Corro de lucha leonesa, La Mata de Curueño

Leonese wrestling ( Leonese: ''aluche'', es, lucha leonesa), is a form of

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

specific to the

Province of León León (, , ; ; ) is a province of northwestern Spain in the northern part of the Region of León and in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. About one quarter of its population of 463,746 (2018) lives in the ca ...

in Spain. It is one of the oldest

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

s on the European continent.

About

Leonese wrestling bouts occur in the ''corro'', a circle of diameter. The ''corro'' is traditionally a grassed area, but bouts can now occur on mats. Contestants wrestle barefooted in short trousers and shirt. Characteristically, they wear a leather belt wide. This belt surrounds the waist above the hips so that it can be easily held by the opponent. Points are scored if: * the opponent touches the floor with any part of the back (fall; 2 points) * the opponent touches the floor otherwise (half fall; 1 point) * the opponent's belt is removed (fall; 2 points). The match ends either after one contestant reaches four points, or after two minutes when it is awarded on points. In the case of a tie, the referee may rule that the contestant who has shown the most initiative has won. The name "''aluche''" is possibly of Celtic origin. Leonese wrestling was spread throughout

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

by Leonese shepherds in their seasonal migrations. The style became known by various names through the region, including Lucha de la Cruz in Salamanca; vueltas or marañas in

Muga de Sayago Muga de Sayago is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research cente ...

; luchas or trinchas in Zamora; Lucha in La Moraña ( Ávila); galhofa in the north of Portugal; valto in the La Lomba, León; altío or aluchas in La Cepeda; and lucha in the Palencia mountains and Saldaña. The ''Comisión Provincial de Lucha'' (Provincial Wrestling Commission) formed in 1920, and standardised the rules of the sport in 1931–1932. The ''Federación de Lucha Leonesa'' was formed in 1932, as part of the national ''Federación Española de Lucha''. It remains a successful regional style. Leonese wrestling was commemorated as part of a set of stamps on traditional sports that was released by Correos in 2008.

Leagues

Two leagues exist: the winter league and the summer league. The first one is wrestled by teams (there exist currently seven teams and three municipal schools). The second one is wrestled individually and has four categories:

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...

(up to ),

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

(up to ), heavy-average (up to ) and

heavy Heavy may refer to: Measures * Heavy (aeronautics), a term used by pilots and air traffic controllers to refer to aircraft capable of 300,000 lbs or more takeoff weight * Heavy, a characterization of objects with substantial weight * Heavy, ...

(above ). Also for the boys that want to participate in this sport there is a league designated "base league" that is divided in age and weight categories. The season ends with the traditional competition "Rivera VS Montaña" (River Bank VS Mountain) that every year is celebrated alternately in the mountains and in the river valley. These teams divide their influence area by the

FEVE Renfe Feve is a division of state-owned Spanish railway company Renfe Operadora. It operates most of Spain's of railway. This division of Renfe was previously a stand-alone company named FEVE (Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha,Law 11/1965 of ...

railway line (León-Bilbao). For this competition the scoring system changes, since it is wrestled to one fall or to 4 half falls and without time, and the winner team is the one that keeps at least a fighter in the ring (designated the rooster of the ring).

References

External links

Federation of Leonese wrestling official site

{{Folk wrestling European martial arts Culture of León, Spain Freestyle wrestling Folk wrestling styles