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ABSTRACT
This article uses sport as a means of examining aspects of social relationships amongst Falkland Islanders up to the 1982 Falklands War. This examination – researched primarily via archival, newspaper, and interview evidence – is accomplished via four routes. Firstly, rifle shooting, including the territorial Falkland Islands Defence Force (FIDF)’s annual participation in the National Rifle Association (NRA)’s imperial tournaments, is used examine the application of popular imperialism and gubernatorial power within Falklands society. Horse racing and other agricultural-based sports are used to display how sport was used a means of displaying occupation prowess, in the context of a paternalistic farming (mono)culture created and managed by the absentee landlords of the Falkland Islands Company (FIC). Third: badminton’s popularity, primarily in the capital, Stanley, is applied towards examining the social lives of women, including amongst its British-born community. Finally, football – whose English clubs were well-followed bye Falklands men over the BBC Empire/World Service – is used to elucidate aspects of Islanders’ relationships with their South American neighbours, including Argentina, which continually claimed sovereignty over the Falklands. This article makes the case that sports culture in the Falklands was both reflective of greater trends in British imperial culture, whilst also containing peculiarities relating to its location, demographics, and unusual political status.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the interviewees for their time and material, and also to Tansy Bishop at the Jane Cameron National Archives and Colleen Biggs at the Falkland Islands Community School Library for their time and suggestions.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Jack, “Don’t cry for us Argentina,” 14–28.
2 Pinkerton, “The Falklands Conflict as a Radio War,” 346.
3 Benwell, “Encountering geopolitical pasts in the present,” 121–33.
4 Falkland Islands Monthly Review (henceforth FIMR), 3 Oct. 1966.
5 Watts, The Christmas Sports, 23.
6 Bound, Falkland Islanders at War.
7 Pinkerton, “The Falklands Conflict as a Radio War,” 344–75.
8 Penguin News (henceforth PN), 18 Jan. 1982.
9 Bound, Falkland Islanders at War.
10 Hunt, My Falkland Days.
11 Interview with Sarah Allan, Stocksfield, Northumberland, 14 Feb. 2018.
12 Dodds, Pink Ice.
13 Pinkerton, “The Falklands Conflict as a Radio War.”
14 Ellerby, “British interests.”
15 This article is part of a wider project examining the history of the Island Games; thus, sport in the post-1982 Falkland Islands will be discussed in another article.
16 Jane Cameron National Archives. https://www.fig.gov.fk/archives/online-collections.
17 A short organisational history of the FIDF exists on a now-defunct web page: Major Peter Biggs, “Falkland Islands Defence Force: 150 years of Voluntary Service,” https://web.archive.org/web/20060427094356/http://www.falklands.info/history/histarticle24.html, accessed 21 Aug. 2018.
18 Cunningham, The Volunteer Force; Jackson, “Patriotism or Pleasure?”
19 Biggs, “Falkland Islands Defence Force,” https://web.archive.org/web/20060427094356/http://www.falklands.info/history/histarticle24.html, accessed 21 Aug. 2018.
