Legendary Welsh Wrestler Passes Away
Welsh born wrestler Orig Williams, known to his fans as El Bandito has died at the age of 78. As well as touring the world he found fame in his home country on the Welsh language TV show, Reslo, shown in the 1980s on S4C. Before wrestling he was a professional footballer and a boxer, and later a newspaper columnist.
“He contributed extensively to programmes and series on S4C, particularly Reslo, and was a strong, warm and exuberant personality, which made him a popular character with viewers and colleagues,” said a spokesperson for S4C.
More recently he worked to promote young wrestlers, including organizing bouts to raise money for Urdd national eisteddfod.
Urdd eisteddfod director Aled Sion added: “It is a great loss to the nation and to the Urdd.
“He was an enthusiastic supporter of the movement and worked hard to organise events to raise money for the 2008 Conwy eisteddfod, including a night of American wrestling in Llanrwst.”
Born in the village of Ysbyty Ifan near Betws-y-Coed in 1932, he once described how he took to fighting when Liverpool evacuees came to stay in the area during World War II.
“We couldn’t speak English, they couldn’t speak Welsh, so we had fights, naturally,” he recalled.
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Categories: Wrestler Deaths & Obituaries, Wrestling News Archive
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I love how the Welsh language generally looks like a giant typo.
My Grandparents live in Wales so I go there all the time. Its interesting that the language doesnt evolve like ours, and so they casually use random English words mid sentence. So for example you might hear somebody talking like *In your best Welsh accent* “Afrech nawr bach Llanelli absolutely gorgeous”
But err yeah, neway, sorry to hear this dude passed away. Is it me, or doe he look a little bit like Harley Race in that pic?
it’s you