It’s the birthday of Anders Linnard, head instructor of the Göteborgs Historiska Fäktskola (GHFS), so this seems like a good excuse to post a selection of materials from him today that I have found greatly influential.

I’m going to have to start with the first thing from him I read, which was one of those ‘pivotal moments in the recreation of historical fencing in modern times’, and has likely shaped the mindset of many clubs and individuals since it was posted. Enjoy:

My shut the f*ck up rant

By Anders Linnard

“This is no surprise, but here are a few things that have caused me some annoyance lately. As most people know we post a lot of videos of us sparring and lately also competing. Apparently that is the kind of thing that makes idiots crawl out of the woodwork. Here is my checklist for idiots that they should consider before posting a comment on youtube, forums and other places. It is not aimed at anyone in this forum I just felt a need to rant, so just sit back and enjoy my anger management training.



1. If you think that fighting from a distance is not a part of German fencing, then shut the f*ck up

2. If you think that movement and athleticism doesn’t belong in HEMA, then shut the f*ck up

3. If you think that you have a better perception of HEMA because you do things differently, then shut the f*ck up

4. If you think it is wrong to have tournaments, then don’t attend and shut the f*ck up

5. If you have a lot of opinions on people fighting in tournaments, but never fought in a competition yourself, then shut the f*ck up

6. If you get hit a lot, then it is not due to flaws of your opponent, the rules or anyone else, so shut the f*ck up and go train

7. If you have opinions about how we fight in our videos, but would never post videos yourself, then shut the f*ck up

8. If you think that having an opinion is all that it takes, then shut the f*ck up

9. If your website looks quasi medieval and you think shoes are an important factor in HEMA, then shut the f*ck up

10. If you can’t fight but think you are doing some sort of art, then shut the f*ck up

11. If you don’t spar, then shut the f*ck up

12. If you only spar with people in your own group, then shut the f*ck up

13. If you think that we only fight with nylons, just because you only fight with steel, then shut the f*ck up. Actually if our equipment is what bugs you, you should shut the f*ck up.

14. If you think that control is the only thing you need in a fight and therefore never tried fighting with full intent, then shut the f*ck up

15. If you think that a tournament should be a simulation of a judicial duel, you are deluded and should shut the f*ck up

16. If you think you train as hard as us, but generally don’t have any trouble walking to the showers, then shut the f*ck up you are not training hard enough to have an opinion.

17. If you think that mixing modern teaching methods, equipment, language etc with HEMA is wrong, you are an idiot in thinking you are doing things with any more validity and should shut the f*ck up

18. If you feel there is a moral code from medieval times that we should all adhere to, actually, if you think some bullshit notion of chivalry has anything to do with HEMA, just shut the f*ck up

19. If you think we are spamming ze interwebs with videos, don’t f*cking subscribe to our videos and shut the f*ck up

20. If you are actually a good fighter or want to train seriously, willing to share your experiences then you are ok with me. And by all means feel free to disagree with all things we do and say.”

Anders Linnard, November 2008

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