The Irish Sandow school: physical culture competitions in fin-de-siècle Ireland

ABSTRACT

Beginning with an examination of Ireland’s turn of the century interest in physical culture, this article highlights the case of Eugen Sandow’s “Great Competition” and its Irish contestants. Seen as a precursor for today’s bodybuilding competitions, Sandow’s contest enjoyed submission photographs from hundreds of half-naked men – many of whom were Irish – posing in Greco-Roman pose. In studying this topic, the article addresses two pressing issues. In the first instance, the article examines how and why physical culture competitions became a competitive outlet for Irishmen in the first decade of the twentieth century. Secondly, it argues that these contests were often connected to broader societal ideals surrounding acceptable forms of masculinity. The article thus examines a previously unexplored but nevertheless important part of sporting and athletic behaviour in early twentieth-century Ireland.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical culture
• sports history
• gender
• masculinity
• Irish history

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. “Ireland’s Best Developed Man,” Health and Strength, December 1946.

2. Fair, Mr. America, 20.

3. Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Managing the Body, 41.

4. Although he appears in the periphery of some works, the only detailed historical study on Sandow to date is Heffernan, “Strength Peddlers”. Joycean studies have commented briefly on Sandow owing to the strongman’s appearance in Ulysses. See for example, Plock, “A Feat of Strength in Ithaca”.

5. Valente, The Myth of Manliness, 67; Beatty, Masculinity and Power, 64–70; and McDevitt, May the Best Man Win, 14–8.

6. Vertinsky and Weedon, “Historicizing Physical Culture Studies,” 14–6.

7. Budd, The Sculpture Machine, 152.

8. Heffernan, “Strength Peddlers,” 23–40; and Budd, The Sculpture Machine, 10–30.

9. Budd, The Sculpture Machine, iv–20.

10. Welshman, “Physical Culture and Sport”; Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Managing the Body.

11. Bonini, “London: The Cradle of Modern Weightlifting,” 56–62.

12. Budd, The Sculpture Machine; Morris, Marrow of the Nation; Grant, Physical Culture and Sport in Soviet Society; Tumblety, Remaking the Male Body; Watt, “Cultural Exchange”; Turse, “Prometheus Unbound”; and Pfister, “The Medical Discourse on Female Physical Culture”.

13. Sandow, Strength and How to Obtain It, 115.

14. Chapman, Sandow the Magnificent, 1–20; and Waller, The Perfect Man, 10–20.

15. Dyhouse, Heartthrobs, 69.

16. Morais, “Branding Iron,” 193–6.

17. Budd, The Sculpture Machine, 1.

18. Lyons, Culture and Anarchy, 7.

19. “Ould Ireland’s Honour”, Vitality no. 8 (1907), 449–51; and Murphy, “Physical Culture in Ireland,” 401–2.

20. Huck Finn, “Jottings for Gymnasts.” Weekly Irish Times, November 7, 1896; “Physical Culture.” Kerry Evening Post, August 24, 1898; and “Gymnastics: The Dublin Gymnasium.” Freeman’s Journal, September 1898.

21. “Savoy Theatre of Varieties.” Freeman’s Journal, November 2, 1896; “Amateur Weight-Lifting Competition.” Ballymena Observer, July 11, 1902; and “Tivoli Theatre.” Evening Herald, May 8, 1902.

22. Heffernan, “Strength Peddlers,” 28–33.

23. “The Empire Theatre.” Daily Nation, May 6, 1898; and “Belfast Empire Theatre of Varieties.” Belfast Evening Telegraph, May 1898.

24. W. R. MacPherson, “Weightlifting in Ireland.” Health and Vim, September 1916, 214.

25. “Empire Theatre.” Daily Nation, May 6, 1898; and “Belfast Empire Theatre of Varieties.” Belfast Evening Telegraph, May 1898.

26. “Sandow at the Empire Theatre.” Dublin Daily Express, May 6, 1898.

27. “The Empire Theatre.” Daily Nation, May 6, 1898.

28. Heffernan, “Strength Peddlers,” 33–40.

29. Liokaftos, “Imaging the Reformed Man,” 1–12.

30. The Captain, “Gymnastic Notes.” Weely Irish Times, January 12, 1907; “St Patrick’s Church Physical Recreation.” Waterford Standard, May 25, 1907; and Huckleberry Finn, “Physical Culture Notes.” Weekly Irish Times, February 27, 1909.

31. Manual of Physical Training, 1–12; Duffy, “State Policy,” 16–23; and St. Vincent’s College Castleknock, 250.

32. Todd, Physical Culture and the Body Beautiful, 5–15; Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Managing the Body, 1–20; and Whorton, Crusaders for Fitness, 2–12.

33. Chapman, Sandow the Magnificent, 102.

34. Rouse, Sport and Ireland, 149–242.

35. O’Callaghan, “Rugby Football and Identity Politics,” 148–55.

36. Curran, Sport in Donegal, 4–20.

37. Hunt, Sport and Society in Victorian Ireland.

38. Gemmell, “Naturally Played by Irishmen,” 447–63; McElligott, Forging a Kingdom, 51.

39. Rouse, Sport and Ireland.

40. McDevitt, May the Best Man Win, 2–12; Chapman, Sandow the Magnificent, 3.

41. Sandow, The Gospel of Strength According to Sandow, 25–30; Sandow, Strength and How to Obtain It, 5–8.

42. “Ideal Measurements.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture 4 (January-June 1900): 534–535.

