Sport & the Eurasians of Colonial Singapore

The British Empire, as it expanded across continents, brought many things in its wake - new weapons and ways of war, new methods of manufacturing, new germs, new ideas, new religion - and all were used as proof of the British Gentleman’s God-given destiny to rule the far reaches of the world. Once established, these imperial adventurers, planters and traders, soldiers and scientists, clergymen and teachers, would spend their leisure hours playing sport and relaxing in ex-pat Gentlemen’s clubs.
Watching from the outside, the excluded local population looked on, intrigued at the strange combinations of claret and cricket, beer and billiards.
In two talks, Josh will explore the impact of Sport as an agent of empire, as colonised communities began to play sports at school and in clubs and associations of their own. For their imperial rulers, encouraging sport was a way of getting local people to embrace imperial values, the British sense of Fair play and the importance of Playing the Game, and in doing so, understand and keep the British on top.
In particular, he will explore Sport in Singapore one hundred years ago, and how the Eurasian community there embraced the Sporting Life.
The Singapore Recreation Club had been set up by a group of Eurasians excluded by a colour bar from the whites-only clubs of the British, and, in this talk, Josh will look at how Playing the Game supported and subverted the imperial message of the British Empire in Colonial Singapore.
Cover Image Attribution: Archive of the Girls’ Sports Club, Singapore.

[@AnnJohnOehlers]

Brilliant, Josh. Thank you from Singapore

[@joshdecruz3881]

Discover the Thunder Shooter, Roy Smith, whose scoring record for Singapore matches Haaland!

[@HistoryIndoors]

You can watch the second part of Josh's talk live on Tuesday 19th September at 7PM here: ua-cam.com/video/bY4AcCczX7I/v-deo.html&ab_channel=HistoryIndoors
We thank you for your support and hope to see you soon 😃