Country in numbers – the story of Australia

05 Dec 2017 15:52
Australian HMB fighters have strong competitive spirit, and that is the fact that push overall movement of historical battles lovers in this country to increase fast. Despite Australia is far from everything and sometimes is hard to get in or go out, but it has already earned a great reputation worldwide.
 
So let’s look in details on the lie of the land in Australian HMB-community!

HMB sport in Australia started at the beginning of 2012. A fighter Kit Houston travelled to Europe where he received the information support from Austria, and brought back the knowledge that was needed to start training and fighting.
 

All members participated in HMB were inspired by their hobby and worked hard to earn progress.
And in 2013 the Australian national team entered “Battle of the Nations” in France for the first time.

Currently Australia has 5 primary clubs with another 3 smaller teams forming. They are completed with around 100 fighters. About 60 of them already actively fight and have full armour wear and with many new fighters waiting on armour orders.

We asked Bryce Lightbody, the captain of the National Team, to tell in details about qualification of Australian fighters and this is what he told:
 

“There is very strong competitive spirit between the clubs. At tournaments everyone fights hard to be the best but we’re all very good mates and come together to form larger teams or combine with field teams at international events. Everyone works together for further medieval combats.

Overall I believe we are on par with the European teams who started around the same time as us”.
 

In 2017 year Australia set 4 major tournaments (3 buhurt and duels, 1 WMFC First Class) with numerous smaller exhibition tournaments. There is 1 international tournament, where New Zealand team flies over to compete with Australians. But Bryce told that it’s hard to host other countries due to flight expenses.

HMB in Australia consistently improve and display a stable development. The national body for HMB is Australian Medieval Combat (AMC). The committee for this consists of 11 people with other activists advising women’s representative, a national captain, a head marshal.

Bryce hopes that in a few more years with more recruiting, HMB-community will be able to consistently place on the world stage. He has shared plans for further steps to reach this aim:
 

“We need to increase recruitment into HMB people from the martial arts community to help grow the sport and improve skill level. Also we are currently restructuring the national organization to set it up for future growth. We are also working to ensure all tournaments are run professionally.

Some Australian fighters treat HMB as a fun hobby, but many believe it is a serious sport. As fighter skills are improving and the teams are getting more competitive, more fighters are training every day and treating HMB as a serious competitive sport”.

Such a self-development means that in the nearest future Australian HMB fighters will surprise us a lot by their successes in HMB.

 
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BATTLE OF THE NATIONS

2021

1st-4th July
Oradea Fortress, Romania