Arm-wrestling craze gets a grip on Northern Ireland

The future is strong for arm-wrestling in Northern Ireland!

Not only is a UK and Ireland-wide arm-wrestling competition coming to Armagh this month but Northern Ireland’s first club has been set up to accommodate the huge growth of the sport.

And with plans to submit a bid for hosting the European Championships in 2025 following ‘a very positive discussion with the IFA World president in Malaysia’, Northern Ireland seems to be set for an arm-wrestling boom!

“The sport has grown massively over the last five years, all around the World. In Northern Ireland we are playing catch up with the rest of Europe and we are heading in the right direction,” explained Co Armagh’s Stanley Hamilton, an arm-wrestling professional and winner of Northern Ireland’s first ever world medal at the World championships in France 2022.

The father of two from Middletown, continued: "I’d played and coached rugby for 25 years and when I hit 40 I changed my job to become a division manager in Belfast, I needed something with less contact to avoid injury. It was around 2017-18 I found five guys to train with in Portadown. I really enjoyed the whole thought process and training regime, so I just continued. I’ve been arm-wrestling on professional tables for the last five years – I love the mental and physical challenge of it.

“I’ve competed in England, Wales, Scotland and at various regional competitions and I managed to win Northern Ireland’s first ever World medal at the World championships in France 2022, winning silver on the right arm and bronze on left. Northern Ireland’s David Gibson and Robert Nicholl also finished fifth and fourth in their weight classes which was a great achievement considering it was our first big tournament.

“I just missed the gold medal again at this year’s Worlds event in Malaysia, winning silver on my right and David Gibson finished fifth again. I'm hoping for third time lucky in September in Greece.”

Since 2020, Stanley, now vice president for the PAA UK and Ireland Arm Wrestling Federation, has been promoting arm-wrestling organising events throughout the UK and Ireland and has recently set up the Northern Ireland Armwreatling Association which already has over 35 members.

“There are small clubs that are growing in Dublin, Cork, Kilkenny, Longford, Kerry, Tipperary, Armagh and Portadown with one just started in Coleraine. We see our sustained growth in gyms as its a professional venue for strength training,” he explained.

"There’s weekly training at The Bodyworks in Armagh, The Warehouse Gym in Portadown and the Evolution Gym in Coleraine. However we are always on the lookout for gyms wanting to offer arm wrestling to their members. The sport has grown massively over the last five years, all around the world. In Northern Ireland we are playing catch up with the rest of Europe and we are heading in the right direction. We are very lucky to have some elite level arm wrestlers from Europe passing on their knowledge as they are currently working in the province.

“It is a close knit community with men and women from all backgrounds and ages. We have an ex-Irish Olympian, Elite level grip competitors, ex-elite level judo, bodybuilders, strongman competitors, gym enthusiasts, retired rugby players, footballers and so on. We don't charge a penny for training as it's all about helping people to take part/have a go and learn and enjoy arm-wrestling safely.”

Already attracting and generating many top local arm wrestlers, Stanley, continued: “We have British and Irish Arm Wrestling champions in both the professional ranks and the novice classes. We also had our first Irish World champion in Malaysia. The ex-Olympian Adrian O'Dwyer from Kilkenny got gold on his right and silver on his left. He had won silver at the European championships in Finland a few moths before it.

“Portadown man Kyle Hutchison has also been representing the UK and Ireland. He has competed in East V West in Turkey, which is a PPV event. He is a reigning Arm Gods Champion and he is currently in Las Vegas pulling in another Arm Wrestling promotion.”

Another triumph for the Northern Ireland club is the Pinkertons Irish Open competition at The Armagh City Hotel on Saturday, January 27 which will see showdowns between strongmen and women from all corners of the UK and Ireland.

“Our team has put on eight competitions over the last five years, again to help build the sport. The next competition will be the Pinkertons Irish open. We are very lucky to have a local business in Pinkertons as our sponsor for our second year which allows us to put the competition on in the hotel,” Stanley outlined.

“There will be three novice classes and five pro classes. There will be a masters (over 50s) and a ladies open weight class. We are expecting our biggest entry level yet. We had 56 entries last year and already there’s a huge interest.

"Arm-wrestling is a physically demanding sport. Entry is restricted to athletes who have trained with a club or a pro. It’s similar to boxing, everyone can do it but it’s only safe, fair and entertaining if both athletes know what they are doing. Arm-wrestling is a miniature martial art and it takes years of training to master.”

But with more plans on the horizon, the Northern Ireland Armwreastling is aiming to expand as well as securing a bid to host the European Championships in 2025, Stanley added: “Arm-wrestling is a serious sport and it is taught in schools in many European countries. At the moment we are unable to offer any competitions for under 18's. This is definitely an area we would like to change as the youth are the future of any sport.

"We are putting things in place as we do have under 18 boys training with us alongside their parents. We are totally focused on bringing arm wrestling to more people. I have shown over 200 people and nearly everyone who has a go on the tables always say they didn’t know it was so complex and mentally challenging.

“Also after a very positive discussion with the IFA World President in Malaysia he is keen to support a bid from ourselves to host the European Championships in Northern Ireland. In either May or early June 2025. We have a few conditions to meet and some funding to find but I do believe it will lift the interest in this sport locally to a very high level.

“The beauty of the IFA European Championships is that they do accommodate for under 15's and under 18's boys and girls and also accommodate for disabled athletes. Finland ran the European championships this year with over 300 athletes taking part. We have over 700 athletes who took part in competitions in the UK and Ireland last year. So I would expect a large number from the UK and Ireland to compete in this championship. Watch this space!”