Tug of war in Russia
In Russia, tug of war was popular, especially among sailors, as early as the 19th century. Later, Russians competed in tug of war during folk festivities, but they did not take part in the Olympic Games or international competitions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the USSR
Among sea and river sailors, tug of war competitions became a tradition during voyages, at port calls and at shipping company Spartakiads. In Novorossiysk in 1974, for example, more than 70 teams from all over the Soviet Union took part in tug of war competitions.
From the time the secondary and higher educational institutions of the USSR Ministry of the Merchant Marine and the River Fleet were established, Spartakiads that included tug of war were held regularly under the motto "Come on, lads." The North-Western River Shipping Company regularly held tug of war competitions among the ports of the region. From 1966 to 1971, the Leningrad championship among individual industries and trade union organizations was held in Pushkin on the Rozovoye Pole (Rose Field), where the Monetny Dvor (Mint) team was the constant winner.
The 1st All-Union Spartakiad of the seagoing personnel of the USSR Ministry of the Merchant Marine took place in Zhdanov on September 16–20, 1976. Tug of war results: 1st place — Azov Shipping Company, 2nd place — Black Sea Shipping Company and 3rd place — Lithuanian Shipping Company.
Tug of war competitions in the USSR were especially popular during the International Seafarers' Sports Week. It was held every year at the end of August in the seaports of Odessa, Novorossiysk, Zhdanov, Berdyansk, Batumi, Poti, Izmail, Leningrad, Riga, Tallinn, Murmansk, Nakhodka and Klaipeda — the list of ports kept growing. The preparation and running of the local competitions were organized under the leadership of the councils for the promotion of physical culture and sport of the shipping companies, the seagoing personnel trade union committees, the councils of the voluntary sports societies (DSO) Vodnik, Kalev, Daugava and Zhalgiris, and the international seamen's club. The winners were determined on the basis of the results of international friendly matches in Soviet and foreign ports.
In Russia
After the collapse of the USSR, the first Russian Tug of War Championship was held in the city on the Neva in 1993, in which the team of the Military Institute of Physical Culture took 1st place.
In October 1992, the St. Petersburg City and Leningrad Region Tug of War Federation (Sankt-Peterburgskaya gorodskaya i Leningradskaya oblastnaya federatsiya peretyagivaniya kanata) was created; its president was Vladimir Ivanovich Gerasimov, chairman of the Leningrad Basin Physical Culture and Sports Club Vodnik. From that moment on, the development of tug of war as a sport in the new Russia gained even greater importance.
After the Federation was created, the sports clubs and physical culture groups of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region began holding championships and Spartakiads that always included tug of war in the program: the championship of the North-Western Shipping Company JSC, the VIFK (Military Institute of Physical Culture) championship, the Kronstadt naval championship, the open championship among water transport workers, the open championship of the Rossiya trade union physical culture and sports society, the Leningrad Military District championship, and a tournament dedicated to Olympic champion A. Roshchin.
In July 1992, St. Petersburg hosted the Russian Cup with two teams from Ireland, the reigning world champions, taking part; the Russian Cup winners, the VIFK team from St. Petersburg, then traveled to Dublin, where, competing in tug of war for the first time, they took 7th place among Irish club teams.
After the collapse of the USSR, the first open Russian Indoor Tug of War Championship was held in the city on the Neva in 1993 in five weight categories.
In the following years, tug of war competitions were held regularly in various regions of the Russian Federation.
RTWF
A qualitatively new stage in the development of tug of war in the Russian Federation was the creation in 2004 of the All-Russian public organization "Russian Tug of War Federation" (RTWF), whose president was unanimously elected Alexander Alexandrovich Kuznetsov, with Boris Vladimirovich Grishin as general secretary. In May 2005, at the annual congress of the Tug of War International Federation (TWIF) in Cape Town (South Africa), the RTWF was admitted to TWIF membership by a majority vote. In September 2005, thanks to the RTWF, a unified Russian national team took part for the first time in the European Tug of War Championships in Cento (Italy); the performance of the Russian athletes was highly rated by foreign experts, who unanimously agreed that in the coming years Russian athletes would become worthy competitors for the world leaders — the Dutch, the English, the Lithuanians and the South Africans.
Tug of war is actively developing in practically all regions of the Russian Federation and is included in the Spartakiads of voluntary sports societies and government agencies. Tug of war is especially popular in rural areas: the All-Russian Rural Games attract the largest number of team entries. In the Spartakiads for employees of Sberbank of Russia, AFK Sistema, Rosneft and LUKOIL, the tug of war competition becomes the main event.
On the All-Russian Day of the Physical Culture Worker, held in August 2006, tug of war was the most popular sport among workplace physical culture groups. In Kineshma, Ivanovo Region, the competitions were held with the direct participation of the Russian Tug of War Federation.
In September 2006, a group of specialists from the Russian Tug of War Federation traveled to the World Tug of War Championships in Assen (Netherlands) to study in detail the possibility of holding large-scale international tug of war tournaments in Russia.
On March 28, 2007, the head of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sport signed an order recognizing "tug of war" as a new sport and including it in the List of Sports recognized by the federal executive body for physical culture and sport.
The RTWF's plans include holding open Russian Championships and Russian Cups on a regular basis, a constant exchange of experience with foreign specialists, further active popularization and promotion of tug of war in the regions of the Russian Federation, festivals and celebrations for children and young people, training competitive athletes for international competitions, and the development of school and student sport.
In May 2017, the Russian Tug of War Federation received accreditation from the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation (Order No. 412 of 04.05.2017).
