LGIS (Old)
| LGIS (Old) | |
|---|---|
 View of a LGIS live event location = Munich Germany | |
| Years active | 1976 - 1980 |
| Website | various (see below) |
The original incarnation of the Liberal Girls International SportClub - otherwise known as LGIS (Old) - was a female boxing and wrestling organisation founded in Munich, Germany in 1976. It promoted a ground-breaking vision - that girls who were enthusiastic about female combat, and who wanted to fight semi-professionally in public settings, could do so topless in properly arranged events and tournaments. The bouts were filmed and subsequently made available for sale to augment the revenue generated by the spectators at these events, but at least to begin with the videos were of less importance than the paying audience. LGIS proved to be the forerunner for a number of European companies and groups who built on their original idea.
The company was formed in 1976 by Fred Strothmann and Erich Klinger together with Angie Simons who was the nominated club captain. Around thirty girls fought at various times in their events, but there was a core membership of ten or so who were regular performers throughout the lifetime of the club. The initial group of fighters began several months of wrestling and boxing training in 1976, and on January 31st 1977 eight active members of the group entered the ring in the centre of the "Donauhalle" of Ingolstadt (about 60km north of Munich) in front of 700 spectators to take part in the inaugural event which launched the organisation. The main group divided into two groups of four, each of which staged a mini-tournament - wrestling and boxing. Angie Simons won the boxing competition while Heidi Ranke, later to become a fearsome boxer, won the wrestling. From that point onwards, over the rest of the 70's, there was a succession of similar events in various German cities and towns, as well as in France and London.
The promotion of such events was not without its problems however as LGIS faced opposition from some local authorities, who claimed the events were lewd or improper, as well as from women's lib. campaigners who asserted that the girls were being sexually exploited. Speaking on behalf of the participants, Angie Simons insisted that neither of these were true, and that while the girls conceded that boxing topless would increase attendances, they were happy to do so in the knowledge that their pay would increase proportionately. She pointed out that all concerned enjoyed boxing for its own sake, but for her and most of the others it was a useful extra wage.
By 1993 Erich was ready to try another relaunch - Fred had unfortunately died in the interim, and after Fred's death Erich got back the sole rights to the LGIS (Old) back catalogue, consisting of the only existing original movies of about 100 previous fights (1977-1980). Angie Simon also became involved with the project though not as an active participant. The intention was that the newly-formed LGIS (New) would provide a outlet for the sale and distribution of these original videos while also holding its own events and matches to create and sell new material of its own. The first boxing tournament was held before a small audience in 1994 and there was at least one such boxing or wrestling tournament per year throughout the rest of the 90's. In addition there were numerous individual matches of all categories staged in gymnasium settings over those years. The range of fights was considerable, with full-on boxing right through to semi-erotic wrestling but competitive action was always the major component.
Contents
Web Sites
All the sites which originally handled LGIS products are either defunct or inactive. These included :-
The only known vendor for LGIS at present is http://www.rockin-roxanne.com
Gallery of Fighters
Alina
Event Line-Up and Advertisements Gallery
Line-up of LGIS fighters circa 1977. R-L Anne Riedl, Karin Heck, Conny Ranke, Lena Soerensen, Marlene Bachner, Marianne, Michelle Morgan, Hellen Leinemann, Tina Chiari
Line-up of the leading LGIS fighters circa 1978. L-R Heidi Ranke, Petra Horn, Tina Chiari, Anne Riedl, Karin Heck and Angie Simons
LGIS fighters presented to the crowd circa 1978. R-L Lena Soerensen, Anne Riedl and Angie Simons
Advert for LGIS event to be held in Straubing Bavaria in 1977. 12 fighters took part but, unusually, Anne Riedl did not
Acknowledgements
This page was constructed with assistance from Arbie (Count Herout), Merlin and Fred Dobbs
