Cornish Wrestling

Cornish wrestling, style of wrestling developed and still practiced in southwestern England. It is also known as the Cornwall and Devon, or West Country, style. Cornish wrestlers wear stout, loose canvas jackets; rules allow wrestlers to take hold anywhere above the waist or by any part of the jacket, although any manipulation of the jacket collar to strangle an opponent is forbidden. A fall is gained when both hips and a shoulder or both shoulders and a hip (“three points”) touch the ground simultaneously. A throw that does not secure a fall is called a hitch; after a hitch, both wrestlers return to their feet to resume the match. Wrestling on the ground is forbidden. Tripping and other uses of the legs are very important, and in Devon, wrestlers formerly wore heavy-soled shoes, with which it was legitimate to kick an adversary’s shins.