Saturday 6 September 2014

Wartime Wrestling and Old-timey Boxing

To be fair, I don't sports well...or at all. I have far more memories of getting hit in the face than I do of actual game play. Regardless, organized sports are a strong part  of Newfoundland and Labrador culture.  Whether it's tennis, curling, hockey, soccer, wrestling, rugby or lacrosse, you name it and we've played it.

Royal Newfoundland Regiment Soldiers Wrestling, 1915
 [B 3-12]
Courtesy of: The Rooms Provincial Archives

The Rooms Provincial Archives has a substantial collection of materials relating to professional and amateur sporting activities in Newfoundland and Labrador. The collection consists of personal and business correspondence, scrapbooks, over 5,000 photographs, newspaper clippings, ephemera, minute books, record books, financial statements, and other sports organizational records from approximately 1820 to the present. To learn more, visit the Sports Archive page.

Daily Star [1915-04-17]

St. John's Boxers
Item consists of Portrait of St. John's boxers of the 1930s.
L-R: M. Baird, Phillip Knowling, Pat Dobbin, Frank Stamp and
Tom "Pussyfoot" Benson. Frank Stamp is wearing his championship belt.
Three trophies on table in between boxers.
Frank Stamp was the Light Heavyweight Champion.