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The long history of clubs and organizations in Golden

It seems today that people are so busy being involved in sports, clubs, church groups and organizations.

It seems today that people are so busy being involved in sports, clubs, church groups and organizations, that they have very little time to just be still and reflect on how very lucky they are to have a choice.

In Golden’s early history, they had almost as many clubs and organizations as they do now but people didn’t seem as busy.

Over the years, many of these early clubs have faded, as did the Golden Football Club.

Persons interested in starting a football club in Golden held an interest meeting at the Columbia House on Monday, March 21, 1898. Although the group was not a large one, it was enthusiastic, so a decision to go ahead and form a club was made.

An election of officers took place with the following results:

Hon. President, W.C. Wells; Hon. Vice-President, W.G. Neilson; Second Vice Presidents, Mr. Mitchell-Innes and Mr. McRae; Sec. Treas., E. Plowright; Committee members, Dr. J.N. Taylor, G.H. Mitchell and a captain to be elected at the next meeting.

Membership fees were set at $2 per person.

Many interesting items are involved in the formation of a new club and some challenges had to be met to get the football club off the ground. Of principal concern was where they would play. This problem was quickly overcome so the club contacted Kamloops and asked to be included in the Martin Challenge Cup. Soon the following rules arrived that would govern the game.

1.      All clubs are eligible from any district east of the Cascades and west of the Rockies in the counties of Yale and Kootenay.

2.      2. The districts shall be divided up as follows: (a) Ashcroft and surrounding district. (b) Kamloops, Nicola, Grand Prairie. (c) Spallumcheen and Okanagan. (d) Revelstoke and Donald.

3. Ashcroft would be included with Kamloops, Nicola, Grand Prairie for game matches.

4. The group winners would be ascertained by means of preliminary contacts between respective clubs in the several groups, not later than Oct 31 each year.

5. The winner of each group would play one match during the season with the winners of the other groups.

6. The championship would be decided from wins and draw games – two points for a win and one for a draw game.

7. The club with the greatest number of points in each contest between the group winners shall be declared the champion club.

8. All matches would be played under the international rules, and no man could play for more than one club at a time.

9. Each club would appoint its own linesman.

10.   The winning team would hold the cup for one year, and would have the privilege of having the final game for the following year played in their own town.

11. The cup would become the property of the first club to win three consecutive years.

12. The Kamloops Club had to be notified by August 31 of the previous year along with $5.

13. At the beginning of each game, a list of players had to be given to the referee.

14. Each club had to play its own colors at every game.

15.Each player had to be a member of his own club for at least one month.

16.  Each club would pay their own expenses.