my opinion

i have been wrestling many years and i have heard many questions etc. the question which always stands out is why does not such a person armwrestle anymore and why have we lost so many. my answers to these and many more is my opinion only i am not the best or strongest wrestler but i thank God for the things i have achieved and this is only my thoughts.
one of the main reasons we lose wrestlers is because of lack of money; you all know the cost of getting to an event and perhaps staying over, missing work, the cost of the event, well it can easily be in the £150 mark and this is in the UK only.
The other reason is fairness; how many times have you trained hard for a comp and only to lose by a refs decision. this with the money equals a loss in a wrestler. My soloution to one of these is to have a few seated refs and head ref as in the worlds or in the professional league! i know we could not afford video footage yet but to have 3 line refs would assist in fairplay. please do not get me wrong the refs job is one of the hardest so i am looking at solutions. if then the 3 refs come with a decision then at least it was looked into.
i find it so sad that how not only do we lose wrestlers but they lose interest in the sport. i mean why do any of you wrestle! i know why i wrestle because i enjoy it and i am also a fan.
If paul maiden was on a bill i would gladly pay to watch him armwrestle.Why is it then we lose wrestlers as fans? do you want to be the next person to say i used to wrestle because believe me no one will care. the sport has lost legends and do you think any one will care for you.
Take a look at most sports say football. The fans can pay over £200 a month for tickets etc. i know your thinking we may spend this in 2 comps or whatever you may pay but the fact is would you travel to watch other wrestlers. if your answer is no then your not a fan as you should be behind eachother at the events.Can you believe John Breznk was in the UK and only and handful were there to see him. This is the legend of our sport and no one seemed to care. Also this was for Free
The reason i am writing this is because i know Nick has 48 members so if you think you are a wrestler or importantly a fan and you do not want to be someone who used to wrestle, then speak
up, if we have 48 replies and one brilliant idea then at least the one idea can move us forward.
As i said i am only speaking for myself this is my opinion

Your ideology is sound Julien, as you yourself pointed out, even the legendary John Brzenk doesn't spark the interest in the u.k. as he perhaps would abroad.
For all involved finance is always the problem, yet like any business or organisation, "you've got to spend money to make money".
Without a significant financial boost progress will continue to be arduous, other avenues for financial stability and growth must be explored.
To everyone's knowledge, 'what avenues have been explored to date?'.

julien Cini wrote:

The other reason is fairness; how many times have you trained hard for a comp and only to lose by a refs decision. this with the money equals a loss in a wrestler. My soloution to one of these is to have a few seated refs and head ref as in the worlds or in the professional league! i know we could not afford video footage yet but to have 3 line refs would assist in fairplay. please do not get me wrong the refs job is one of the hardest so i am looking at solutions. if then the 3 refs come with a decision then at least it was looked into.

Get over it Julien– You have NEVER been happy with refs EVER! I've seen/wrestled you in soo many matches where you have 'robbed' by a ref…

Like you say, reffing is the hardest job, and NOBODY wants to do it - so where the hell are you going to find enough refs of the extremely high quality needed to satisfy your exacting standards, with all of them willing to stand there all day and have guys who are shitiing themselves on the setup accuse them of being corrupt – ANYONE want that job???

I'm just sick of hearing people bleating on here about this and that – 

GET OF YOUR ASSES AND DO SOMETHING THEN!

Now then, addressing the 'why do we lose pullers' thing – guys dont have the balls to suck up a loss and battle on in most cases... Yes money is a problem, but again–

GET OF YOUR ASSES AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Julien you're a nice guy, but you do need to reel your head in a little - nobody is out to 'cheat' you! Get over your little failed attempt at a british title - suck it up, work on ur nervousness at the table and come back next time!

Amen.
Wise1.

my dad absolutly loves reffing and would be quite offended by whats being said julien he looks to you as a very good puller and would really not like that thought, he likes to think he is a good referee and he IS the worst thing for him is to foul people and in many cases he tends to let it go if it is not important becuase people want to see armwrestling as does he.... i am one for fouling a lot due to my nerves at a table but thats noones fault but my own i would hate to ref myself...

