Rugged game

This book details the rich history of both amateur and professional wrestling from the late 1800s to 1933 in the Lakehead, Ontario region. There was a real heyday for wrestling between the early 1880s and into the early to mid-1920s, which included the development of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling, the precursor to modern freestyle/folkstyle wrestling. There were also numerous grassroots wrestling clubs and organizations, including many based in working class organizations, such as the Finnish Labour Temple, the Communist Party of Canada, and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The book details the relation of the growth of wrestling in the region to the growth of the economy, industry, and trade, as well as the accompanying national and ethnic tensions and disputes.