Records of the Southern Counties Amateur Athletic Association (SCAAA). Comprises a sequence of minutes and meeting papers, dating from 1957, generated by the committees which directed the actions of the SCAAA; annual reports and constitutions; a number of athletics programmes and other printed publications.
These records are of interest to those studying amateur sports, especially athletics culture in England during the 20th century. There are no papers pre-dating 1946.
The Southern Committee was set up by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) in 1883 as a counterpart to the Northern Counties Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Midland Counties Amateur Athletic Association (MCAAA) and it served as an area association of the AAA. In 1961, the Southern Counties Amateur Athletic Association was formed and was put on the same footing as the MCAAA and the NCAA.
Athletics remained a sport for men until the 1920s when women entered the sport. The independent men's and women's organisations have now merged and the amateur-professional separation has been abandoned. In 1991, the SCAAA amalgamated with the Southern Counties Women's Amateur Athletic Association (SCWAAA, founded in 1930) to form the South of England Athletic Association. This now serves as the governing body for athletics within the South of England.
Sources: papers of the SCAAA; P. Lovesey, 'The Official Centenary of the Amateur Athletic Association', Enfield: Guiness Superlatives Limited, 1979.
These papers have been arranged into the following two series:
Administrative records;
Publications, printed material and ephemera.
Open. Access to all registered researchers
This collection was deposited in 1983 and 1991.
Please see full catalogue for more information.
Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.
This collection was previously in the custody of the National Centre for Athletics Literature (NCAL).
