Welcome to Australian Pan-Celtic Wrestling
Pan-Celtic Wrestling is the revival of the Celtic sports that were played in Australia in the colonial period. These were the first imported styles and the Irish had practiced scuffling as a tavern sport since the 1790s, it was also closely associated with the Vinegar Hill Rebellion of 1804, as a method of combat training for the convict rebels but seems to have died out by the 1860s.
The Scottish Communities of the major cities were creating imitation Highland Games as early as the 1830s and the Melbourne Caledonian Society sponsored several backhold competitions at the MCG in the 1860s that drew over 10,000 spectators. Cornish wrestling was very popular in the mining towns across Australia but particularly in Bendigo, Ballarat, Moonta, Kadina, Wallaroo, Broken Hill and Cobar from the 1860s till the turn of the 20th century. After the First World War and the Great Depression of the 1930s the link with these ancient sports seems to have been severed and instead professional catch as catch can wrestling became the dominant style in peoples consciousness.
In 2001 with the help of the Cornish Associations of Australia, a new championship was devised for the Kernewek Lowender in Moonta but Pan-Celtic Wrestling combines the rules of the three Celtic sports, Scottish backhold, Irish scuffling & Cornish wrasslin, fought by the wrestlers in three seperate rounds.
Technical Manuals:
Australian Celtic Wrestling 