Scottish Wrestling Bond

The Scottish Wrestler

of the Century 6

MAURICE ALLAN M.B.E. Without doubt Maurice Allan of Edinburgh was the greatest Scottish amateur wrestler of the 20^th century, he certainly has the most unique record. Maurice Allan won the Scottish Free style championship then looking for new challenges took up judo and was coached by George Kerr of the Edinburgh Judo Club one of the world’s leading coaches. He won the Scottish judo championship seven times and the British championship four times then returned to Free Style. Maurice won in all won ten Scottish championships and four British championships in that discipline and has also competed successfully at highland games in the traditional Backhold wrestling. At the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch he won a Bronze medal in the 90kgs category Free style then he placed fourth in the 1974 European Sombo championship in Madrid.
The following year on September 19^th 1975 he had had time to consider the different techniques required for international Sombo and won the 90kgs World Championship in Minsk. This was an amazing feat and it stunned the sports fans of the Soviet Union; he had beaten their best at their own national sport. In recognition of his unique feat he was awarded in 1975 an M.B.E. by the Queen. His victory made Maurice the first Briton to win an amateur world championship in any of the international styles of wrestling, Free Style, Greco-Roman, Judo or Sombo since the 1908 Olympic Games in London.
When Maurice won the World Championship it was in the era of shamateurism when athletes were used by governments as political and idealogical pawns. Maurice Allan was an exception, throughout his career he was a genuine amateur who worked normally for a living and received no government money or sinecures. Wrestling was his hobby and in the age of shamateurism he took on the state funded professionals and won.
He now lives in Virginia in the USA where he teaches unarmed combat techniques in the Criminal Justice Academy to SWAT teams, Drug Enforcement “snatch squads” and the FBI. Maurice has rethought the techniques of sport wrestling and teaches methods of using minimal force to control violent and dangerous criminals.

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