South West's first sumo club runs weekly taster sessions to challenge stereotypes
The South West's first sumo club is running weekly taster sessions in Glastonbury to show that amateur sumo is inclusive and not just for heavyweights.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
The South West's first sumo club is running weekly taster sessions in Glastonbury in an attempt to challenge misconceptions about the sport. Its founder, Joe Andrews, said people have been put off because they wrongly believe only heavyweights can take part.
Andrews has taught martial arts for 25 years. At six foot and 120 kilos, he said he found it hard to find opponents of a similar build in other martial arts. A friend suggested he try sumo, and he said everything made sense once he did.
Sumo was introduced to the UK 40 years ago and was popular on television in the 1990s, but it has never taken off at grassroots level, according to the club. Andrews said most people's knowledge comes from professional sumo, where wrestlers can weigh 180 to 200 kilos and compete on the world stage. His club practises amateur sumo, which he wants to make as inclusive as possible.
He also said sumo needs to shed its image as a joke. It has long been used as comic relief in TV and films, and he believes people should try it once to see that it is not what they expect.
At this week's session, four people took part, including one person attending for the first time. One newcomer said: "It was awesome. I really enjoyed it. And I was a bit apprehensive, but actually everybody that I've trained with is really nice and they let me win a few times." Another participant, at their second session, said sumo was "just so different" and involved using the brain as well as the body.
Andrews said he would like club members to train regularly and eventually compete. For now, he wants as many people as possible to give sumo a go.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Joe Andrews has 25 years of experience teaching martial arts. | |
| The founder of the South West's first sumo club said he aims to challenge misconceptions about the sport. | |
| The sumo club runs weekly taster sessions and had four participants this week, including one first-time attendee. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
BBC ONE West gave the story a straightforward local feature treatment, centring on founder Joe Andrews and his argument that sumo is misunderstood. It used the taster session to show beginners taking part and included practical details about the club's weekly sessions. The report kept a light, encouraging tone and did not include any sceptical or critical voices.
- “I'm six foot, 120 kilos. I find it difficult to find people my build in other martial arts to fight.”
- “We're doing amateur sumo. We try to make it as inclusive as we can.”
- “It's always been the comic relief in TV and movies for a very long time.”
Who was on air
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- 13:44 BST
Joe Andrews, founder of the South West's first Sumo Club
BBC News at One including · Tue 20 Oct
Broadcast Timeline
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