Years before wrestlers had cars it must have been mind numbing getting trains every day and coping with various delays on the network.Even when arriving in the station there was still the headache of getting to the venue.When wrestlers became 'mobile' motorway networks were very much in their infancy so there were still long and arduous journeys just to make the venue.It probably wouldn't be so bad if there were a few in the cars but if alone it must have felt like a days work just arriving.Jackie Pallo may have been one of the most 'travelled' wrestlers of all as the guy went almost everywhere.Your comments please.
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I remember hearing from Mick McManus in an interview, that standing on a rain soaked platform in Crewe at 11 30pm waiting to catch the train home was indeed tough. And then on to the next venue, the life of a wrestler!
Dicky Swales, who was reported to have died earlier this evening, didn't drive. From the mid 1950s he travelled around the country, and never owning a car relied on the train to get to venues. A typical week he remembered was starting in Hull on Tuesday, Loughborough on Wednesday, Bristol Thursday, Belfast Friday and Workington on Saturday; several trains and taxis and two ferries.
It would have been costly for promoter Frank Price that night, it had stopped raining by the evening and the ring had been put up. I wonder if perhaps seating around the ring which would have been on a wet football pitch
may have caused damage if the show had gone on.
Not sure whether I have told this story before but one night Billy Howes turned up at Newcastle and made straight for that night's bill to see whether he was on. Finding that he wasn't he nipped into the Hall to telephone Middlesbrough to find out should he be there instead which was the correct venue. I don't know where he had travelled from but chances were he was possibly nearer Boro at some point in his journey than St James; even so back in those days he would still have a considerable drive to get to his correct boooking.
In both the Eddie Rose books and the Al Marquette books are stories of wrestlers driving home or to hospital with serious injuries.
Some wrestlers would also have to stay because of long train travel there would be no guarrantee that the train could get them home that night.If a wrestler was on last on the bill there may be no more trains until the next day.
It's almost certain that a wrestler had to stay after the show because of hospitalisation because of injury, it was a risk of the profession
The wrestlers travelling long distances would get more in travel expenses than the purse for the fight. Also did it ever occur that a wrestler could not make the return journey the same night due to injury in the ring?
Those shows down in Penzance or Redruth must have been tough travel.
Biggest Guy at back.....Mitchell Gill
I think that the one on the left might be Mike Demitre.
From the comments/complaints made by wrestlers in the past it would seem that promoters usually paid travel costs. There seems to have been frequent "discussion" about who had or hadn't shared travel and distance covered.
Did promoters pay travel costs?
Not to mention the fact that cars back then were totally unreliable and always breaking down. Its not as if they earned a fortune either, how they did it AND held down a day job in a lots of cases sure beats me!
Travelling must have been one of the worst aspects of the job. Dicky Swales has talked about travelling around the country on trains. Another wrestler once said that he went overseas in the summer because the reduced number of shows in Britain meant travelling even further than usual. The promoters seemed to do nothing to help. Look at a wrestlers bookings for a week and no consideration seems to have been given to travelling distances.
Reminds me of a photo I have shown before. The year 1935 and at Caird Hall Dundee.
All these wrestlers and Officials travelled up to Dundee together and were photographed at Tay Bridge Station. And to think that in those days especially , (I assume) the fans thought it was all real.
Great reply.Thanks Power.
as Bernard and Dave have previously stated that a lot of the wrestlers would head to Central Station Newcastle after the St James Hall show, As motorways were in their infancy the train was the quickest and most reliable if travelling any distance. I remember the Robbie Brookside documentary from the early 1990s and he used train journeys as well as mini buses etc. I would think that as motorways improved and expanded it was ideal for wrestlers like Jackie Pallo to use the car and get out all over the country in fact he must have had a full date book for years because of his willingness to travel.