Montreal Amateur Athletic Association is Canada's oldest athletic association, located in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Quebec. It was renamed as the ''Club Sportif MAA'' or just ''MAA'' (Montreal MAA) in 1999 after a brush with bankruptcy, but is still widely known as the MAAA. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the MAA was one of the most important sporting institutions in Canada, and North America, with affiliated teams winning

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

's Stanley Cup and

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

's Grey Cup.

History

The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association came into existence June 1881 and began as a confederation of three sporting clubs: The

Montreal Snow Shoe Club The Montreal Snow Shoe Club (MSSC) was a sports club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1840 by twelve well-known young men, it was the first club of its sort in North America (and probably the world) and led the way for hundreds of other clubs ...

, The Montreal Bicycle Club, and The

Montreal Lacrosse Club The Montreal Lacrosse Club was a lacrosse club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Club is notable in the history of lacrosse as it was responsible for establishing the first set of written rules of the game. The Club was established in 1856 by the ...

. These founding clubs shared the club space of the Montreal Gymnasium, located at Mansfield Street and

de Maisonneuve Boulevard De Maisonneuve Boulevard (officially in french: boulevard De Maisonneuve) is a major westbound boulevard located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is named after the founder of Montreal, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve. It is a one-way stre ...

. In the 1880s, the MAAA organized the famous annual Montreal Winter Carnival. The Winter Carnival featured a temporary "ice castle" or "ice fort", which would be "stormed" in a mock attack, as well as several events, such as snowshoe races, toboggan slides, skating carnivals and ice hockey tournaments. The Sir

Vincent Meredith Sir Henry Vincent Meredith, 1st Baronet (February 28, 1850 – February 24, 1929), was a Canadian banker and philanthropist. He was president of the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. He was gove ...

Trophy was awarded to the best all-round athlete in the MAAA. The current clubhouse was opened in 1905, on Peel Street in downtown Montreal, in the current commercial district. Due to problems with an aging population, the club switched from being solely member-financed during the revival of 1999. The high taxes on the clubhouse property in central Montreal exacerbated their problems. W. R. Granger served two years as the president Montreal AAA from 1918 to 1920, and hosted

The Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers o ...

at the clubhouse on a royal visit in November 1919. By the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Granger had overseen the revival of the association's ice hockey, baseball and soccer teams; and hoped to restart the lacrosse team, establish a trapshooting club, and erect a memorial for members who died serving in the war.

Historic teams

Ice hockey

The ''Montreal Hockey Club'' (MHC) was an

team that played in the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) 1886–1898, the

Canadian Amateur Hockey League The Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) was an early men's amateur hockey league founded in 1898, replacing the organization that was formerly the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) before the 1898–99 season. The league existed for s ...

1898–1905 and the

Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) was a men's amateur – later professional – ice hockey league in Canada that played four seasons. It was founded on December 11, 1905 with the top clubs from two other leagues: four ...

1905–1908, the

Inter-Provincial Amateur Hockey Union The Interprovincial Amateur Hockey Union (IAHU or IPAHU) was the premier amateur ice hockey league in Canada after the split between the amateur and professional ice hockey teams of the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) in 1908. His ...

from 1908 afterward. The team won the AHAC title from 1888 until 1894, and won the Canadian Amateur Hockey League title in 1902. It was the first club to be presented with the Stanley Cup, in 1893. They won again in 1894, March 1902 and February 1903. The 1902 team was known as the "Little Men of Iron". After the 1903 season, players from the team formed the core of the

Montreal Wanderers The Montreal Wanderers were an amateur, and later professional, ice hockey team based in Montreal. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the National Hockey Association ...

professional club, who took on the "Little Men" nickname. After withdrawing from play with professional teams, the MHC club continued as an amateur club after 1908, winning the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men's ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. The current champions are the ...

in 1930. The Montreal AAA had withdrawn from several competitive sports by the early 1930s. In October 1932, its directors announced its ice hockey team would separate from the association, and be operated by E. S. Hamilton and G. T. Ogilvie as the

Royal Montreal Hockey Club The Royal Montreal Hockey Club, also known as the Montreal Royals, was a Canadian amateur ice hockey club formed in Montreal, Quebec, in 1932. It operated various teams in men's junior and senior leagues until 1961. The senior team of the club wo ...

, pending acceptance by the

Quebec Amateur Hockey Association Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Athletic achievements

*1893 – ''Montreal Hockey Club'' wins its first Stanley Cup *1894 – ''Montreal Hockey Club'' wins its second Stanley Cup *1902 – ''Montreal Hockey Club'' wins its third Stanley Cup *1903 – ''Montreal Hockey Club'' wins challenge to part-holder of title for 1903 Stanley Cup *1904 –

Étienne Desmarteau Joseph-Étienne Desmarteau (4 February 1873 – 29 October 1905) was a Canadian athlete, winner of the weight throwing event at the 1904 Summer Olympics. Biography Born in Boucherville, Quebec, Desmarteau was member of the Montréal Athle ...

wins the gold medal in weight-throwing at the 1904 Summer Olympics *1912 –

George Hodgson George Ritchie Hodgson (October 12, 1893 – May 1, 1983) was a Canadian competition swimmer of the early 20th century, and considered by many to be the greatest swimmer in Canadian history. Hodgson won the two longer freestyle swimming gold ...

wins two gold medals in the

1912 Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, b ...

*1920 –

Russell Wheeler Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) Places Australia * Russell, Australian Capital Territory * Russell Island, Queensland (disambiguation) ** ...

becomes the Canadian

Speed Skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skatin ...

Champion *1930 – M.A.A.A. ice hockey team wins the

*1931 – M.A.A.A. football club wins the Grey Cup *2002 – Nathalie Lambert inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame *2015 – William Cecil "Billy" Christmas inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montreal Aaa Canada at the Olympics

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

Sports clubs established in 1881 Multi-sport clubs in Canada

1881 establishments in Canada de:Montréal AAA