Wrestling Championship Tournaments which were known under the name of Nudger Sports , were part of annually held Bagslate Races at Rochdale (existed in 1820s-1840s). I discovered Nudger Sports on British Library's BritishNewspapersArchives very recently. I am not sure when exactly wrestling tourneys became part of the Bagslate Races and when they discontinued, but what I am sure of is that in 1843,44 and 45 wrestling tourneys were the greatest attraction of it and the essential part of the games. I was able to find wrestling championship results for the years 1843 and 1844. For the year 1845 I only know the terms and conditions of the competition but do not have any details/results of the competition itself. I found the results of Nudger Sports 1844 in newspaper The Era, dated October 6th, 1844 as well as the final match of wrestling tournament was mentioned in Manchester Courier and Advertiser, dated October 5th, 1844. I found the results of Nudger Sports 1843 in newspaper The Era, dated December 10th, 1843.The article has reference to Manchester Guardian as well.Manchester Courier and Asvertiser dated December 9th, 1843 has results of the wrestling tournament as well. But still I am missing results of 1845. Though I was able to find advertisement of the tourney. Please see some details of the 1845 championship below:
Rochdale Annual Nudger Sports and Races.
August 22nd, 1845, Lancashire Wrestling, catch-weights.
Prizes: 5 guineas (5 GBP 5s) to the winner, 1GBP (20s) to the runner-up
Each stander in every round to receive 2s6d.Number of entries not to exceed 32.
No entrance money. All entries to be made on or before August 15th, 1845.
I am not sure which local Rochdale newspaper might have covered the 1845 event, but if you could help me to figure that out, I would highly appreciate that.
Thanks.
Kind regards,
Ruslan Pashayev