At the AFF 2008 Nationals run in Sydney this week (1st December 08).  A number of interesting articles have been accumulated on the history of Fencing in Australia.

Here is one: An amusing article presumably written in the 1950’s on one of Sydney’s better known fencers…..

Mr Clarke on the Cruel Sex

Women are cleverer and crueller than men, says Tex Clarke, brawny, 40-year-old-fencing master at the Sydney Foils Club.

Dark brown, with blue eyes, and bulging muscles, Mr. Clarke came in to see us during the week, wearing short khaki shorts and sandals.

“Women are cruel because they have to bottle up their emotions.  And when emotions are bottled up they fester horribly” he said.

“Now if a woman could punch another woman on the nose occasionally, it would do her a lot of good.”

Running a hand over his shapely brown legs, Mr. Clarke digressed:- ” I see you’re admiring my suntan.  I spend every spare minute in the sun.  Working indoors is like digging your own grave. Women are better Fencers than men because they are more cunning and because they simply love to fight.  Timid little girls come to me to learn Fencing and after a few weeks at the game they become snarling hell-cats.”

“Fencing seems to bring out the fight in them. I love to watch two women Fencing.  They bare their teeth and glare at each other with cruel, diabolical expressions on their faces.”

Mr. Clarke was born and educated in Edinburgh, Scotland.  He came to Australia 15 years ago and served a number of years in the Australian Merchant Navy.

“I took up Fencing as a young boy to speed up my boxing,” he said.  “I soon fell in love with Fencing and abandoned my ambition to be a boxer. The thing I like about Fencing is that there is no danger of getting hurt.”

 Newspaper Article and Author unknown.