20 Falkland Islands Magazine (henceforth FIM), May 1893.
21 FIM, May 1902.
22 FIM, May 1889; FIM, July 1890; FIM, Nov. 1902.
23 FIM, May 1889.
24 FIM, Jan. 1900.
25 Routledge, “The Falkland Islands”.
26 Falkland Islands Monthly Review (henceforth FIMR), 1 March 1965.
27 Penguin News (henceforth PN), 25 Sep. 1980.
28 PN, 23 Oct. 1980.
29 FIMR, 1 March 1965
30 PN, 25 Sep. 1980.
31 Hewer, “The Falklands/Malvinas dispute,” 144–50.
32 MacKenzie, Imperialism and Popular Culture.
33 Dodds, Pink Ice, 118–41.
34 Royle, “The Falkland Islands, 1833-1876.”
35 Ellerby, “British interests,” 46–56.
36 Downes, “Cricket and Masculinity in the Caribbean,” 10.
37 Walker, “British Marksmanship,” 226–35.
38 The Penguin (henceforth TP), 11 Oct. 1930.
39 TP, 14 Oct. 1930.
40 TP, 15 Oct. 1930.
41 TP, 18 Oct. 1930.
42 TP, 17 Sep. 1934.
43 Mangan, Athleticism.
44 Kirk-Greene, “His Excellency”.
45 Ellerby, “British interests,” 33–38.
46 Dodds, Pink Ice, 118–41.
47 Headland, “Sir Arnold Wienholt Hodson.”
48 Hodson, Trekking the Great Thirst; Thompsell, Hunting Africa.
49 PN, 23 Oct. 1980; Kirk-Greene, “His Excellency,” 228.
50 TP, 11 Jan. 1930.
51 TP, 15 Feb. 1930.
52 TP, 18 Oct. 1930.
53 Giles, “Sir James O’Grady.”
54 Nottingham Evening Post, 22 May 1931.
55 Interview with Patrick Watts, Stanley, 7 Dec. 2017.
56 FIMR, 7 April 1961.
57 Bound, Falkland Islanders at War, 18–63.
58 Interview with Brian Aldridge, Stanley, 5 Dec. 2017.
59 Pettingill, “People and penguins of the faraway Falklands,” 387–409.
60 Gammon, “Trout heaven in a bit of hell”.
61 Princess Anne, “Foreword,” in Watts, The Christmas Sports.
62 Watts, The Christmas Sports; Watts, 7 Dec. 2017; Edwards, The Other Side of the Falklands, 105–07.
63 Watts, 7 Dec. 2017.
64 Watts, The Christmas Sports.
65 Lim and Aman, “Nineteenth-Century Singapore,” Cohen, In the club; Wilson, “A Manly Art”.
66 Interview with Watts, 7 Dec. 2017.
67 Strange, The Falkland Islands, 174.
68 Ibid.; FIM, Jan. 1908; Falkland Islands Weekly News (henceforth FIWN), 7 March 1946.
69 Edwards, The Other Side of the Falklands, 106.
70 FIMR, 7 April 1961.
71 FIM, March 1907.
72 FIM, March 1910.
73 Vamplew, The Turf; Huggins, Flat Racing and British Society.
74 Urdank, “British Sheepdog Trials.”
75 Sudbury, “Falkland Islands English”; Pereira Salas, Juegos y alegrías coloniales en Chile, 35–124.
76 Slatta, “The Demise of the Gaucho.”
77 Kelm, “Manly Contests.”
78 Robertson, The Kirkwall Ba’, Brown, Up-Helly-Aa.
79 FIM, March 1908; FIM, March 1912.
80 FIMR, 5 April 1965.
81 FIM, March 1912.
82 Strange, Falkland Islands, 174–75.
83 Edwards, The Other Side of the Falklands, 105.
84 The Penguin (henceforth TP), 13 March 1937.
85 FIMR, 7 April 1961.
86 Falkland Islands Weekly News (henceforth FIWN), 7 March 1946.
87 FIMR, 3 May 1965.
88 Gammon, Sports Illustrated, 3 April 1978.
89 Interview with Watts, 7 Dec. 2017.
90 Beaty, Falkland Islands Interlude, 28.
91 FIM, Jan. 1892.
92 FIM, Feb. 1900.
93 Watts, The Christmas Sports, 12; FIM, March 1902.
94 Headland, “Sir Arnold Wienholt Hodson.”
95 FIMR, 5 April 1965.
96 Royle, “The Falkland Islands,” 209–11.
97 Ellerby, “British interests,” 16–22.
98 Richards, The Highland Clearances; Hunter, Set Adrift Upon the World.
99 Dodds, Pink Ice, 119–26, 148–54; Jack, “Don’t cry for us Argentina,” 14–28.
100 Shackleton, Storey, and Johnson, “Prospect of the Falkland Islands.” See also: Dodds, Pink Ice, 148–54.
101 Jarvie, Highland Games.
102 Interview with Allan, 14 Feb. 2018.
103 Mercau, “The Anglo-Argentines and the Falklands,” 159–61.
104 Guillain, Badminton, 31–71. A rare example of academic work on badminton (that deals primarily with southeast Asia) is: Lim and Aman, “Thomas Cup.”
105 FIM, Dec. 1901.
106 TP, 2 Dec. 1929.
107 PN, 11 June 2010.
108 TP, 14 Aug. 1933.
109 TP, 13 May 1933; TP, 24 Feb. 1937.
110 PN, 11 June 2010. For instance, re personal papers of Rosemarie King (RK), Letter from Herbert Moreland, Hon Treasurer of the International Badminton Federation (IBF) to WA Etheridge, Secretary of Stanley Badminton Club (SBC), 7 Dec. 1960; Letter from Herbert Moreland, Hon Treasurer of the IBF to WA Etheridge, Secretary of Stanley Badminton Club (SBC), 22 March 1962. Typically, enclosed with the receipt were minutes from the IBF annual general meetings, which Falkland Islands representatives did not typically attend.
