Tim Geoghegan made a reference to the combative wrestling he taught as “The same wrestling the Irish have been using against the English for four hundred years.” Tim had studied with teachers in Ireland and England and then traveled all over the world even as far as Iran, wrestling the different styles.

But the particular style of wrestling Tim taught was, according to him, much influenced by the Rileys in Wigan, England. One of the Rileys held the World Lightweight Wrestling title in the early part of the 1900's. I went to Wigan on two occasions to speak with Roy Woods and his friend and wrestling writer Allison. Roy explained the more lethal wrestling was not shown systematically and was saved til the student had earned their wings through orthodox sport wrestling. And it depended on the student's “trustability” (my word).

Roy teaches all ages and is extremely familiar with the various styles of wrestling in England. He was with the Riley gym in the old days and stayed with it til its demise. He can be seen in the old black and white footage of Ernie Riley himself, complete with Trilby demonstrating wrestling holds. I recall the footage was first shown on a wrestling special done for the BBC. I don't know where the footage can be obtained but am sure wrestling aficionados in England have access to it.

Getting back to the Celtic connection... After Tim mentioned the antiquity of the 'old holds,' I thought about the Riley's and realized that Riley was originally - O'Riley. This provided an least tentative Irish link for the Riley family - and thus the wrestling as well. Based on what Roy Woods and Tim told me, the Riley's actually acquired the stuff - or perhaps if they rediscovered it - is open to conjecture... Though I do know this form of wrestling was practiced by the coal miners.

George Orwell, in his Road to Wigan Pier, has a passage, among his sad and poignant recollections, describing the distance a coal miner had to walk, in the underground passages, with his spine horizontal. These distances might go to a half mile or even more (I recall maybe even a mile). The kind of back muscles developed from this would be extraordinary. And the psychic impact of being able to stand up straight and in the light of day after so long a journey underground would be revelatory. Understand also the miners would often dig on all fours when they had reached the vein of coal. So a mile or more down and a mile or more walking out bend over. Then on all fours digging for the day.

Plato's cave analogy would have made sense to these men. It was a hard life and produced hard men. Bill Mellor, another old friend mentioned when he was in the mines of Yorkshire a man had to be able to hit his pony between the eyes and knock him to his knees. This was cruel but essential in that if the pony got out of hand in the mines they could really wreak havoc. It was men of this nature that practiced the kind of wrestling we are talking about. This was their version of recreation. And it met the need produced by the harsh baptism of the inner earth.

So Tim said this harsh wrestling was the wrestling of the Celts. And oddly - to learn it one had to be gentle. Otherwise a partner would not last!

Rudolph Steiner, the Hungarian-Austrian mystic of the early 1900's made mention of the unique position of Celts in world history as carriers of specialized occult knowledge of the power of the earth. Steiner stated the Celts brought magical practices from the East into the British Isles where they (the Celts and their practices) were fused with the stodgy Picts, who though having no magical practices, had been specially prepared through repeated incarnations to carry a particular kind of moral force. So the moral force of the Picts and the magical practices of the Celts formed a kind of new way of being for the people of the British Isles.

The Arthurian legends show the mix of these influences which made their way later into the Orders of Chivalry like the Knights Templar and Scottish Rite Free Masons.

I share this so the reader will get a sense of the esoteric ideas standing behind this Celtic wrestling. It needs to be seen in both it's rigorous aspect and- at the same time - in the way it has been formed in the stream of historical ideas and influences.

My own belief about this kind of wrestling is that, taught correctly, it is one of the best developed carriers of physical culture/education for those students ages about sixteen and older-following the Western streams of culture. It is best understood when combined with the studies of philosophy, sacred geometry and anatomy and physiology. It fits into the tales we hear of the ancients, even back to Gilgamesh and the wrestling throw he used on his friend Enkidu. So it is a kind of wrestling which - because of it's lethality - demonstrates the forces the living human being deals with in their existential dilemma. Because of it's inherent lethality it has to be taught with gentleness, sensitivity and knowledge of both body and psyche. It is the pinnacle of Basic Western Physical Culture and in progressively milder forms can be geared down to younger ages, even down to small children where safe pushing and pulling exercises and basic play ground all initial tactile learning.

This is no small thing as the tactile development of the human- as Harlow's monkey experiments demonstrated - is the basis of staying alive (Harlow had monkeys in cages with buttons for food or touch. They chose touch over food-and the monkeys who did not get touched - died).

So please, think of this wrestling as education and see its value far beyond the sanguine aspect-though that has its place, after all the first step to being healthy is staying alive!