MPS: wrestling should be funded like opera
Wrestling is a theatrical art form that should be entitled to funding from the same pot as theatre and opera, MPS have said. An inquiry by the all-party parliamentary group on wrestling heard evidence on the industry from some 80 wrestlers, promoters, training school operators, academics, and health care professionals. It recommends that wrestling training be classed as sport but performances classed as theatre. The MPS urged the Arts Council to follow the advice.
WRESTLING is a theatrical art form that should be entitled to funding from the same pot as theatre and opera, MPS have said.
An inquiry by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on wrestling heard evidence on the professional wrestling industry from some 80 wrestlers, promoters, training school operators, academics, and health care professionals.
The report, published yesterday, is the first of its kind to examine the industry and recommends training schools should be considered as “sporting” but shows and promotions be considered “theatrical”, “artistic” or “performative”. The MPS have urged ministers to write to the Arts Council and Sport England to encourage them to do the same.
Alex Davies-jones, Labour MP and co-chairman of the APPG, said these shows should “absolutely” be given the “equivalent weight” as circus schools, theatre productions and dance schools.
“Currently, because they haven’t been given that classification, the doors are all closed to them, they’ve got nowhere to turn,” she told The Telegraph. She added that training schools were not currently regulated by any association, unlike football clubs for example, meaning they can be set up by anyone without the requirement of DBS checks, health and safety documentation or safeguarding courses.
“If they wanted to teach wrestling to children currently without any professional guidelines or any qualifications or DBS checks, they could,” she said. “It is incredibly worrying.”
“Nobody’s wanted to deal with these issues, nobody has wanted to classify it as a sport or get involved… and likewise Arts Council England, and the equivalent bodies of the devolved nations, haven’t wanted anything to do with it.”
The MPS also called for the Health and Safety Executive to write up legislation to protect performers, as there is currently an “absence of any proper governance and oversight”.
“The failure to designate wrestling as either a sport or theatrical, has particularly serious implications for the mental and physical health, safety and wellbeing of performers and others,” the report reads. “The minimum health and safety standards across independent wrestling in Britain is worryingly low.”
Evidence presented to the inquiry found older wrestlers may be “pushing themselves too hard to perform in certain ways”, while younger performers “might feel pressured to take a ‘bump’ because they sense doing so will advance their careers”. The MPS recommend a “fitness standard” may be a “reasonable requirement” for UK wrestling promotions to deter this. The practice of “blading” was also highlighted, “in which a wrestler cuts themselves to increase the intensity of the spectacle”.
Nigel Huddleston MP, the sports minister, said: “The Government welcomes the APPG’S report and will be carefully considering its findings. Arts Council and Sport England were contacted for comment.