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RAT in South Africa was developed for a need to train
soldiers in a greater range self-defense techniques and situations than is
offered in many conventional martial arts.Techniques
used include punches, kicks, knee strikes, elbow strikes, head-butts, and
finger gouges. Fighters are also able to utilize grappling methods, such as
tripping, throwing, locking, choking, and trapping. Along with the physical
basics, practitioners study ethics, law ,strategy, and psychology, in
the hope that they will become openminded and humble fighters. Fitness is a
key element of the art,which has a rankand belt system similar tothe
Japanese grading systems.The origins
of the term "rough and tumble" was from "bragging and fighting" introduced
to the North American back country from England where it came to be called
"rough and tumble." In North America, as in England, it was a savage combat
between two or more males (occasionally females), which sometimes left the
contestants permanently blinded or maimed.
A graphic description of "rough
and tumble" came from the Irish traveler Thomas Ashe, who described a fight
between a West Virginian and a Kentuckian. A crowd gathered and arranged
itself into an impromptu ring. The contestants were asked if they wished to
"fight fair" or "rough and tumble." When they chose "rough and tumble," a
roar of approval rose from the multitude. The two men entered the ring, and
a few ordinary blows were exchanged in a tentative manner. Then suddenly the
Virginian "contracted his whole form, drew his arms to his face," and
"pitched himself into the bosom of his opponent," sinking his sharpened
fingernails into the Kentuckian's head. "The Virginian," we are told, "never
lost his hold . . . fixing his claws in his hair and his thumbs on his eyes,
[he] gave them a start from the sockets. The sufferer roared aloud, but
uttered no complaint." Even after the eyes were gouged out, the struggle
continued. The Virginian fastened his teeth on the Kentuckian's nose and bit
it in two pieces. Then he tore off the Kentuckian's ears. At last, the
"Kentuckian, deprived of eyes, ears and nose, gave in." The victor, himself
maimed and bleeding, was "chaired round the grounds," to the cheers of the
crowd. The martial arts and fighting systems that
influenced RAT in its early stages were: western boxing, Karate, Jujutsu,
Judo, Kendo, Savate, Nguni Stick fighting,Ba Gua Zhang and Tae Kwon Do.
Later influences include Amateur Wrestling, Hsing-i, and Eskrima. |
