Scotland - Wrestling in the NEWS 
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Sun 27 Feb 2005
SCOTSMAN.COM - Scotland on Sunday
Grappling for exposure
Martin Hannan
ASKED to name the sport at which Scotland completely dominates the Home Nations, most people would hazard a guess at curling or perhaps snooker. Very few Scots would think of the ancient and honourable sport of wrestling.
It is one of the great hidden secrets of Scottish sport that, within the last few years, there has been a veritable explosion of talent on the wrestling mat, most of it concentrated in three towns in central Scotland, Milngavie, Denny and Cumbernauld.
In a remarkable feat for Scottish sport, wrestlers from the local clubs in these towns plus a few individuals elsewhere have managed to accumulate no fewer than 12 of the 26 British titles available to UK wrestlers.
Sadly, we will not have a chance to see these fine young athletes on a larger stage for some time to come as the Australian organisers of next year’s Commonwealth Games mysteriously left out wrestling - a regular Games event for decades - from Melbourne’s roster of sports. The fact that Australia probably would not have won any large number of medals may or may not be a contributory factor to its absence.
In some respects, that may be beneficial to the likes of Milngavie’s Sean Keogh, 17 next week, who is recognised, with Finlay Marshall of the Cumbernauld club, as a future superstar in a sport which was given pride of place in the first Olympic Games. Not the Games which took place in Athens in 1896, but the Olympiad which began it all back in Greece nearly three millennia ago.
Keogh and Marshall will now have time to develop their skills in the run up to the Commonwealth Games of 2010 which will take place in a wrestling-mad nation, India.
These two incredibly fit young men are the product of a remarkable revival in the sport in Scotland within the last couple of years led by a totally dedicated bunch of dads and coaches with no obvious background in sports administration but who have impressed everyone with their commitment to promoting and developing wrestling in Scotland.
Not that there should have been any surprise about the dedication shown by Scottish wrestlers. Four decades ago, a previous generation of Scots also dominated the sport which, by the way, is as far removed from the lunacy of the WWF televised circus as professional boxing is from a playground fight.
Back then, two Scottish wrestling champions, Davie Scott and John McCourtney, went all the way to Turkey to study the best coaching in the world, which traditionally the Turks have always provided. They travelled there and back on a Lambretta scooter.
The tale is still told to this day by their descendants. Davie Scott Junior is coach at the Milngavie club which presently holds 11 Scottish titles and has five British champions in its midst.
In Milngavie Community Education Centre on Friday night, when most teenagers across the country were doing anything other than sport, Davie Scott Jnr was putting his talented crew through their paces. They had been joined for the night by the leading Czech exponent of Greco-Roman style wrestling, Rudy Rezabek, who fortunately is studying at Dundee University at the moment.
Rezabek was on hand to give Keogh lessons as the young British freestyle champion for his age group - he is so good he usually has to compete against wrestlers two and three years older than him - is shortly to go to Paris to compete in a mixed tournament.
Greco-Roman and Freestyle are the two main recognised versions of wrestling in the Olympic Games, but freestyle is overwhelmingly the British version of wrestling. Spectators at Highland Games will also have seen more esoteric styles such as catch-as-catch-can.
Keogh’s father John is development officer of the SWA, and the Keogh family garage has been transformed into a weightlifting facility for Sean and his colleagues. His well-toned physique shows the benefits of hours spent weightlifting, but it has come at a cost: "I don’t really have a social life and I have to get up every morning at 5:30 for a part-time job to help support the cost of my wrestling," said Sean. "But I’ve been hooked ever since I had my first contest and I’m determined to go as far as I can in the sport."
His coach Davie Scott Jnr makes a telling point: "We’ve had about 200 kids through here trying out the sport and obviously many of them have not taken a long-term interest. These days, kids have so many other attractions such as computer games, but guys like Sean and Gregor McFarlane, who is another British champion, are totally dedicated to their sport."
At the Denny Club, Willie Airnes is the coach and the principal hope for future glory there is young Steven Abercrombie. "We have to raise all our own funds through sponsored walks and other events, and we’ve had to dig into our own pockets to support the likes of my own son Michael, but it is the only way we can get the boys the competition they need to improve."
Sportscotland acknowledge that the biggest problem facing the development of Scotland’s talented wrestlers is the lack of wrestling in next year's Games. Without a chance of competing in those Games, present rules mean the young wrestlers will find it difficult to attract sportscotland funds.
