The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

WRESTLING. 65 strength alone should mainly decide the victory. Mr. Walter Armstrong, in his book on wrestling in the " All-England Series," says that Dinnie introduced his style about twenty-five years ago. It isa more recent innovation, and dates fromabout 1875. •^ r -Armstrong refers toit under the heading " Scottish Wrestling," atitle to which it has no better claim, nor so good, as the Cumberland style, asit owes its origin entirely to Donald Dinnie, and has never been acceptedgenerally in Scotland. At every place whereit was and is still used, itsbeing adoptedand retained is due to the fact that at these places the judges and committee ofmanagement know little or nothing about wrestling of any kind, and thinking, from Dinnie's long experience, he should know, accepted whatever rules heput forward, and ashe had his rules printed their weight seemed greater. DONALD DINNIE'S STYLE.— The mainfeature of the stylehe introduced was that to win one must put his opponent on his back and hold him there for30 seconds. Dinnie's avowedob­ jection to the Cumberland style was that it did not really prove who was the best man. There is no doubt it is absurd to say that a man whois never offhis feet nor touches the ground with any part of his body excepthis feet has losta fall. Also it is quite possible when two competitors are falling the one who touches the ground first with knee orhand may be uppermost when both come tothe ground, yet the one who at the finish is on his back beneath his opponent is declared the winner. These are undoubtedly weak points inthe Cumberlandstyle. But why did not Dinnie content himself with insisting that aman must be put first on the ground, with one or both shoulders and a buttock at the sametime beforehe lost a fall? The reasonwas that so long as the Cumberland hold, and the various methods of tripping and buttocking were allowed, science with a fair amount of strength, would still have the advantage over superior strength without science. Dinnie's objectwas to introduce a method by which superior strength should win independent of science. His ideal of wrestling wasa contest which terminated only when one