Russia and all Slavic countries and tribes in Eastern Europe have a history of fist fighting that dates back more than a millenium.
Maslenitsa is a Slavic Pagan celebration and festival for the spring equinox and today is celebrated the week before lent in Christianity. It's a week long celebration and fist fighting is part of the festivities. Back in the day it would look alot like the hooligan fights with men from different villages battling eachother.
The Russian history is best documented but this was part of all Slavic peoples religion and would have taken place in all their countries.
excerpts from Wiki article
Russian fist fighting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
-"Before the Christianization of Kievan Rus (840-1250 AD Christianized in 988AD), fist fighting contests were often held at celebrations dedicated to Perun (Slavic God similar to Thor in Norse Religion). That is why the
Metropholite Kiril, in 1274, created another one of many personally-instituted rules, declaring expulsion from Christianity for any of those who fist-fight and do not sing a prayer or hymn at the burial of someone who died during a fist fight. The government itself never supported,
but also never opposed fist fighting.
- Russian boyars used the sport as mass entertainment, and acquired the best fighters for competitions
- The fights most often took place in holiday times and in crowded places. At winter it took place on ice. First the young children fought, then every pair was more grown up then the previous, and the last fighters were the most notable fist fighters
- In two orders released in 1684 and 1686 fist fighting was forbidden, but the sport continued to live
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There are documents saying Peter the Great liked to organize fist fights "in order to show the ability of the Russian people".
- During Catherine the Great, the popularity of fist fighting was growing again and
it is said that count Orlov was a good fist fighter himself and even invited notable fist fighters to compare powers
Different types of Fights and Rules
There are three types of Russian fist fighting: the first is the singles type, a one-on-one fight; the second type is a team fight also known as "wall on wall". The third one, "catch drop", was the least practiced.
There were several versions of the singles fight. One version was like modern boxing, when one fighter hits the other wherever he wants or can. The other version is when everyone hits at a turn. Escape from punch, answering it not on turn, move aside were not allowed. All could be done was to use the hands to try to protect the more painful areas. Victory could come in few cases: when one of the fighters falls, till first blood, or till one of the fighters gives up.
Wall on Wall (similar to modern Hooligan fights)
The "wall-on-wall" fight (
with anywhere from dozen to several hundreds participants) was performed strictly by rules and could go on for hours. Both "walls" had a chief fighter, who served as a tactician and a commanding officer. "Walls" themselves were tight straight formations 3-4 ranks deep. Repeated attacks were performed, aiming to push the opposing "wall" out of the game area. Basic tactics were used, such as breaching using heavy fighters (who were usually held in reserve), encircling, false retreat and others; but as a rule, tight wall formation never broke. Tactics also included battle planning. The "wall-on-wall" fights, while performed for entertainment, were in fact close to military training. For example, notable ethnographer V. Gilyarovsky recalled that during his voluntary service in an infantry regiment soldiers often staged wall-on-wall fistfights with factory workers