People of the HMB movement: 

Jon Barry, 

HMBIA certified marshal 

In 2014, HMB World Championship’s board of marshals has been joined by referees from Europe. According to Alexander Davydov, head of the HMBIA Marshal Committee, this step will contribute to further development of the HMB movement.

“We decided to make the board of marshals more international. We were joined by referees from France, Germany, Great Britain, Moldova, Estonia and other countries. If we speak about the international sport then our referees have to be from different countries,” said Alexander Davydov.

So, the board of marshals was joined by Jon Barry, a marshal from the United Kingdom.

Jon is a novice of the HMB movement, but he did a lot within a year. Now he is HMBIA certified marshal, administrator of the National Team of the UK, marketer and member of the National Executive Committee of the UK Federation, blogger who writes about full contact fighting in armor. And, for sure, it’s not all this guy can do for the development of his favorite business.

Everything started with a usual excursion…

Here’s how Jon Barry says about it: ” I know a new fighter, who first saw the sport at the BloodStock Heavy Metal Festival in 2013 – and would not shut up about it. He dragged me along to a few local sessions, and I thought it would be a bit of fun to film these events, and bang out some videos to YouTube. That is how my involvement started.

I was a member of the UK group on Facebook, and was quite vocal, which lead to my being noticed I

would say – as soon I was being asked to do things for the website – like, “Would I write a blog post now and again?” How could I – I said, feeling I had dodged the assignment – I am new! “Write like a newbie!” I was told….. And that was how I started to work more with the UK Federation here in the UK.”

After writing articles, Jon joined the National Executive Committee of the Federation. The organization deals with the development of the HMB movement in the UK, and training of British marshals.

Jon Barry:

“I signed up for Marshal training – not really having any idea what would be involved – and with the increasing thought, as time went to admin tasks, that I had to get some time to revise the rules, to make sure all in set in place – not time to think when in the heart of a battle – so the approaching Championship started to be both exciting and a nervous proposition!”

As it often happens, when you think you’re ready for anything, life surprises you. The same happened to the British marshal. Jon Barry faced various challenges at the HMB World Championship “Battle of the Nations”-2014 and he had to prove his objectivity and loyalty to the duty because the board of marshals had to be always ready, regardless of weather and circumstances.

The first surprise for Barry was his appointment as a line marshal of the main lists. According to the British, the post was new to him, as only field marshals work in the UK.

But the main surprise, and the main lesson for Barry was the experience of refereeing a very important battle:

“It was then that UK1 fought Italy1 – and, as we now know from the videos – James Farrar, our vice-captain, who tried to get his sword, held in both hands, around the shoulders of a pretty large Italian – failed, and slid his sword into the neck area – he jumped again, not knowing that another fighter had his shield hand on the lists, and that shield stopped the vice-captain getting to that shoulder – and again, his sword slid into the neck area – He said he knew I was there – and knew, before he even saw it, that my flag would be heading out – to bench him. I did, just before the field marshal did – and I am still teased about it even now! Maybe that is why we were not rotated out, that they knew that UK marshals would flag a UK fighter without hesitation – maybe it was a little test even? I was disappointed, the UK looked like they were doing well to that point and if I had not benched our guy at that time,

history may have been different. It was the right call, James, the vice-captain, will say that all day long too – yet we both wonder why he did not just hit him with his sword, instead of going for the grapple move. So, the UK were out of the “Battle of the Nations”-2014″.

Barry is sure that the experience he got at the HMB World Championship “Battle of the Nations”-2014 will be useful in the further development of the UK HMB Federation.

Jon Barry:

“Now we have experience, so we can help other people in the UK become marshals. We are looking forward to the next year and the new Championship!” 

Kristina Korneva,

HMBIA News