111 Lake, “Gender and Etiquette in British Lawn Tennis 1870-1939”.
112 TP, 24 Feb. 1937; TP, 19 Aug. 1937.
113 TP, 8 Oct. 1935; Cameron, “Sir Herbert Henniker-Heaton”. https://www.falklandsbiographies.org/biographies/246, accessed 19 Aug. 2018.
114 TP, 18 June 1936; TP, 30 June 1936; TP, 2 July 1936.
115 TP, 7 July 1936.
116 TP, 14 Feb. 1934.
117 RK, Letter from JA Hardy, Chairman of the Stanley Badminton Club (SBC), et al, to the Falkland Islands Colonial Secretary (FICS), 13 Sep. 1955.
118 Interview with Rosemarie King, Stanley, 6 Dec. 2017.
119 RK, Letter from JA Hardy, Chairman of SBC, et al, to the FICS, 13 Sep. 1955.
120 RK, Letter from WA Etheridge, Secretary of SBC, to the FICS, 26 March 1962.
121 RK, Letter from Herbert Moreland, Hon Treasurer of the IBF to WA Etheridge, Secretary of SBC, 22 March 1962.
122 Interview with King, 6 Dec. 2017.
123 St Mary’s Herald, 15 May 1969.
124 Secretary of State for the Colonies, “British Islands in the Southern Hemisphere 1945-1951,” Colonial Office, May 1951, 89.
125 Vamplew, Pay Up, 47–50; McDowell, “Rothesay.”
126 FIM, March 1899.
127 Falkland Islands Times and Monthly Review (henceforth FITMR), 9 Oct. 1978.
128 AG Barton, President of the Falkland Islands Football League, “President’s Foreword,” Souvenir Football Programme: Falkland Islands XI v. HM Royal Yacht “Britannia”, Tuesday, 8th January 1957, in Barnes, “The History of Football on the Islands”.
129 Watts, The Christmas Sports, 7 Dec. 2017.
130 Barnes, “History of football,” 8–11.
131 Ibid.
132 Barton, “President’s Foreword,” 12–15.
133 FIMR, 6 Sep. 1965.
134 Interview with King, 6 Dec. 2017.
135 Pinkerton, “The Falklands Conflict as a Radio War,” 344–75.
136 For instance, TP, 20 March 1933 and TP, 6 May 1933.
137 Falkland Islands Weekly News and Church Bulletin (henceforth FIWNCB), 20 Oct. 1938.
138 Robertson, “BBC versions of Britishness.”
139 Wyllie, Woodward, and Goldblatt, “Tuning in to football on the BBC World Service.”
140 Interview with Aldridge, 5 Dec. 2017.
141 Watts, The Christmas Sports, 7 Dec. 2017.
142 Royle, “Changes in the Falkland Islands.”
143 Interview with Watts, 7 Dec. 2017.
144 FIMR, 1 May 1967; José Luis Torregrosa, “Academik Knipovich.” La Fundación Histarmar Accessed 26 Aug. 2018. https://www.histarmar.com.ar/Antartida/BuquesAntarticos-Logisticos/AkKnipovich.htm.
145 FIWN, 14 Feb. 1946.
146 Dodds, Pink Ice, 95–113.
147 Hughson and Moore, “‘Hand of God’.”; Ciccone, “Malvinas en México 86.” See also Dodds, Pink Ice, 8, 172.
148 Dodds, Pink Ice, 118–63.
149 FIWNCB, 5 Oct. 1939.
150 FIWNCB, 12 Oct. 1939.
151 Howat, “Tabaris Highlanders.”
152 Mercau, ‘The Anglo-Argentines and the Falklands’, 159–61.
153 Dodds, Pink Ice, 118–63.
154 FITMR, Nov. 1973; FITMR, Jan. 1974.
155 FITMR, April 1974.
156 Interview with Watts, 7 Dec. 2017. This match is also discussed in Menary, Outcasts!, 52–59.
157 FIT, 15 May 1978.
158 Menary, Outcasts!, 52–59.