1980’s The Foyer Club Sports et Loisirs, Grenoble, France – The Girls of Grenoble: Article 5: Grenoble Again

ALL HISTORIC PHOTOS ARE IN THE WBAN ARCHIVE COLLECTION 

The two diminutive fourteen year olds were nicely into the second round of their three-round sparring bout.  The first had seen some crisp exchanges, the tallerof the two boxers, with the advantage of reach, scoring with a good straight right.  Now that right darted out again to land full on the left eye, sending the smaller boxer’s head right back with a jerk.  Stung into fierce retaliatory action, she responded two fistedly – a left to the upper chest, a peach of a right to the jaw, and a second left to the eye, as the taller girl’s right connected simultaneously on the original target.

Yes – she – yes – girls!  Clad in brief red and black boxing shorts, contrasting red and black boxing gloves, red singlets emblazoned in white with the Club’s name, looking every inch – or centimetre – the well trained boxers they are, this is the girls’ section of the Foyer Club de Grenoble.  The two boxers we are watching are Habiba, a slender girl with more than shoulder length lustrous black hair, and Christelle, a shorter, stockier girl with good strong shoulders.

Their bout is, alas, only an exhibition match, not competitive.  Were it that, it is fascinating to speculate the outcome.  Both girls are delightfully fast, crisp punchers, with an excellent defence.  Habiba’s reach and cultivated straight right could win her a points verdict, but Christelle’s natural aggression, if she could allow it full re’n, might well enable her to land the heavier punches and even gain her a decision within the distance.  We shall never know.

We were on what we hope may now become at least an annual visit to France, once again at the end of May.  The bout described was just one highlight of the delightful exhibition of boxing and wrestling by the jeunes filles of the Foyer Club de Grenoble to which we were treated.  As last year, the visit was much helped and enhanced by our good friend (and AIA reader) Thierry, who acted as interpreter, chauffeur, host and video cameraman.  On this occasion your editor was able to combine forces with our contributor Medala, and the three of us successfully met up at 9am of the Saturday at the Gare Part-Dieu at Lyons, travelling thence to Grenoble.

Our welcome at the gym and at the Bar Julian opposite, for lunch with the Club’s director, our old friend Monsieur Emile Chabut, in itself made us feel the tripworthwhile, even if no girls turned up at the gym at all.

This is a constant anxiety, as of course the Club is a voluntary body, with a volatile membership.  Even ,regulars’ are likely to disappear for weeks on end without explanation, and all the girls are subject to vagaries of school

work, parental holidays or some more attractive occupation – plus sheer laziness, forgetfulness or loss of interest.  Indeed only the week before only three girls had turned up, and M. Chabut was worried he might have nothing to show us.

At first, when only Linda – a wrestler remembered from last year arrived, our fears looked like being confirmed.  But she was soon on the telephone to other club members, and within half an hour a respectable seven had arrived.  These included Najet, a 13-year-old, whom we had seen wrestling before, now of a good size for Linda.  The other five were quickly being kitted out in boxing gear.

Just as we were about to begin yet more arrived, including one complete newcomer and a former regular, Nadia, one of the Club’s best wrestlers, whom M. Chabut had not seen for some months.  In the event we mustered seven boxers and three wrestlers, one of the best attendances of the year such is the power of the bush telegraph and the prospect of being filmed and seeing the resultant tape ,yourself immediately.

1. Chabut had agreed that all the exhibition boxing should consist of three 11/2 minute rounds with one minute intervals, the girls being properly seconded. It was of course disappointing that there could be no competitive matches, but the girls don’t like the idea of losing to another club member in front of their friends.  If only outside competition could be found it would be a different matter.

The boxing we saw, as on other occasions between clublmembers, was more akin to fencing.  They move delightfully and are very fast.  But they are not generally punching to land with force, just to create the openings.  The clash described at the start of the report was exceptional.  Indeed, if a punch does land properly,there may be mutual dismay!  Sometimes, too, the girls could not be fairly matched.

One or two were quite tall, and one heavy with it, and these, when matched with diminutive opponents, had to do their best to forego their reach and weight advantage.  This they did conspicuously well, so that the smaller girl often seemed to making the running.  All this is not meant to imply we were treated to a disappointing display.  What we saw once again showed how, with a modicum of training and encouragement, boxing for girls is a feasible and worthwhile sport.  If only there could be outside competition, then it could be an effective one too.

As well as the excellent bout between Habiba and Christelle, we saw polished displays and considerable aggression from two larger girls, Florence, 15, the heavyweight of those present, and the tall 17-year-old Sylvie.  Later Florence boxed Patricia, 14, in a bout distinguished for close-in body punching, in contrast to the long range work of the others.  Sylvie and Christelle boxed each other too, though here the difference in height and reach meant Sylvie had to restrain her natural advantage.  Habiba took the two tyros, Titia, 13, and Anna, 14, through their paces, and it would be interesting to see how they compare after a bit more training.  Even at this stage they showed promise.

All the boxers we saw had joined the Club in the past year – such is the typical turnover.  We understood that these newcomers tended to prefer boxing, Part of the reason is that Linda, Najet and Nadia, who have all been members for some years and are quite big girls, are really proficient at wrestling now.  Linda gave most impressive displays against the other two, with plenty of dramatic throws and well executed holds that might easily have been carried through to get submissions or pins.  They must seem formidable opposition to tyros, who at present seem to prefer ‘doing their own thing’ at boxing.  Our hopes last year that Linda and Nadia (and others) might visit Britain to wrestle with John Brotchie’s Sports-fighters came to nothing, but if any way could be found of bringing them, we are sure they would account for themselves well.  Whether appropriate opposition for the boxers could be found amongst the Sportsfighters is less likely -these tend to be the younger and smaller girls; 12-15 is ideal age for boxing for fun, which is what all this is about, but there are formidable problems in ever finding girls of this age in the U.K. with the motivation, training and parental approval, before even considering the logisitics of arranging matches in France or England.  Nevertheless we continue to hope it may come to pass, and can promise considerable help with expenses of travel and other arrangements should such contenders ever be proposed.  We owe it to M. Chabut, pioneer of boxing and wrestling for schoolgirls, to try to provide his much sought opposition.