I have just managed to get back on the site after no access for a week or so and when I did I found a very old topic dated Dec 2008 that I had written myself. back up for discussion. As I put this on nearly a year ago it has no relevance to the comments made about any comps I have wrestled in this year. I am not going to use this site that Nick has built up amazingly to belittle or degrade any armwrestlers. Every single armwrestler is important. I have already spoken to Neil to voice any of my opinions concerning any wrestling and he has given me lots of time to hear my views whether right or wrong and I really appreciated it.

As I have said before, without any open thinking and constructive feedback the sport which I love will never grow. Its the comments from new pullers and pros that are needed. As i mentioned last year, if we had 50 comments about armwrestling and only 1 sound idea can help promote the sport then the other 49 comments are not a waste. I have always said that refereeing is a hard job like i said in my last post

all the best with the forum Nick God Bles s

I think your last paragraph Julian will encourage myself as a new puller to make comments on our sport without the fear of being degraded .

julien Cini wrote:

I have just managed to get back on the site…and when I did I found a very old topic dated Dec 2008 that I had written myself. back up for discussion. As I put this on nearly a year ago it has no relevance to the comments made about any comps I have wrestled in this year.

Ok–

So I have got to apologise to you Julien– I didnt notice this was an old post that was dug out from the depths … I will PM you with reasons to why i wrote what i did - but publicly I am sorry for my little rant

jj wrote:

I think your last paragraph Julian will encourage myself as a new puller to make comments on our sport without the fear of being degraded .

Comment away 'JJ' – but a note to you all - commenting and trying to help is one thing, not knowing your ass - from your hopefully not so wrecked elbow can and does cause problems… just think of any repercussions your comments may spark in 'our' sport…

Over and out for now–
Wisë
(with now 16 posts to his name! woo!)

Andy i'm glad to hear you've been keeping up-to-date with my posts because there's a lot more to come.

[quote="wiSë

Like you say, reffing is the hardest job, and NOBODY wants to do it - so where the hell are you going to find enough refs of the extremely high quality needed to satisfy your exacting standards, with all of them willing to stand there all day and have guys who are shitiing themselves on the setup accuse them of being corrupt – ANYONE want that job???

Me i bully the puller and thats what a ref should do hes the boss.......

in all fairness sometimes its hard to make comments on subjects like this ive known and trained with wise for a long time and known Jules just as long,ive spoken to Julian about some complaints he has had in his matches as i have with many others,reffing is a ball ache but a must if we want a fairish comp we must have the striped gits however i di feel there is better refs than others and i have had my favourites throught the years,andy being one,there is and always will be matches that you feel like his wrist my thumb and it gets on your tits i know ive been on the receiving end of them not mentioning any names cough ginge cough lol

we will always have these debates and when it happens on a regular basis it can seem biased,not that i think there is cheating going on,as i know when i ref my boy Bandit i probs am over stricted on him sorry bud

If anybody has a issue with certain refs speak to the person in charge and ask for a ref change its not hard and iam sure that it will be accepted il ref anyone just ask

To be honest IF you are good enough the Refs don't really matter.

Many athletes particularly in Britain are not well travelled and as a result are very nervous at the table, it is also easy to forget that ARMWRESTLING IS A COMBAT SPORT !!!

The match has started when you arrive at the table and the match is often won in the set up I honestly believe that the UK Refs in the main do an EXCELLENT JOB and I am very very proud of them Richard, Ginge & Mick have been OUTSTANDING in 2009 and deserve enormous credit for that fact.

When I watch A LOT of lads trin they train in their comfort zone and never from a less than comfortable position then when the heat is on against a dominating opponent they feel hyper uncomfortable and unprepared in the set up and become very nervous up there 80% of our lads are guilty of this and training with a disadvantage can assist.

Refs at international events are MUCH WORSE and less approachable tha our circuit Refs THATS FOR SURE.

Just got watch the recent zloty for that bash you around GREAT