As a regular to this venue back in the mid to late 70s I saw many great bouts and Im wondering when wrestling started being shown there. Can anyone here help? Cheers
Also in at a time when there were very few non white faces in any other sport black wrestlers were placed top of the bill and a few years the promoters had a Sikh Tiger Dalibar Singh as British Heavyweight Champion
Wrestling has always been about promoting feuds. French v Germans long after both World Wars; French v Algerians; British v Germans; v Japanese (always cowardly villains even when they were Australian) etc,
Good points by Matey Dave, The Ost, Frank and Powerlock . The homepage of Wrestling Heritage grandly states "Wrestling Heritage - Preserving Britain's social history." Life was what it was and we should not judge the actions of yesterday by today's standards. By all means continue to post the material that we now realise was offensive, we all know the context from which it originated.
Its not your fault Ost. I asked a question and you were kind enough to post the bill which was great, but although it was the norm by many to look down on black people back then it was still wrong. I can remember the 60s/70s clearly. Love thy neighbour, Alf Garnett on TV, Black people we worked with called Chalky, and that was just the nice stuff!. But it WAS racist and totally wrong. Who the hell did we think we were?
What we find offensive now was the norm as Matey said, these gentlemen were decent draws on the bill and as was said hopefully we're paid accordingly, good post
Actually a really thoughtful post from mateydave. I understand it was a different time. I do have to be careful posting handbills/posters elsewhere on the internet because younger people are quick to find outrage. But here I think we all understand the context.
before we start critizing stuff as racist, did it stop anybody going to watching wrestling when a black and white contest was being advertised. a number of times johnny kwango was introduced on tv as "our coloured friend". different times. in those far off times life was different and audiences were often behind those of a different texture. i would be more upset to hear that mr lagey and others were treated different and were paid lower rates
Also in at a time when there were very few non white faces in any other sport black wrestlers were placed top of the bill and a few years the promoters had a Sikh Tiger Dalibar Singh as British Heavyweight Champion
Good points by Matey Dave, The Ost, Frank and Powerlock . The homepage of Wrestling Heritage grandly states "Wrestling Heritage - Preserving Britain's social history." Life was what it was and we should not judge the actions of yesterday by today's standards. By all means continue to post the material that we now realise was offensive, we all know the context from which it originated.
Its not your fault Ost. I asked a question and you were kind enough to post the bill which was great, but although it was the norm by many to look down on black people back then it was still wrong. I can remember the 60s/70s clearly. Love thy neighbour, Alf Garnett on TV, Black people we worked with called Chalky, and that was just the nice stuff!. But it WAS racist and totally wrong. Who the hell did we think we were?
What we find offensive now was the norm as Matey said, these gentlemen were decent draws on the bill and as was said hopefully we're paid accordingly, good post
Actually a really thoughtful post from mateydave. I understand it was a different time. I do have to be careful posting handbills/posters elsewhere on the internet because younger people are quick to find outrage. But here I think we all understand the context.
before we start critizing stuff as racist, did it stop anybody going to watching wrestling when a black and white contest was being advertised. a number of times johnny kwango was introduced on tv as "our coloured friend". different times. in those far off times life was different and audiences were often behind those of a different texture. i would be more upset to hear that mr lagey and others were treated different and were paid lower rates
I noticed that too. Also some billed as black v white contest. Disguisting racist bullshit.
Prince Kumali"biggest coloured athlete in the world" and Johnny Kwango "West Africa'sNegro Athlete
Amazing! The knowledge on here never fails to suprise me. Thank you Mr Ost Sir. ☺
That's a cracking poster Ost. Thanks. The black v white heading was common in those days.
Here are a couple of other ones from late 1962 and early 1963:
Here we are, November 6, 1962. The first show:
I think I have the handbill for that show, hopefully I can dig out out tonight or tomorrow.
it opened in 1962 , you might be able to find the first show via newspaper archives or at the local