Len IRONSIDE

Aberdonian Lightweight Wrestler and Politician

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An edited version of an article in the Scottish Daily Record: 30 May 2013:

Before local politics took over, Len Ironside enjoyed a successful ring career holding European and Commonwealth lightweight, and Scottish welterweight belts.

Len said: “When I came into wrestling the TV stars of the 70s were on the way down and I was on the way up. But I fought Jackie Pallo and his son in a tag team bout at the Stoneywood Club in Aberdeen.

“I never wrestled Mick McManus but I actually refereed him a couple of times in Glasgow.

One of Len’s wrestling highlights took place in his home city, recalled in a new book celebrating Aberdeen’s Beach Ballroom.

Said Len: “I fought for the World Lightweight Wrestling title against Johnny Saint. I was the reigning Commonwealth champion.

“It was a fantastic opportunity and I had beaten Saint three times previously in Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh.”

The Beach Ballroom showdown drew more than 1000 fans. Len had trained by running up Bennachie and walking back down. It was April 17, 1986, and Len felt super fit as he took to the ring for the 12, five-minute rounds.

He recalled: “Saint gained a fall in round eight and I took the equaliser in the ninth.

“We both went at it hell for leather, and when the referee patted my back in round 12 just as I was holding a Boston crab submission on Saint, I thought I’d won.

“It turned out he was simply telling me the bell had rung for the end of the contest. It was a draw. In grappling there’s no such thing as a points win and the title belt cannot change hands.

“I just wish I had started more aggressively instead of being so cautious but it’s still one of my magic memories.”

Many reckon Len would’ve been destined for a more successful career if the sport had retained its popularity.

Career highlights included a televised loss to Jim Breaks, which brought him to the attention of a national audience.

And in 1980 he defeated Tony Borg to take the vacant Commonwealth middleweight crown.

At a height of just 5ft 3in, and weighing little more than 11 stone, he used his small frame to bet the better of bigger opponents.

He said: “I think that did work to my advantage. That was the style I had to use. A low centre of gravity and getting through their legs, getting behind them, getting round them. “It was like a game of nip and tuck really. They couldn’t catch me so that was fine.”

In 2011 Len published “When You’re Ready Boys - Take Hold: My Grappling Story” chronicling his 20 years in the ring. He clocked up more than 300 bouts during a career which spanned the early 1970s to 1992.

Politics:

Len was elected to Aberdeen City Council in 1982 and just seven years later he was chosen as leader of the council.

He has been Labour councillor for the Kingswells and Sheddocksley areas of Aberdeen for three decades.

In 1999 he was elected leader of the Labour group on the council, a position he held for 10 years.

He resigned in 2009 to devote more time to his work in Scotland with the Parkinson’s Disease Society.