Burnley Grammar School

Michael, we had something similar at my all boys grammar school. In the first two years there would be boxing on the occasional lunchtime. Anyone who wanted to box (and I remember a couple of occasions when, similar to your school, boys who had been fighting or had a grudge would be sent into the ring) could do so - stripped to shorts, big heavy gloves, just on gym mats with no ropes! Like you, it was basically a slugging match with no real skills, until one boy was exhausted and conceded defeat.

The thing I most remember were the crowds of boys who crammed into the gym to watch the spectacle and the noise levels which were terrifying! Lord of the Flies stuff! Great days.

To NickK

Re: wrestling

Hello nick, thank you for your query.

The Bouts were uncoached; we just were paired-up with a Random Opponent , one bout at a Time, usually towards the end of the Lesson , and usually if we did not have A Killerball game in that Lesson.

We were just told to grapple -the Bouts lasted around 5 minutes if one of us did not Submit. No Wrestling Holds were taught and it was pretty much unregulated.We ended up with some pretty sore places on our Bodies!

We did not get to choose our opponent but to be fair we were usually matched against someone of similar Build/Height so it was not usually a Mis-match.

Perhaps email me direct if you fancy corresponding further - your Call. My email is shown above this post on the logo.

Boxing was not part of the curriculum at my old grammar school, but from time to time I did notice there were pairs of boxing gloves hung up in the PE equipment store.

One day they were used by two boys who had been found quarrelling, and who, after being separated, were invited to sort out their differences under proper supervision in the gym, by means of a boxing match.

Neither boy had previously been given any formal instruction in the sport of boxing, so it was basically a slogging match. It lasted only until one boy got too tired to continue, and admitted defeat.

At that point the PE teacher, who had been refereeing the match and ensuring fair play, ruled that his opponent was the winner.

I think that 'elf & safety' regulations would rule out such a means of settling disputes today.

In our school pumishment was usally the cane across the hand(not the one you wrote with so you were not stopped from working). This could be very painful but no tears.

The slipper might be administered in PE. Across a tight backside so that the teacker could see that no pants were being worn. Did any schools use the belt,cane or slipper across a bare backside?

When you think about it we suffered the punsihment and dare not tell our parents because we would get another clout from them for getting into trouble in the first place.

John Lavendar - interesting post about the PE activities you had. Some of them sound familiar. Was the wrestling something that was properly coached and the moves and holds taught, or was it just get in there and wrestle an opponent? Did you get paired off to do it or was there one match and others watched? And did you ever get to choose your opponent?

Archie


Yes,I was slippered a couple of times in front of girls which was more embarrassing but one of the punishments I frequently received was to be made to spread my legs wide so the strap could access my inner thighs.Brief school uniform shorts and games shorts helped to facilitate this kind of punishment and was the most painful.

Archie,

I was a good pupil but even then I had to take the long walk to the front of the class on a few occasions. I did my best to avoid the belt but in those days it was used regularly- some teachers used it in most lessons. I think very few boys would have gone through school without receiving a belting.

James

Did you get slippered in front of girls? How were you dressed during the slippering?

Sam

They were white and they were gym shorts but also we wore nylon shorts in our house colours,mine were yellow.

Archie

I was slippered for forgetting my kit,it was done in public and was very embarrassing.

James
You mention of nylon shorts.were these white? iI remember a lad in our class wore white nylon shorts for football one day in the rain. They became very see through. He never wore them again.

Why on earth were shorts made in white nylon and why did people buy them because even in the dry pants which were always briefs in the mid sixties could be seen through them

At our Grammar-School in the 1960s we had no shirts v. skins unless we were playing Team-games or unless you were one of last 2 Lads to get changed for PE ,in which case you had to remove Tee-shirts and Run-the-Gauntlet as Punishment (some of us were deliberately slow so we could do this and then do PE Shirtless).
If we did Wrestling we were told beforehand to wear Swimming trunks under our Gym-shorts so we knew when we were going to do it, and could just strip-off the Shorts and Shirts when we were starting the Wrestling. We didn't do Wrestling all that often but we looked forward to it as Proper Wrestling was on the TV , usually on Saturday Afternoons.
We didn't do Weight-training but did a lot of stuff with A Medicine-ball, a proper heavy one, probably about 10kg or whatever that was in old money.
We played Killerball , Skins v. Vests , virtually every PE Lesson ,mostly with an ordinary [Leather] Football or Rugby Ball (the game was very like Rugby , only Indoors) but occasionally we were "treated" to playing the Match with the Medicine-ball. Which did wonders for your Upper-body Strength..

Our swimming teacher always found it amusing when we came back after the summer holidays and we all had white marks where our trunks had been. It looked like we were wearing trunks. A few boys including myself one summer managed to get an all over tan when on holiday so the teacher got a bit of a surprise when he saw us withput the normal white marks.

We did wrestling after school once a week. It was optional but i really enjoyed it.I was pretty skinny at about age 12 or 13 and it was really good exercise but hard work. We just wore our white cotton shorts for it, no top or shoes. If it was hot, we would do it outside.

