ENG-1950 — Page 120

XV.

SPORT.

Sporting activities in the Colony continued unabated throughout 1950 in spite of the momentous political events which took place in the Far East. The most important development was the formation of the Amateur Athletic Federation of Hong Kong towards the end of the year.

Several organizations have already been admitted to this body which is an essential preliminary to the participation of the Colony in international sport..

Short histories of various clubs and associations were included in the 1949 Annual Report and where these have been already mentioned the 1950 Report deals only with the year under review.

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

There is no record when association football was first introduced in Hong Kong but it is believed that the game was being played in 1850. Towards the end of the century it is known that a competition was run but this was confined to teams from naval ships, the military garrison, and the Hong Kong Football Club, the only civilian football club then in existence. The Challenge Shield was won by H.M.S. Centurion about 1897.

In 1909 the Daily Press presented a cup for the Senior Division of the competition and Mr. Fred Ellis donated another cup for the Junior Division about the same time. Both the knock-out competition and the leagues were run under the auspices of the Hong Kong Football Club at that time.

In 1913 Mr. Eager of the Royal Naval Ordnance Depot formed the Hong Kong Football Association to which the full control of all league competitions was transferred. The competition for the Challenge Shield was later transferred from the control of the Hong Kong Football Club to this Association.

In 1914 civilian clubs took part in all competitions and further progress was made in the same year when two Chinese clubs, the Lam Liong and the Confucius Clubs, entered the Junior Division of the League. Three leading schools, St. Joseph's College, Queen's College, and the Diocesan Boys' School, also entered the Junior League competition with teams recruited from past and present members. Since that time more Chinese clubs have taken up football and six of them are now members of the Senior Division of the League.

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