the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Published on Feb 23, 2017

Soccer is known worldwide for its passionate fans, and every soccer-mad country has its hooligans who get sloppy and start brawls. But in Russia, these hooligans are trained, organized, and brutally violent.

These organized gangs of hooligans, referred to as “firms,” are becoming more prominent around the country. At the European Soccer Championship last summer, violent clashes in Marseilles showcased the professional fighting prowess of Russian hooligans.

Russia hosting the World Cup in 2018 has put pressure on law enforcement to crack down on the “firms,” who put close to 30 England supporters in the hospital after the 2016 Euro Cup.

VICE News correspondent Ben Makuch reports from Russia ,where he meets with some career hooligans. Despite having the support of some people in the government, the gangs anticipate significant disruption to their activities in the coming months:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRrUeW6 ... e=youtu.be

It's just a tiny little group continuing a very, very old tradition... they just gave it a theme, but the essence is the same:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_boxing#History

The fights most often took place in holiday times and in crowded places. In winter it took place on ice. First the young children fought, then every pair was more grown up than the previous, ending with the last and most notable fist fighters.

In two orders released in 1684 and 1686 fist fighting was forbidden, but the sport continued to live.

Aw, hooliganism isn't a tradition. Organized violence is just part of human dna. People just like to find reasons. Football, politics, religion, neighborhood, it doesn't matter.

I seem to recall on one of the Systema tapes two villages fighting each other. Probably encouraged by the government to get rid of frustration of living under extreme bureaucracy

Bit behind the times aren't they? This was going on in the 70s and 80s in the UK. The ICF and co were extremely organised.

The Russian village fighting is an old tradition, apparently, it's called Wall fighting. We had similar types of things in the UK too before the advent of health and safety. Or, on a more informal level, we just called it "fighting"

They seem to be well trained, good street fighters. They are not just boxing.

They have an entry, control and off balance (e.g., grab an arm, takedown to the ground) their victim. Putting their opponent at a disadvantage, then finish.

Italian Calcio Fiorentino, football and "hooliganism" combined - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcio_Fiorentino

Someone decided to turn it into a sport.



https://youtu.be/27571JbVz-M

I put fhe video in the video thread not to de-rail the topic.