entrance to the club is so discreet that I donât even see the name plaque until Iâm right at the front door. Thankfully Iâm allowed in and I join James in the bar area, where adjacent seating overlooks the clubâs swimming pool. He is an immaculately dressed, broad-shouldered man in his early seventies and the second longest serving honorary secretary in the clubâs history. While early documentation is thin on the ground, he believes the club was formed by members of Oxford and Cambridge university swimming clubs and the Otters incorporated their colours, the dark blue of Oxford and the light blue of Cambridge. The clubâs first treasurer was William Terriss, a Victorian actor famous for his appearances on the London stage, who also served as president from 1870 to 1871. In 1897 he was murdered on the steps of the Adelphi Theatre, where he was performing, by an out-of-workactor whoâd accused Terriss of âpersecutingâ him; he was found guilty but insane. Today Terrissâ ghost is said to haunt Covent Garden Tube station where a figure in a grey suit â some say an opera cloak â has been seen by more than one ticket inspector over the years.
Otters were founder members of the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA), having resigned from its predecessor, the Swimming Association of Great Britain, âbecause they were admitting professionals and we were an amateur club,â explains James. This came after years of bitter argument, for the distinction between professionals and amateurs was an important issue in the late Victorian period, when only âgentlemenâ could afford to compete for honour rather than money.
Until 1869 there had been little distinction between amateur and professional swimmers, there were few baths and race meetings were of a ârough and ready characterâ. Then the Associated Metropolitan Swimming Clubs was formed, and their rules defined a professional as anyone who competed for money prizes, wagers or admission money, or who âmade the art of swimming a means of pecuniary profitâ. But an amateur could still compete against a professional for âhonour or for moneyâ if they handed the prize over to the association. The group then changed its title, first to the London Swimming Association and then to the Metropolitan Swimming Association. But aside from lack of funds, the main problem was âthe frequent and apparently interminable discussionsâ as to what defined a professional swimmer. Volume nineteen of
The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes
, an edition devoted to swimming and published in 1893, has an entire chapter on the Government of Swimming and the history of the amateur movement. Its authors were William Henry (at one point vice-chair of the Reading Swimming Club) and Archibald Sinclair, who, along with Henry, was one of the founders of the Swimmersâ Life Saving Society.
The Metropolitan Swimming Association decided an amateur could race against a professional for a âprize or honour onlyâ, and in 1874 the group became the Swimming Association of Great Britain. But the bickering continued and âwordy warfaresâ meant the âbetter-class clubs held aloof from the associationâ. The professionals formed their own group, but this soon collapsed. By 1884 the Otter Swimming Club had had enough and resigned âin consequence of a dispute on the vexed question of amateurism and professionalismâ. Eight or nine other clubs immediately followed suit and formed the Amateur Swimming Union. There then followed a âdesperate struggle for supremacyâ between the two, but eventually they formed a new organisation together and in 1886 the ASA was founded with a new code for the future government of swimming, with no fewer than 135 rules. It was now accepted that an amateur could not swim against a professional and the authors of
The Badminton Library
volume were happy
Otters were founder members of the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA), having resigned from its predecessor, the Swimming Association of Great Britain, âbecause they were admitting professionals and we were an amateur club,â explains James. This came after years of bitter argument, for the distinction between professionals and amateurs was an important issue in the late Victorian period, when only âgentlemenâ could afford to compete for honour rather than money.
Until 1869 there had been little distinction between amateur and professional swimmers, there were few baths and race meetings were of a ârough and ready characterâ. Then the Associated Metropolitan Swimming Clubs was formed, and their rules defined a professional as anyone who competed for money prizes, wagers or admission money, or who âmade the art of swimming a means of pecuniary profitâ. But an amateur could still compete against a professional for âhonour or for moneyâ if they handed the prize over to the association. The group then changed its title, first to the London Swimming Association and then to the Metropolitan Swimming Association. But aside from lack of funds, the main problem was âthe frequent and apparently interminable discussionsâ as to what defined a professional swimmer. Volume nineteen of
The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes
, an edition devoted to swimming and published in 1893, has an entire chapter on the Government of Swimming and the history of the amateur movement. Its authors were William Henry (at one point vice-chair of the Reading Swimming Club) and Archibald Sinclair, who, along with Henry, was one of the founders of the Swimmersâ Life Saving Society.
The Metropolitan Swimming Association decided an amateur could race against a professional for a âprize or honour onlyâ, and in 1874 the group became the Swimming Association of Great Britain. But the bickering continued and âwordy warfaresâ meant the âbetter-class clubs held aloof from the associationâ. The professionals formed their own group, but this soon collapsed. By 1884 the Otter Swimming Club had had enough and resigned âin consequence of a dispute on the vexed question of amateurism and professionalismâ. Eight or nine other clubs immediately followed suit and formed the Amateur Swimming Union. There then followed a âdesperate struggle for supremacyâ between the two, but eventually they formed a new organisation together and in 1886 the ASA was founded with a new code for the future government of swimming, with no fewer than 135 rules. It was now accepted that an amateur could not swim against a professional and the authors of
The Badminton Library
volume were happy
Similar Books