James

How were you slippered? Was it done in private or in front of the class?

Jim Scotsguy yes I did but I was early to mid 80s. Did you get belted much?

Archie,
Did you attend a school in Scotland? Your experiences very much mirror mine from the late 60's.

We occasionaly did some wrestling in pe and we had to wear swimming trunks for that instead of shorts. Don't know why but that was the rule. The strange thing was that you were allowed to wear swimming trunks to wrestle in, but not for swimming. That was the 70's for you. After a lessons wrestling, every boy had marks all over their tops where they had been grappled.

Archie

I rarely forgot my kit but it was punishable by the use of the slipper.A supply of shorts was kept in case of this eventuality and these were polyester,nylon satin shorts.

James

What happened to lads who forgot their kit for a mixed gym lesson?

Our gym shorts were black, so it was quite easy for masters to see the waistband of any white briefs sticking out the back which wasn't too unusual an occurrence especially during heavy sessions of circuit training and the like.

They would also occasionally go along a line of boys to pull back their shorts to do a "pants check" if they were being particularly mean!

Archie, I see your question to another writer. My experience was that we only wore white shorts, no pants from age 11 to leaving school at 16. I think white because any underpants which were always briefs would be seen. We were not told about any type of support and so did not know about it or wear jockstraps, relying on tight shorts for any support which sometimes left nothing to the imagination. However, as far as I remember no one thought anything about. It was an all boys school and there was no embarrasment and and then we stripped off and had communal showers at the end of the lesson with no inhibitions.

What were othe peoples experiences?

Archie

We were not allowed to wear anything under our shorts for mixed gym lessons or any other sporting activities.I simply wore shorts until I left school.

James

When you were in mixed gym class were you allowed to wear anything under your shorts? We weren't allowed to wear anything under ours until we were older when we could wear a jock or speedos under, though many of us wore briefs - we got belted if we got caught! I do remember that some lads didn't wear anything underneath even when they were a bit older notwithstanding they were a bit too big for their gym shorts....

Yes, meant wearing trunks was not on the Agenda. This was the practice at my school and many others. I did not wear trunks from early prep school from age 8 to about 15.
My sisters teased me a bit as they thought it was amusing that they were allowed to wear costumes and we wern't. I got my own back when we all forgot our swimming kit but i could still do my swimming lesson

Simon, I remember getting teased for having to wear shorts

Matthew your comments about whther the Teachers should have also been naked are interesting. Possibly logical but I should think unlikely.

Lorry,did you mean "wearing trunks was not on the agenda"?
Why were you teased by your sisters,I was teased by sisters for wearing short trousers?

An awful as I think the treatment of boys in games and swimming in school was up to the 1980s,it may still surprise you to hear that I actually have no problem with naked swimming in principal but it has to be a free choice of any boy to do so.What right does anybody have to force nudity on teenage boys at any level?That goes for showers too.The reasons for naked swimming at my school were that you couldn't wimp out with the excuse that you had forgotten your kit.Having said that many lads still didn't bring a towel and ended up borrowing from a friend or getting dressed damp.Our classes used to involve about 36 boys at times and I would readily admit that maybe 10 of them loved it but they were the minority.I rememeber at the end of one lesson coming out of the pool and getting a loud bawling at for some minor reason by my games teacher.I just cannot begin to explain how utterly small and pathetic it made me feel to be shouted at while naked in front of my fully clothed adult teacher,as a boy of 14,while he was looking me up and down.During a lesson of about 70 minutes the boys would not be in the pool for the whole time and for periods would be required to stand at the edge in line watching in the pool doing various swim tasks.I always remember wandering where to put my hands.To cover or not.When we lined up at the start of the swimming periods at the side of the pool,as our names were ticked off the register,I was struck by how many of my classmates would put their arms behind their backs,maybe somewhat defiantly.We had a female school matron who had seemingly unrestricted access to the pool where boys or girls were swimming.She appeared on numerous occasions and I clearly recall us saying to us boys one day that there wasn't a lad in the 12 years she had worked there who she hadn't seen in his entirety.We all new what that meant.About 3 times a year wee would have the matron check the soles of our bare feet prior to our lesson,when we kneel in a line along a bench.Not one of us liked it.Oh!and guess what,we were ready to swim at the time,so naked.Now why did we have to be naked to have our feet looked at?On numerous occasions rumours circulated that we would be getting our penises checked out by her too.It stayed a rumour,thankfully.The simple fact is that there were a lot of boys who never got used to this behaviour by our school teachers and staff.Boys could be stripped,poked about,looked at etc.as if we had no care about it.But girls,well it was a world of difference.No naked swimming,nice swimwear of their choice,voluntary showering and nice gym kits too.They could wear their trainers in the gym,boys were bare feet and bare chested.Many were mixed so it mattered.The boys were to be "meat" to be checked over.Lots of boys didn't like taking their shirts off and going bare chested but were given no choice.

Sam, in an all-male context, trunks would probably have been considered unnecessary. By the same token, though, the teacher should not have needed them either.