'A Small Knot of Muscular Friends': Class and Athletic Clubs in Colonial Canterbury, 1870 - 1890

Abstract

The paper focuses on the fortunes of the amateur athletic clubs established in Christchurch and Timaru between 1870 and 1890. It offers insights into the role of sport as a bond of identity within classes and a mark of separation between them. Formally organized sporting activity that existed in New Zealand before 1890 and the possibility that this phenomenon may have played a significant role in the development of colonial society is explored.