Elwyn Hall Looks Back

I have recently had the good fortune to view a video programme called Elwyn Hall Looks Back. This video is from Legend Productions and I can honestly say I enjoyed every second of it. The clips are from Elwyn’s career with the Karate Union of Great Britain, spanning some eight years with both junior and senior squads. It’s no wonder the 1986 German team gave him the name ‘Herr Blitz-krieg’ for this is a one man demolition squad.

Although the KUGB team was always a formidable force during this period (1970-1990) there was always the mix of strong tactical fighters, as well as the fighters who generally went out first to soften the opposition up – one might say to put The Fear of God into the other team! In the 70’s it was the likes of Bill Cristal and Terry O’Neill who carried out this task – in the 80’s it was Elwyn Hall and Ian (Animal) Roberts who did the job.

This video shows clip after clip of Elwyn destroying his opponents, all over the world, not just in the UK. It seems that nothing stood up to his foot sweeps and if that didn’t take you down, the following technique usually did. His back kick is the best I’ve ever seen, and there is a clip of him using this technique, which resulted in the other fighter losing his spleen. I know - I was there.

Usually things get better with the passage of time, but sometimes they do not, and in this instance there is nothing about today that I can remotely compare to this man’s fighting ability and spirit. Even after taking a very hard elbow strike to the face, he carried.

Gerry Breeze
Chief Instructor - FBSKU - International
Japan Karate Association 5th Dan