event. ( I'm sure
someone will let me know if there was one before that )
The
Federation Secretary Pam Prosser, the team Triple F from Newport Pagnell
and I flew over. The whole thing was opposed by the English Association,
who quite rightly said we could not represent as England. The simple
answer was as we were the
from the
Federation, we represented as Triple F from Great Britain.
Pam Prosser the
Federation Secretary second from the left, with the Triple F team in Toronto
We
only took nine men, and were fortunate to meet up with some American
ladies from a team called GLD. We agreed to join forces for the 600k
mixed pull or co-ed as they call, it worked very well and we
won a bronze medal. There leading light was a lady called Carolyn Kelly,
now married to Bob Davis of the Mount Vernon team seen below leading out
his team in yellow.
One of the highlights
of the second day for me, was to judge at my first inter-national event.
What
a wonderful week we had, with our most generous and friendly hosts
Bluewater. Shortly after that event Matt Metzger became The Canadian Twif
representative, and no doubt has done a lot to promote it within Twif.
I
was getting a lot of interest in mixed pulling on The Rope Magazine, Ewald
from a team called De Berketrekkers in Belgium was a regular contributor.
Later in 2003 I went with some of the Triple F team to watch the European
Championships in Assen,
Where I meet Ewald and the Ladies from America
again.
In
2004
the Holland tug of war club headed by Steve Gardener, said t hey were going to organise a mixed event and call it the World 4 + 4 Championships.
The
Teams gather for the opening ceremony
I contacted Carolyn in America and some of
her team came over,
As did De Berketrekkers from Merksplas in Belgium.
The whole weekend went off very well, Steve was to become one of the leading
figures in it promotion. During the championships it was
suggested to De Berketrekkers that they run the next one.
2005 saw us all in
Merksplas Belgium.
This is were I first saw Jagersrust from
the Netherlands, they
were very good and swept the opposition away getting both their teams into
the final.
Jagersrust
Take Gold & Silver.
The Belgians tug of war association are such courteous
hosts.
I was
given the honor of judging one of the finals.
and joined the Teddy bear club.
In
2006 it was held in the Netherlands unfortunately I was unable to
travel. Though Steve Gardner now did all the liaising and organising for
the English sides.
2007 was to have been
held at Retie in Belgium but Family Janssen elected to hold it the
following year as part of their forty years Celebrations.
So
2007 year saw
it back in England held at the Triple F ground in Buckinghamshire. I
helped to organise the field and made a welcoming speech to the
teams. this was to be the last big tournament in which I was to be
involved. Steve has been at the forefront of promoting mixed
pulling both here and on the continent, and has worked tirelessly to
promote it.
Leek
from Staffordshire Take Gold
The
Food and the festivities went on into the night
Last
year I traveled with Leek Towc to the Family Janssen Celebrations in Retie
Belgium, though this time only as a spectator. On the Saturday while the
Mixed pulling was in progress, Steve told me he'd just heard
that Twif were going to
recognise it. We were both delighted.
Leek competing
at Retie
Holland
Take Bronze from some very good teams
An
elated Holland team with their Bronze award
Though
the story of mixed pulling is now in the save hands of the international representatives,
credit must go to those people from North America, Canada, Europe and the
English Federation who have all shared in it's incredible flight
from a village green to the World stage.
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