Anyone remember these guys this picture was taken at the 1983 World W.A.K.O. Championships held at the Wembley Conference Centre in London I came third in my division but just being there was very memorable as this championships really did feature some of the worlds best kickboxers both in full-contact and semi-contact.The British team consisted of a who's who in the world of kickboxing names like Dev Barrett [Dev won the world title in his division!],Godfrey Butler [anyone know what he's doing now he was awsome!],Ronnie Green [Whatever the rules Ronnie was pure class!],Steve Taberner,Edge Brown [Howards Brother],Gary Osbourne [The new kid on the block came second,Gary was a really nice lad],Howard Brown did'nt take part allowing me to take his place.
Some names in the U.S.A. Team were John Longstreet,Jeff Smith,Mike 'Nasty' Anderson,John Chung and Charlie Lee they did a truly outstanding demonstration of kata to music something new to many of us in those early days.
A trivia question can anyone remember the well known irishman sat in the middle? He was also known as the 'Godfather Of Irish Kickboxing',a great man who did a lot for the martial arts in Ireland,I fought his nephew in the early 80's too.