Saturday, August 22, 2015
British Sombo/Cambo/Sambo History
With the 2nd Presidents Cup soon upon us I
thought I would write a small article on the History of Sambo in Great Britain
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| Martin Clarke World Silver 1986 |
Originally Sambo was under the supervision of the British
Wrestling Association during the 1970’s and early 1980’s. FILA (International
Amateur Wrestling Association) formulated a Sambo Sub Committee in which BAWA
Chairman Burt Jacobs was a member of; he then introduced Sambo to Great
Britain.
The first problem Sambo Wrestlers incurred was the name in
the 1970’s Sambo in the English speaking world was considered racist so the
BAWA decide to use the Russian Spelling which was Cambo, so in the 1970’s BAWA
practised Cambo to appease the PC brigade. Some years later the Americans came
up with name Sombo that was used throughout the English-speaking World but as
the years went by the correct translation of Sambo was in use. As of today the
only country to use the word Sombo is Great Britain, most people do not
associate the word Sambo with racism accept for our own Sports Council. The
British Sombo Federation were advised some years ago that if we used the term
Sambo for our organisation we would lose our Governing Body status, we have asked
again to change the name to its correct spelling and am awaiting a reply.
My own involvement started about 1973/74 as a very
competitive Judoka I wanted to try other styles of grappling at the time there
was only two other styles in GB Cambo and Olympic Free style and I tried both
winning a few medals. In 1977 I decide to try for the 1980 Olympic Games so all
my energies went into training in Judo as part of he BJA Olympic Squad
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| 1996 |
Although I had reasonable success in the BJA winning 2
National trials and an All England my bid for the Moscow Olympics was not
successful, I made a return in 1983 after a competitive layoff of 3 years to
take a place in the 1983 National Squad but my heart was no longer in
competitive Judo but I did make a come back in 2001 to win the World
Masters. I needed a different challenge
so I managed a spot with the British Jiu Jitsu team in the 1984 World
Championships in Canada were I won a silver. On the return flight I read an
article in the Daily Telegraph how the World Games was to be held in London in
1985 and one of the sports was Sombo.
On my return I contacted Burt Jacobs of the BAWA asked if I
could take part in the trials for the British Team. I was shocked to be told
that GB was not entering team as no one was running Sombo in GB he invited me
to the Wrestling Academy in Salford and then asked me to reboot Sombo and
select a Team for the World Games which I did. Sadly I received no help from
previous Sombo organisers who had lost interest in the sport in fact the only
person from the 1970’s to be involved in Sombo since that decade apart from
myself was Matt Clempner. The British Team had considerable success at the
World Games 4 Bronze, 1 Silver (yours truly) 1 gold. At the end of 1985 myself
Trevor Roberts and Tony represented BAWA at the World Championships in San
Sebastian Spain where I was place 5th
With the popularity of Sambo/Sombo on the increase FILA
decide to let Sambo Players under the guidance of Fernando Compte to form an
independent International Sambo organisation and FIAS (Federation International
Amateur Sambo) was born in May 1985 and I have been part of that since its
inception. With the separate Federation Burt Jacobs BAWA told me that Sombo
could no longer be associated with the BAWA so he advised me to form a New
British Sombo organisation, which I did.
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| 2006 |
I was lucky that I already had an Martial Arts Organisation
in GB which I headed the International Budo Federation and at the British Sombo
Federation inaugural meeting in 1986 it was senior members of that organisation
who took up the various positions on the new executive Committee. The were
Martin Clarke President/Chairman, Brenda Jones Secretary, Alan Kontozi
Treasurer, Dave Boulding, Valerie Clarke Committee. This was a complete new
beginning for Sombo in GB and a learning curve for all of us as there was none
of the old guard involved. Some years later in 1995 the Sports Council of GB
recognised us as the Governing body for the Sport of Sombo and the BSF would
becoming integral part of FIAS with two Presidents Cups held in GB and Myself
being awarded a FIAS Gold medal to celebrate 75 years of Sambo just 10 medals
were given throughout the World and I was the only one outside e the Easter
Block to be awarded one, although I have won 3 World Sambo Silvers this medal
was the pinnacle of my career. Who would have believed when I read that
newspaper article on the Plane in 1984 I would be where I am now
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| 2010 a lot heaver and bigger then 1986 |
Sambo is now divided into two sections Sport Sambo and Combat
Sambo and it development in the last 5 years has been phenomenal in the 1985
World Championship there was about 18 countries in last years Worlds in Japan
there was nearly 100, Sambo is certainly the Grappling Sport of he future
# posted by IBFBCSA @ 4:29 AM 
