Pretoria brothers dominate Gauteng arm wrestling competition | The Citizen

It’s the power of the pull not the size of their arms that ranks them first and second in Gauteng arm wrestling, the Fourie brothers from Pretoria North say.

For the brothers, Niekie, 41, and Koos, 32, it’s good to have structure in what was once considered a dirty bar sport.

Wrestling brothers-in-arms

The duo, who co-own a bar, worked and arm wrestled together and last weekend they won first and second place in the Gauteng South African Armwrestling Federation competition at the Wild Winds pub in the north of Pretoria.

There were 118 entries, of which 26 were women.

Niekie Fourie, who is federation’s national vice-president and Gauteng chair, said the current structures in the arm wrestling federation were the first of their kind in South African history.

“I started arm wrestling in a bar. We all arm wrestle at braais with our uncles and often you hear this guy is the arm wrestler of the town, but there’s more to it. Arm wrestling has grown and is very big around the world, including in Russia, Poland and Ukraine.”

Fourie has been arm wrestling for 19 years and has been the SA champion nine times. In the past three years, interest in the sport has doubled, especially among the youth.

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Growing participation across age groups and abilities

Currently, there are 51 arm wrestling clubs nationally with between 950 and 1 000 registered athletes.

“When I was voted vice-president two years ago, there were only about 500 athletes. Now we have 21 new Gauteng champions in 21 divisions; 21 left- and 21 right-handers.

“There was even a division for the disabled. We had three junior-disabled participants competing on the day and we are seeing an interest among disabled people to participate,” he added.

Fourie said one of the biggest divisions on the day was the under-18s youth division and the oldest competitor was 64 years old.

New structures bring safety and fairness to the sport

There are clubs in Gauteng and about 200 athletes in total.

“Every province has its own committee and structure; it has never been like that before.

“Before arm wrestling was total chaos; now there’s structure, guidelines and protocols according to the African Armwrestling and the World Armwrestling Federation (WAF). Everything is according to the world specs,” he said.

Fourie added that it was all about safety and fairness for the arm wrestling competitors.

“Arm wrestling is for the whole family, it’s for men, women and the disabled. It’s for the love of the sport; I do it because I love it.

“There’s no money in it now, I do it because it’s in my heart,” he said.

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Training and mentoring the next generation

The Fouries train every Tuesday at their pub, Ossewa, in the north of Pretoria, where they teach youths about the sport and technique.

“It’s really hard here; this is a poor community. Sometimes the athletes need to decide on the day if they are going to use their last R50 for an Uber to train, or to buy bread.

“Others make a plan, pitch up and excel. But they often need sponsors, so we help with T-shirts or drive them up and down to competitions,” he said.

Fourie said size doesn’t matter, it is about power.

“I’ve seen arms being broken, six arms in total, torn biceps and all,” he added.

Healthy sibling rivalry

Koos, who has arm wrestled for about 13 years, learned about the sport from his brother, who said a Fourie braai was usually where the brothers saw who could lift their uncle’s Nissan 1400 bakkie.

Koos, who won the SA championships last year, said he loved the excitement which he felt when he stepped onto the stage and took to the table.

Currently, provincial championships are taking place all over the country, with the nationals set to take place in Middelburg in August.

The brothers said their goal was not only to compete in the African Federation and rank internationally, but also help grow the sport locally.

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