PRESIDENT's BULLETIN

2025 is almost in the rear view mirror. The road this year took me to Armagh, Grantham, Preston, Philadelphia, Ramsgate, Motherwell, Swindon, Tallin (Estonia), Leeds & of course Birmingham for Udezumou & both Nationals. In all a month away from home, without counting working away for the summer. Just one armwrestling trip left: Leigh next week for Armgods Ultimate Armwrestler. This bulletin is going to stay up for few weeks with only this top paragraph being updated - this will give time for as many people as possible to read it before the changes take effect for the 2026 Warzone season which starts in Preston 28th February. Pinkertons Irish Open is set for 31st January. Events calendar has details - this is going to be updated as soon as IFA EUROS dates are announced & other arrangements are finalised. There will be an AGM in January - the full members…

95 entries for the Left arm & 108 for the right in Pro Nationals were overseen by IFA Master Refs Judy, Paulina & Darius who also helped our referee team develop with a seminar, feedback & advice. Reffing isn't easy - it takes some dedication & perseverance to do it well & our domestic team has grown & improved year on year. Similarly the scoring team have a lot of expectation & hope hanging over them. We are lucky to have their patience & attention. Results for both days are up on the results page. 

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Some cracking matches over the weekend, my favourites:

The Left 95kg final between Adrian Popescu & Matteusz Matuszczak who fought with every fibre to overcome each other. A supermatch between these pair would be interesting for sure.

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Preparation for the Novice Nationals started for real in late august. The venue was booked 11 months ago with various arrangements made over the year gradually which are now boring to talk about & even less interesting to hear. Novice Nationals are the most difficult & onerous of all the events I have ever organised in & out of armwrestling.

There is a lot of hope & I feel it in the weeks leading up. I don't find it fun. There are so many things to get wrong & even more outside of any sort of control. Despite best efforts many things went wrong. In the scheme of things they are minor, but for the people it affects it's significant. Some people got left out of the running order. Others ended up on the wrong side of the bracket & so did not achieve what they might have done. A…

Alan Milne, PAA UK & IRELAND TREASURER & Captain of Swindon Crusaders won the Senior Grandmasters under 78kg left Gold medal at the IFA WORLDS in BAKU, Azerbijan & was unbeaten in all his matches. Those who know Alan will remember him winning several silver medals over the years - at WAF & IFA - so it is great he has finally got the Gold. On the right he got another silver to go with the many others. Well done Alan.