Cork's ‘street level arm wrestlers’ channel Rocky as they train on streets and in parks
Michael O’Brien and Scott Kent of the Street Arm Wrestling team in Knocknaheeny. Picture: David Creedon
Meet the arm-wrestling fanatics who have a firm grip on their sport but need a hand to take it to the next level. And they won’t twist your arm for it — they’re all happy to chip in and pay their way.
Like Rocky in the famous boxing movies, who trained with what he had, hauling a giant log around the streets of Philadelphia, lifting bricks in a railroad yard, and pounding slabs of meat in a packing factory, Ronnie Mostyn and his small band of arm wrestlers have been training on the streets and in the parks of Cork’s northside.
They started without a practice table, just a handful of men getting to grips with each other across a large flat boulder in a local park, locking on and trying to pin each other on the awkward stone surface, training outdoors in all kinds of weather.
They attracted attention and some new members, one of whom built a special training table, but they are still training outdoors, often sharing local parks or basketball courts with others.
With a 14-strong team turning up for training sessions regularly, Ronnie says they really need to find an indoor training venue.
“I have been arm-wrestling for over 10 years but I got really serious about the sport over the last three years, especially during the lockdown,” he says.
“So I know my stuff and how to train people. I’ve been years trying to put together an arm-wrestling team and it’s had its ups and downs over the years, but at the moment, we have 14 people on the team, they are a great bunch of lads, and they are getting real good.
“We train in all weathers but it’s getting to the stage now where we really need somewhere indoors to train.
“We understand that arm wrestling isn’t a big thing at the moment in Cork but it would be amazing for Cork’s northside to have more champions like we have already in all sports.”
Ronnie, 42, a single father of three from Knocknaheeny, first encountered the sport as a child in the 1980s when his father encouraged him and his brother to settle their arguments with an arm wrestle. He dabbled in the sport in his teenage years but his fascination with arm wrestling really kicked off in 2013 when he discovered a work colleague also loved the sport.
“We would arm wrestle each other before work, during our lunchtime break, any time really. We would try to squeeze in a fast arm wrestle, and to be honest, he was the better man,” Ronnie says.
“So that drove me on, and I thought ‘there has to be more to this’ so I started looking it up.” It was only when he began his research that he discovered just how popular the sport is in other countries and how much is involved in training and mastering the technique.
Even Sylvester Stallone took a break from the Rocky franchise in 1987 to star in the arm-wrestling cult classic, .
“There are so many levels to it, so many training styles and techniques,” Ronnie says. “It takes years of conditioning, years of work on bone and tendon strength.”
Three years ago, he discovered that legendary arm-wrestling world champion Devon Larrett had launched the ‘Arm Bet’ app — a sort of Tinder for arm wrestlers which helps them ‘hook up’ for training or matches in their local area.
And so was built his team of arm-wrestling fanatics — among them hookers and top rollers, each with their own approach — who are now on the lookout for an indoor training venue to work on honing their pressing, cupping, pinning, dragging, and pushing-off techniques.
Ronnie, a southpaw, said they have all been working hard on developing their tendon and bone strength through a combination of diet, table training, and specialised weights training.
They have travelled to several matches up and down the country, each competing in various weight classes and at various levels.
“I can arm wrestle on both arms but my left arm is dominant — that’s my party arm,” he says.
“Arm wrestling starts the minute you put your elbow on the table, not when you take your opponent’s hand.
“I’ve taken my fair share of lickings but they give you time to go home, to reassess where you’ve gone wrong, to analyse and identify the mistakes, to change and improve, and then to go again.
“It’s a special sport. There is no arm wrestler that has never lost a match. You have to allow yourself to lose sometimes.
“We have to allow ourselves to take those losses so it’s not for everyone.” Anyone who would like to give arm wrestling a shot or provide Ronnie and his team with an indoor training venue can contact him on Facebook via Mostyn Ronnie, or his YouTube channel.
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