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

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, 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 in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

and

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

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 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 ) 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 street westbound. De Maisonneuve ...

. 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 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 (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

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

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, 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 The Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) was an amateur men's ice hockey league founded on 8 December 1886, in existence until 1898. It was the second ice hockey league organized in Canada, after one in Kingston, Ontario started in 1883. ...

(AHAC) 1886–1898, the Canadian Amateur Hockey League 1898–1905 and the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association 1905–1908, the Inter-Provincial Amateur Hockey Union 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

, 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 senior ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. It was most recently won by the Wentworth Gryphins ...

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, pending acceptance by the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association.

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 Athletics (sport), athlete, winner of the Weight throw, weight throwing event at the 1904 Summer Olympics. Biography Born in Boucherville, Quebec, Desmarteau wa ...

wins the gold medal in weight-throwing at the

1904 Summer Olympics The 1904 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the III Olympiad and also known as St. Louis 1904) were an international multi-sport event held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from 1 July to 23 November 1904. Many events were conducted ...

*1912 – George Hodgson wins two gold medals in the 1912 Olympics *1920 – Russell Wheeler 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 skat ...

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

*1931 – M.A.A.A. football club wins the

*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 Sports clubs and teams established in 1881 Multi-sport clubs in Canada AAA 1881 establishments in Quebec