Fight in and around the sawdust

Aeschi near Spiez, a quiet village in the Bernese Oberland. Nearly 2,000 inhabitants live in the place where all seems right with the world. But precisely that place where another Gotthelf drama could take place is the starting point of a story in which women in thongs declare war on a male bastion in 1980.

On the one hand, there are those women who want to throw themselves into swing pants just like their brothers and fathers. On the other hand, their opponents, in whose heads the mental horizon does not correlate with the visual direction of the Alps. A woman in thongs does not want to fit into the mental horizon. Significantly, the ‘Bad Women’ initiative comes from rural areas, as the wrestling and its rise are due to the townspeople. But this is another story.

On August 15, 1980, appears in the bridge builder (Today Migros magazine) an article that begins with the words “One of the last and strongest bastions of men is in danger”. The Occasion: A week before the Federal Wrestling Festival in St. Gallen, the first women’s wrestling event takes place in Aeschi near Spiez. On the occasion of this “curiosities”, the bridge builder an interview with Hans Bäni, former president of the Swiss wrestlers association. No matter how neutral the journalist’s questions are, Bäni’s answers seem emotionally touched. He is not enthusiastic about the venture, “because we think wrestling is a sport and a game that is not necessarily intended and appropriate for women”.

When asked if women’s swings have prospects for the future, he replies: “Personally, I see the whole thing more or less as a joke.” In addition, he is certainly not sending delegates to the event, because the one in Aeschi with Spiez is “something wild”. Moreover, he does not believe in a future of women’s wrestling. He was right about that, but not about the first women’s wrestling.

In 2019, journalist Linus will become the creator of his book ‘Heavy guys roll better’ to call the first women’s wrestling the “Woodstock of women’s wrestling”. In fact, the festival in Aeschi near Spiez is the temporary pinnacle of women’s wrestling from 1980 to the present. The event attracts between 10,000 and 15,000 spectators to the Bernese Oberland. From an economic point of view, the surrounding communities also benefit, where beer, cigarettes and cheroots would soon be sold out. “It was a real migration of people, we never expected so many spectators. Because we didn’t have enough food and drink, a lot of money was lost”, organizer Dora Hari recalls 40 years later. Display-Interview.

Why so many people visit the first women’s swing is unclear. Unlike the undeniable (mostly male) responses to it. For example, Paul Dätwyler, then chairman of the jubilee committee of the wrestlers association in Basel, writes in the jubilee publication “75 years of wrestling association Basel-Stadt” 1982: «There is no place for women in the sawdust rings! Those who want it belong on the stage of the sensational and variety show, but not on swinging ground.” The wrestlers are not allowed to make fun of the “more wrestling than swinging” women. Aeschi at Spiez won’t disintegrate that quickly.

And what happened afterwards? The Swiss Wrestlers Association still writes today on his website that until the founding of the women’s association in 1992, the women only swung in secret at their brothers’ homes. But that’s not right, like an article in the newspaper The Bund of August 24, 1981 shows: In mid-August 1981 another women’s wrestling festival takes place in Aeschi in Spiez, this time for about 2000 spectators.

a Federation-Journalist suspects, similar to the tenor of those who label women’s swinging as something peculiar, that the loss of viewers would be due to the already satisfied “lust for sensations” of the previous year. And: The sporting disappointment in the first women’s wrestling was probably too great. Nevertheless, in 1992, the female wrestlers formed their own association. But that shouldn’t detract from the acceptance of the wrestlers.

A lot happened in 2006, both in Switzerland and worldwide: Montenegro and Serbia declared their independence, bird flu reached Switzerland, Michael Schumacher ended his career, the tunneling works for the NEAT to start. Something is also happening in the field of wrestling: during the regional wrestling in Ried (FR) on May 14, 2006, both women and men will compete in the same sawdust for the first time. In an interview with the Freiburg news On the occasion of the festival, Iréne Bodenmann-Meli, the daughter of top wrestler Karl Meli, estimates the acceptance of women’s wrestling to be higher than when women’s wrestling started in 1980. “It’s better since people realized we can do more than just bake Gugelhopf.”

However, its acceptance in wrestling circles is limited even in the 21st century. For example, the Schwinget in the canton of Fribourg does not remain without consequences for the Witzel Club Swiss Wrestlers Association reprimands him and asks him to forego mixed wrestling festivals in the future. In order not to put obstacles in the way of their own wrestlers, the Freiburgers give in. In 2007, women are no longer allowed to resonate.

This decision is not universally welcomed. An editor of Murten bidders wrote on January 19, 2007 about the woman’s performance at the 2006 “Scandal Festival”: “More than 1000 enthusiastic spectators attended this event, indicating that it is time for the association to open up in this regard.”

The acceptance of women’s wrestling is greater today than at the beginning of the twentieth century Women’s Federal Swing Association 1992. This is reflected, among other things, in the change in reporting. In 1992, Swiss television accompanied a contribution to the first official federal broadcast with the song “It’s a Man’s World” by the American James Brown, the media houses are now busy with less judgmental reporting.

Nowadays, however, differences are also visible, for example in the financial field; at the federal fair in Pratteln 2022, wrestling king Joel Wicki can look forward to a temple of gifts worth more than one million francs, while those for women are around 25,000 francs. One possible explanation is whether this is a sign of less acceptance on the part of the sponsors of women’s swings.

The history of wrestling shows: The ‘solid male bastion’ has gained popularity in recent years, most recently when Jörg Abderhalden was crowned Swiss of the Year in 2007. Women’s wrestling could not stop the rise of the sport either. On the contrary.