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Eight of the best fencers from the North and South Island gathered at the Fieldays 2016 event in Hamilton this week to compete for the Golden Pliers award. These are not people jousting with thin swords and strange white uniforms – this is real fencing.
The Golden Pliers is to fencing what the All-Ireland is to football and hurling or what the World Cup is to soccer.
The rules are quite simple – build a nine-wire electric fence with straining posts at each end and with a swinging gate at the top of the fence in as short a time and as neatly as possible over approximately 50m.
Thinks it sounds easy? Well, the competitors start at 8.30am and it takes in the region of five hours to complete. Not to mention the herd of judges scrutinising your every move. Each competitor is judged on their quality and how quickly they get the job done.
The Irish Farmers Journal spoke to Matt Jones, who was the first past the post (pun intended), finishing in a time of just under five hours. Jones, who runs a fencing business with his father, has spent six months in preparation for the Golden Pliers.
He said his strategy was to get finished early. The other competitors received a one point penalty every two minutes after he finished.
“The quicker you can be, the more points you’ve got up your sleeve,” Matt said, while admitting that the quality can suffer by going faster.
The competition “is very tough”, Jones explained. “You’ve got the top eight competitors in New Zealand, and they’re all top-notch guys.”
It turns out that Shane Bouskail hit the nail on the head and took home the coveted Golden Pliers for 2016.
Retiring legend
It was not to be a fairytale ending for one man as Fieldays 2016 marked the retirement of one of the sport’s legends. Fourteen-time Golden Pliers champion Paul Van Beers has been competing for 31 years and has decided to hang up his hammer, pliers and straining posts this year.
Van Beers has been described both as a “legend” and an “ambassador for fencing”.
“It has been a pleasure to be at Fieldays. My children came every time with me and so it has become a massive part of our lives. It has been fantastic to get to know my fellow competitors over the years. That’s all I can say. I’m feeling a bit emotional,” says Van Beers.
I think we could call Van Beers the Henry Shefflin of fencing.
It was quite a sight to behold and each of the eight competitors demonstrated immense skill, patience and endurance. They should make this fencing the Olympic sport.
Browse our photo gallery above for more images from the competition.
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