- Summary
Young Chinese League was created from an amalgamation of Chinese Progress Association and the Chinese Athletics Association.
Details
The Chinese Athletics Association was set up around the 1920s as a social and sporting club for young Australians of Chinese descent. Forming the club created an outlet for young Australians of Chinese descent to meet and play competitive sports. Many of its clubs members had attended Australian schools and joined recreation clubs such as the YMCA where they would have been introduced to sports such as Australian Rules football, cricket, baseball, table tennis and swimming. For those attending private schools such as Scotch College, they would have been introduced to tennis.
The Chinese Athletics Association was a competitive sports clubs. They would regularly play in direct friendly competition with another Chinese social club, the Chinese Progressive Association, as well as other non-Chinese businesses. Football matches were played at Royal Park and Princes Park.
It is not known when the Chinese Athletics Association disbanded, although it did along with the Chinese Athletics Association later merge to form the Young Chinese League in 1932. Former member of Chinese Athletics Association and long time committee member of the Young Chinese League, Russell Moy believed that as more Chinese Australians left to play professional football for other clubs, the Chinese club simply disbanded. The Young Chinese League played Australian Rules football socially with other clubs in a social league, but not competitively.
Members from these two clubs crossed over into another new social club, the Young Chinese League, with some taking on committee roles. Frank Chinn, for example, became the Young Chinese League’s second president and for many years allowed the club to use the Chinn families’ home on Little Bourke Street for club meetings and activities. Russell Moy was one of the longest serving committee members - 60 years.
Sources used to compile this entry: Museum of Chinese Australian History collection - Russell Moy oral history transcript & edited papers; Young Chinese League newspapers (1986).
Prepared by: Brendan O'Donnell, Monash University
Related Subjects
Associated with
Images
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- Title
- Chinese Athletic Association
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- c. 1922 - c. 1923
- Place
- Australia - Victoria
- Details
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- Title
- Chinese Progress Association 2nd Annual Ball
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- 26 November 1924
- Place
- Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
- Details
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- Title
- Young Chinese League sports team
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- c. 1947
- Place
- Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
- Details
Created: 19 March 2004, Last modified: 23 January 2010
