There’s a lot that intrigues us about Turkish Oil Wrestling. An ancient sport, there’s a lot of tradition in every aspect. The hand-made leather shorts – known as the kispet, the wicker basket that the shorts are carried in, and the copious amounts of olive oil.

The oil is applied to every inch of the body, and is designed to prevent your opponent getting any sort of grip on you as you grapple. To win, you need to flip your opponent onto his back.

Fit guys wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, oiled up, and wrestling.

It seems to be an accepted tactic to reach inside the shorts and get a grip on the crotch – surely there’s an argument to be made for ditching the shorts and wrestling naked?

There’s no denying that part of the appeal of Turkish Oil Wrestling is that you can project all sorts of homoerotic fantasies onto what is actually a very traditional, serious, and culturally significant sport. But, to be honest, the same could pretty much be said about a lot of sports – rugby, water polo, hammer throw, bobsled – there’s a lot of sports that we can watch for hours without having any understanding of the rules or any real emotional investment in the outcome.

But there’s a lot that intrigues us about Turkish Oil Wrestling. We may need to make a research trip to Turkey to get to grips with some of the finer aspects, but it looks relatively straightforward. Oil us up!

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