"When you think that a wrestling mat costs £8,000 and that was the total the Scottish Wrestling Association was given last year then you see the scale of our problem," said John Keogh. "We’ve had to seek money from the likes of the Robertson and Birnie Trusts and East Dunbartonshire Sports Council but they are limited in what they can give.
"Ideally, we’d love to see private sponsors coming in to help us with these guys who we are sure will be successful for Scotland in the future."
The good news is that sportscotland have just awarded £5,000 athlete support for wrestlers. Michael Cavanagh, vice-president of the Scottish Wrestling Association and British Olympic team manager at Athens, welcomed the news: "We have the finest crop of junior wrestling talent that we have had for many, many years, and it's all happened relatively quickly. The money from sportscotland will assist the likes of Sean Keogh with his preparation. And we are confident that these young men will be the core of our squad for the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and perhaps even the Olympics of 2012
Glasgow wins race for 2014 Games bid
Scotsman GLASGOW is Scotland's candidate to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, it was announced yesterday. ( September 25, 2004)
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Bar boss's gift to club
Glasgow, SCOTLAND, June 1, 2004 .....
A WRESTLING club is celebrating after a pub boss offered to pay its transport costs to take kids to competitions.
Around 20 youngsters aged from 7 to 16 from the Red Road Wrestling Club will benefit from the £900 gift from Andy Beattie, boss of Bar Cini in Glasgow's Renfield Street. The money will pay for members to go to competitions across Scotland and England.
Club chairman Gordon Mackie said: "We operate in an area of social deprivation. We want to thank Andy."
Booth takes the long route in search of title
The Glasgow Herald, UK - 16 Apr 2003
... Booth has won British and Scottish titles in Olympic freestyle wrestling and was
in the frame for a place in Scotland's Commonwealth Games team before deciding ...
Scotland - 1/20/2003 Grappling sahibs seek mat finish tinged with gold in ruling that sands of time have run out for sport of royal Traditional sandpit wrestling - a popular spectator sport throughout the sub-continent, and which was formerly practised by the kings - has been banned forthwith.
Scotland is on the move !
Calum McNeil. Wrestlers Calum and Gregor McNeil with Alexander Parks pupil of Milngavie Primary School Wrestling.
English pulls out of Games with injury
Scotland wrestler Graeme English is to retire from the Games and the sport following an injury.
12:55 Tuesday 30th July 2002
WRESTLING: ENGLISH IS SCOTS TOP GOLD HOPE
SCOTLAND'S most successful wrestler is determined to be fit in time to win another medal at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
At 37, Graeme English will be one of the Bank of Scotland team's oldest members. But that is no barrier to the man who won the British Championship nine times and is unrivalled in his home country.
The East Kilbride-based powerhouse achieved ninth place in the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988 and won bronze in the Games of 1986 and 1994.
Recent operations to both his knees have kept English from training for more than six weeks. But the joiner knows the lay-off may be a good thing in the long term. He said: "My knees are healing very well and I expect to be back in action shortly. "Injury is always disappointing, but I love the sport and want to keep being successful."
"Provided I am fit to take part I will certainly be aiming for a medal."
English will compete in the 96-kilo category in Manchester - but it might have been different for the amiable Scot if he had followed his father's lead. He said: "My father was a gymnastics coach and while I had started wrestling at the age of eight for fun I gave it up and took up gymnastics. "I did this for a while but I suffered an injury and was becoming too heavy for gymnastics.
"This wasn't a problem though as when I returned to wrestling in 1985 I won the British Championships in my first year back."
| Scotland fighting for success
09 July 2002
A six strong wrestling squad has been picked by Scotland for Manchester. Louise Martin, chairman of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland (CGCS) said: “We have selected a strong team, with everyone who has met the selection criteria going to Manchester regardless of overall numbers. Our minimum target is to improve on our medal tally in Kuala Lumpur and I am confident that this can be achieved given our thorough preparation and thanks to the support of our team sponsor Bank of Scotland, Sport Scotland and many others.” Following feedback from the 1998 Games, the athletes will be supported by an increased team staff, which again reflects the requirement for increased medical and sports science support including doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists and analysts. The main party of the Team will travel to Manchester on Monday 22 July.
The wrestling team Joseph Bianco
Kenny Devoy
Graeme English
Viorel Etko
Steven McKeown
Douglas Thomson | | | |
