Billy Riley
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Billy Riley is a legendary practitoner of Catch Wrestling. The Briton is known to have taught some of the greatest figures in all Catch Wrestling at his training school called "The Snake Pit" in Wigan, England.
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[edit] Early days
During his days as a moulder in the mining township of Wigan, Billy Riley trained with the miners in the art of Lancashire catch-as-catch-can wrestling, one of the roughest and most loved sports of the region.
The tough Briton soon began showing extraordinary submission skills on the mat and went on to gain the prestigious British Empire Championship in the 1930s against Jack Robinson in South Africa. Riley was known to be a devastating "hooker" and it showed in his wrestling matches as he soon gained notoriety for breaking his opponent's arms in wrestling matches. He toured across the Atlantic to the United States of America, where he gained immense respect as a skilled athlete.
[edit] The Snake Pit
Billy Riley decided to teach Catch Wrestling in Wigan. He bought a small plot of land in the 1950s on Vine Street in Wigan. The gym was called "The Snake Pit".
The rules of the Snake Pit were simple. No Children and certainly NO Females were allowed. Luxuries such as toilet facilities were not available and the man in charge of the school had no time for those who were not in good shape or had a low pain threshold.
The gym soon became popular for producing some of the toughest Catch Wrestlers in the world, though. Men such as Karl Gotch (Istaz), Bert Azzerattie, Melvin Riss ( Harold Winstanley), John Foley, Jack Dempsey (Tommy Moore), Billy Joyce (Bob Robinson), Billy Robinson and Billy Riley's son Ernie Riley were shining examples of The Snake Pit's standards.
People travelled from all around to train at Riley’s. It is said that the tough Briton had two mottos – “Billy is always right” and “you can never train too hard”.
The Snake Pit became too much of a labour for the new breed of "Show Wrestlers" by the 1970s and the rough style of Riley was soon losing its demand. The Snake Pit fell into disrepair and anonymity.
[edit] The Re-Opening of the Snake Pit
When the son of a former student, Roy Wood, and the son of Wood's friend wanted to learn wrestling they travelled to Wigan, only to see the school in complete disrepair. The roof had literally caved in.
With the help of locals, Roy Wood managed to get the gym started again. Riley's gym was reopened. However, this time, as Roy's son Darren had wanted to learn, the gym was opened to children. Billy decided to take his seat by the mat and let Wood coach. The legend would give his insight though, whenever he thought nessesary.
Teaching the children was a new concept for both Roy and Billy. The results though, soon showed that the teaching at the Snake Pit was still world class to say the least. By the age of 10 Darren had won the British Championships alongside Tony Leyland and Neil Maxwell who were also Riley's wrestlers. After competitions, the children would go round to see Billy and his wife and take their medals and trophies which they had won.
in 1977, the great wrestler died. Roy Woods kept the Snake Pit running and his children visited Riley's wife to show her the trophies and achievements made possible by the efforts of her husband.
[edit] The Aspull Wrestling Club
The next major change came in the mid 1980s when Yorkshire TV filmed the documentary "First Tuesday - The Wigan Hold". The focus was on the lack of resources available to the otherwise world class British wrestlers.
This led to the Sports Council offering to rebuild the site. At the time there were various problems and it was decided that it would be best to relocate the gym; Roy therefore bought a new building a couple of miles up the road to Aspull. It then became named Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club (AKA Rileys). Osamu Matsunami, a Japanese wrestler with a very keen interest in the history of wrestling, saw the documentary and then saved up and came to England. He spent 6 month periods at a time wrestling at AOWC. He then went on to coach with Billy Robinson in Japan.
Roy Wood was soon recognised in Japan as one of the premiere trainers of submission wrestling. Roy was invited to train at the Yokohoma Arena. He was asked to prolong his stay in Japan, where he could train some of the finest athletes in the world, but Roy opted to stay in Wigan.
The Aspull Wrestling Club has since then become a hotbed for youngsters and athletes who want to train in submission wrestling catch-as-catch-can style.
