ORIGINS of BPCC (1889 - 1913)
The Brockton Point Athletic Club was incorporated April 6, 1889 by special Act of the Parliament of British Columbia, and by 1890 the clearing of Stanley Park had begun in earnest, led by Jerry Rogers and his teams of oxen. And when a lease for the 10 acres now comprising Upper Brockton, the Oval and the cottage was signed April 21, 1890 between the City of Vancouver and the Athletic Club for a 40 year term and the Athletic Club signed an agreement for the Club to borrow $10,000 from the City at 5% (payments of $ 605.25 p.a.), the Vancouver Parks Board was not yet constituted.
The Brockton Point Recreation Grounds circa 1900 were the finest athletic grounds in the City of Vancouver. The ground played host to lacrosse, rugby, baseball, and soccer at the Oval. Field hockey and cricket were played on Upper Brockton. Tennis Courts were located at the N.E. corner of the Upper Brockton field. The fields boasted a grandstand and bleachers, lacrosse clubhouse and cinder track in the vicinity of Brockton Oval; a Pavilion, changing rooms and a caretaker's cottage at Upper Brockton.
The Athletic Club was comprised of Vancouver's elite. The club had come into existence by special act of legislature, financed by the City, and established to pander to the tastes of the City fathers for high calibre amateur sport, far from the eyes of the madding crowd. For example, up to 1913 cricket was played in BC under the auspices of the Pacific Coast League and included teams from Tacoma, Nanaimo, Duncan, Victoria and Vancouver. Only representative cricket matches were allowed to be played at the Athletic Club grounds at Upper Brockton until 1910, when a constitutional amendment was passed to allow local clubs to join the Athletic Association. There was a 2nd tier of cricket played in Vancouver, which was called the Vancouver and District League but they confined their activities to the City proper.
The lease between the City and the Athletic Club signed in 1890 contained provisions against charging an entrance fee to view any of the sporting activities held at Stanley Park. In 1912, the Athletic Club found itself a year in arrears of rent payments to the City. The club opened up negotiations and contracted with Mr. Con Jones for the sub-leasing of the Brockton Oval to play professional lacrosse. The terms of the agreement; 15 years; rent $1,000 per annum; 100 tickets including an escort per event to club members; the lacrosse promoter to expense $15,000 in improvements to the Oval. The proposal to sublease never had a chance.
Aligned against the proposal were:
(i) the City Beautiful Association
(ii) the newly created Parks Board
(iii) the City Solicitor
(iv) the City Council
(v) the Finance Committee of the City
Suffice to say, in 1913 the lease between the City and the Athletic Club was brought to a premature end, in no small part due to the efforts of the newly created Vancouver Parks Board.
The Brockton Point Cricket Club is the successor in interest to the Brockton Point Athletic Club - the Athletic Club having ceased operations in 1913 and the cricket club having commenced operations in 1914 out of the same location in Stanley Park. Brockton Point Cricket Club has maintained continuity of use of the Pavilion and Upper Brockton from 1914 to the present day.