43. Sandow, “Physical Exercise in the Services,” 295–7.

44. MacLaren, A System of Physical Education, 36–8.

45. Guttmann, From Ritual to Record, 12–4.

46. Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Managing the Body, 42.

47. Scott, “Body-Building and Empire-Building,” 78–85.

48. Stokvis, “The Emancipation of Bodybuilding,” 463–70.

49. Sandow, “Physical Culture: What is It?” 2–7.

50. Sandow, “Physical Development of Women”.

51. “Readers’ Responses.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture 7 (July–December 1901), 164; and Scott, “Body-Building and Empire-Building,” 78–85.

52. Lawrence, “Masculine Appearances,” 44–8.

53. Hunt, Body Love, 103.

54. Chapman, Sandow the Magnificent, 176.

55. Webster and Gillon, Barbells and Beefcake, 36.

56. “The Great Competition.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture, 1, no. 6 (1898), 79–80.

57. Chapman, Sandow the Magnificent, 129; and Liokaftos, A Genealogy of Male Bodybuilding, 49.

58. Curran, Sport in Donegal, 12–8.

59. Budd, The Sculpture Machine, 19–22.

60. “The Great Competition.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture, 4 (January-June 1900), 398.

61. Boscagli, Eye on the Flesh, 109–12.

62. Daley, Leisure and Pleasure, 25.

63. Chapman, Universal Hunks, 2–12.

64. “Some Entrants from the Competition.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture 1, no. 6 (1898), 447.

65. Ibid; 1901 Census of Ireland, Dublin, Trinity, House 15.3 in Marks Street.

66. “The Great Competition.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture, 3 (July–December 1899), 376.

67. Ibid.

68. “The Great Competition.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture, 7, (July-December 1901), 208–10.

69. Ibid.

70. Rouse, Sport and Ireland, 176–190.

71. “Mr. M. Casey.” Dundalk Democrat, September 30, 1899.

72. “Sergeant Roberts.” Sligo Champion, November 26, 1899.

73. See note 68 above.

74. Galavan, “How I Benefitted from Physical Culture,” 437.

75. “The Tivoli.” Freeman’s Journal, May 6, 1902; and “Tivoli Theatre.” Evening Herald, May 8, 1902.

76. “The Great War and Competition.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture, 4 (January-June 1900), 209; and Galavan, “How I Benefitted from Physical Culture,” 437.

77. “Sandow’s Worldwide Competition Award.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture, 8 (January–June 1902), 54.

78. Ibid; 1901 Census of Ireland, Cork, Fermoy, House 13, Barrack Street; 1901 Census of Ireland, Dublin, Pembroke West, House 16, Barrack Street.

79. “Best Developed Baby Competition: Final Award for January.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture, 8 (January-June 1902), 67–8; 1901 Census of Ireland, Dublin, Lusk, House 178, Rush.

80. McDevitt, May the Best Man Win, 1–18; Ladd and Mathisen, Muscular Christianity, 2–10; Putney, Muscular Christianity, 5–15; and Allen, “Young England,” 114–32.

81. Chandler and Nauright, “Introduction: Rugby, Manhood and Identity,” 1–12; and Huggins, The Victorians and Sport, 76.

82. Verbrugge, Active Bodies; and Tumblety, Remaking the Male Body.

83. Valente, The Myth of Manliness, 67; Beatty, Masculinity and Power, 64–70; and McDevitt, May the Best Man Win, 14–8.

84. Kelly, “Irish Medical Student Culture and the Performance of Masculinity,” 42–50.

85. Griffin, “Cycling and Gender in Victorian Ireland,” 213–41.

86. Connell and Messerschmidt, “Hegemonic Masculinity,” 832.

87. Levenson, With Wooden Sword, 36–7.

88. Chapman, Adonis, 2–10.

89. Riess, “Sport and the Redefinition of American Middle‐Class Masculinity,” 5.

90. Holden, Autobiography and Decolonization, 42.

91. Webster and Gillon, Barbells and Beefcake, 15–25.

92. Conrad, “Wellness as Virtue: Morality and the Pursuit of Health,” 385–401.

93. See note 74 above.

94. “Sandow’s Magazine Readers’ Club.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture 16:8 (February 1906), 217.

95. Budd, The Sculpture Machine, 77.

96. “The Great War and Competition.” Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture, 4 (January–June 1900), 88.

97. Rosenwein, Emotional Communities, 3.

98. Walters, The Nude Male, 228; and Callen, “Doubles and Desire,” 669.

99. Brauer, “Virilizing and Valorizing Homoeroticism,” 3–-67.

100. See note 68 above.

101. Dyer, White, 152–7.

102. Jackson, The Irish Sandow School, 3.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences and Universities Ireland