'We're no longer messing around': Inside Cork city's only arm wrestling club

Cork’s northside is renowned as a hub for various traditional sports - hurling, road bowling and draghunting to name just three.

Now there is a new kid on the block - arm wrestling!

An official sport, it appears to be on the rise, with amateur and professional clubs popping up around the country, and indeed the globe.

I popped into The Living Commons, a not-for-profit community hub on Shandon Street on the northside, which is the base for Cork city’s only arm-wrestling club - Street Level Arm Wrestling.

At a recent Saturday evening training session, 12 out of its 16 members, all of them men, gathered at their usual training ground.

The Living Commons is a multi-purpose space the size of an average living room, its yellow walls are decorated with books and musical instruments and paintings, its floor is carpeted, and there is a section of it isolated for a stall selling handmade soaps.

An unlikely spot for physical sports training, you might say. Yet, it’s here that the arm wrestlers meet twice a week to train, and they are appreciative of the use of the space.

Up until recently, the team trained at an outdoor venue and the table they used for arm wrestling was a solid flat rock in Hollyhill. Their dedication and love of the sport has kept them going.

Ronnie Mostyn, the club’s founder, later bought a table for the team to practice on.

From the colourful hub on Shandon Street, Ronnie explained: “A buddy of mine helped me get the table, but once we had it, that was the main thing.

“We were arm wrestling in a field, we were arm wrestling in the park, anywhere we could; we had nowhere to go. But even back then I had the idea of setting up a club. I was always very serious about it.

“At the start, we had people who were in and out, but then we started getting more serious people coming.

“Now, we consider ourselves a real team. We’re no longer messing around.”

Around the country, there are official arm wrestling clubs that are well established, such as the Kilkenny team.

“The Kilkenny team are the best team in the country, they’re the number one in Ireland,” admits Ronnie. “They’re on a different level to us. We’re more like an amateur team, they have lots of professionals. The goal is to get to that level.

“I’d say three or four years, and we’ll be where they are in a sense.

“If we could find our own space to train with room for some (arm wrestling) tables and some gym equipment - that would be the goal.”

Although growing in popularity, arm wrestling remains a niche sport for now and is viewed as a kind of sub-culture.

Many of those who are drawn to it come from other sporting backgrounds, often having done quite well in their previous sporting interests, yet it’s on the arm-wrestling table where their confidence shines fully.

“Most of us have done other sports and we didn’t really fit in,” Ronnie laughs

People involved in the sport often say that where arm wrestling is now is where the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was before it blew up.

“Before Conor McGregor and those types, that’s where arm wrestling is now. It’s definitely growing in popularity,” Ronnie said.

For the uninitiated, their view of arm wrestling can come with preconceived, false ideas. That the game is rough, that matches only happen during late night drinking sessions, or that it requires little discipline are common misconceptions.

Ben O’Donovan, who hails from Midleton, came into the sport about 18 months ago. He explained some of the biases he has come across about it.

“There’s still a stigma here that it’s only a farce, people don’t take it seriously at all. People hear arm wrestling and they kind of laugh,” he said.

While it looks like a simple test of strength, there’s far more going on technically.

In tackling an opponent, grip, wrist control, shoulder angle, and stance - the entire body - plays a role.

What can people expect if they go along to Street Level Arm Wrestling?

“We’ll show you the techniques, work you through the forms, how to train, how to work your hand and your wrist, and just not get injured and stuff,” said Ben.

“We’ll find where you’re good on the table. What I do with people is I bring them up to the table and say, ‘You go to where you’re comfortable’,” he explained.

Ben, who came into the sport from a gym background, explains his training regime.

“I train heavy once a week and then I come here on a weekend, so I have like two sessions really, that’s all I do.

“Do less, but do it more intensely, that’s how I find myself anyway,” Ben said.

In a vibrant city like Cork, which offers a healthy choice of sporting activity, what drew Ben to arm wrestling?

“To be honest, I started noticing videos online and I gravitated. I just loved it.

“It was like fighting without getting hurt. You can fully commit. You’re getting really into it.

“Your blood is going through the roof. It’s not like a fight. You’re not getting physically hurt. It’s like combat. Hand combat.

“What drew me to it was the strength aspect and the fighting aspect, but you’re not getting hurt.”

What does Ronnie, the club’s founder, see in store for Street Level Arm Wrestlers?

“For the next one or two years, I hope to get us into our own space, get in some support and make our team an official team, get some sponsorship, and be able to send our members overseas to join other tournaments, or join other teams around the country, or other teams in other countries. And have our own space.”

Beyond the sport, there is something else that binds the crew on Shandon Street.

“What it’s good for is mental health as well,” Ronnie said. “If you’re having a bad week, you come in here and work it out on the table, let it out on the table, and when you’re closing that door at the end of the night, you feel like you’ve achieved something.

“All of us are very close, do you know what I mean? Yeah. So that’s exactly how I would find it, as family first. Family first.”

Whether arm wrestling is on the cusp of becoming the next MMA or remains a niche remains to be seen.

Amongst the crew at The Living Commons, it is a vibrant, fun, and friendly dynamic.

Beneath a veneer of visible force, loud laughs and muscle, lies an almost quiet and gentle competitiveness. It’s camaraderie disguised as combat.