Judo Downunder

Much of the history of Judo in Australia is being lost. I would like to hear from people about 20th Century Australian Judo; about clubs that have come and gone and the good old days. By putting this informationon on the forum it will help to preserve some history and provide leads for further enquiry.

For what it is worth here is a draft of a Chronology of Judo Organisations in Australia I have been putting together, any constructve help appreciated

1951	· Judo Federation of Australia (JFA) founded. Queensland represented by Messrs V G Allen and Cliff Duncan; NSW by Mr Ernest Chambers; Victoria by Mr Ivan Zavetchanos; Western Australia by Mr Andy Fleming; and South Australia by Mr Moss Hollis. (Herrmann 2011; VAJU 2011)
1952	· International Judo Federation (I.J.F.) founded (VAJU 2011) · Victorian Amateur Judo Union established (VAJU 2011) · West Australian Amateur Judo Federation formed by Messrs Mr Andrew Fleming, Joe Podvrsnik and Jim Connor. (Robertson 2011)
1954	· Oceania Judo Union (OJU) founded. Australia represented by Mr Ivan Zavetchanos (VAJU 2011)
1958	· Mr Ivan Zavetchanos elected President of the IJF (1958 -1969) (VAJU 2011)
1970	· Mr Ivan Zavetchanos elected Vice President of the IJF (1970 -1979) (VAJU 2011) · South Australian Kodokan Judo Association Incorporated (SAKJAI) formed under the guidance of Messrs Moss Hollis and John Carter.
1975	· Three VAJU members lodge complaints against VAJU management with the JFA (Cox 2011) · AAJA formed?
1979	· JAWA formed (Robertson 2011) · Australian Coaching Council (ACC) established as an initiative of the Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation. (Herrmann 2011) · Split in the JFA-WA, formation of the Judo Association of W.A. (JAWA), which then affiliates with the AAJA.
1980	· ACC asks the Technical Director of the JFA, Mr Ivan Zavetchanos to develop a National Judo Coaching Scheme. (Herrmann 2011)
1981	· VAJU Expelled from JFA (VAJU 2011) · JFA(Vic) formed (Cox 2011)
1982	· AAJA amalgamated with JFA (Robertson 2011) · Kodokan Judo Assocation(SA) and VAJU form Australian Kodokan Judo Association (AKJA), later joined by the Western Australian Kodokan Judo Association(WAKJA) and then other states
1985	· Call to impeach the JFA(Vic) committee, JFA(Vic) split (Cox 2011)
1987	· Legal proceedings in South Australia (Action No. 442 of 1987). Costs incurred leave JFA(Vic) with legal debt of $220 000(JVI. 2008)
1991	· Extraordinary General Meeting held to recombine JFA(Vic) factions. JFA(Vic) chaired by an appointee of the State Department of Sport and Recreation. (Cox 2011)
1996	· JFA(Vic) constitution re-written and JFA(Vic) incorporated under the name Judo Victoria Inc (JVI). (Cox 2011) Legal debts continue.
2009	President of NSW AKJA Mr Terry Riches resigns from the AKJA and forms the Australian Judo Union (AJU) (Riches 2009)
2010	· JVI Legal Expenses from 1987 South Australia proceedings finalised (McMahon 2010)

Bibliography

Cox, R. (2011), 'About JVI', <http://www.judobalwyn.org.au/jvi/jviabout.htm>, accessed 21 06 11.

Herrmann, P. (2011), 'The History of Judo in Australia', <http://www.ausjudo.com.au/jfa/jsp/read_more/read_more.jsp?title=History&read_more_id=col_1_readmore>, accessed 21 06 11.

JVI. (2008), 'Constitution', (Judo Victoria Incorporated), 31-32.

McMahon, M. (2010), 'Draft Minutes for Annual General Meeting.', (Melbourne: JVI).

Riches, T. (2011 ), 'NSW AKJA membership moves to form the Australian Judo Union', <http://www.australianjudounion.com/st.php?uv=356I44I1I0I0I0>, accessed September, 2011.

Robertson, B. (2011), 'Some Aussie History', <http://www.judo-sensei.com.au/aussie_history_6.html>, accessed 21 06 11.

VAJU (2011), 'Victorian Amateur Judo Union inc.', <http://www.vaju.org.au/>, accessed September, 2011.

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Great work, JudoDad. I had no idea that the SA case cost $220,000!
Ps: Jim Connors was my first instructor's (Barry Hobbs) instructor. Actually, I have Jim's copy of "Judo for the west" (signed and stamped property of Jim Connors) not half a metre from me
Pps: No mention of Sensei Chek of Kawashi fame?

Victorian Judo was blighted for many years with petty personality and political grudges between opposing groups. It makes a very sad history but it was even worse to experience it. My Judo started in the mid 60's when things really began to sour big time. I had close Judo friends on all sides of the divide. JudoDad talk to Mike Picken about the repercussions of all those bad years on the development of Victorian Judo.

Thanks for the lead Jimgo .

In the 70's I trained at a VAJU club but used to slip across to an adjacent suburb and train with a VAJA club. There was no problem doing this except that the VAJA club was expensive! I once trained at Caulfield and met the two Michaels. Michael Collins and Michael Pichens.

My research so far indicates that Victoria is far from being the only Australian state to have been blighted with petty personality and political grudges.My aim is to establish a factual history and not upset to many people at the same time. Unfortunately emotions run high and it is difficult to obtain completely objective information. However in the words of George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" .

Only one of the bibliography links worked. I'd like to read more on the history, so I'll try them again.

One Australian I remember from my early days at the Kodokan is Frank Dando, who was a good friend of my brother.

Thanks for the post.

In the late 1970's and early 80's I trained at Bayswater Judo Club (a VAJU club, VAJU was the IJF affiliated body at the time) and used to slip accross to the Ashwood Judo & Fitness centre to train under Frank and Akira Yamada (VAJA). Later I trained under Bob Todd at Nunawading.

I trained a few times with the late Arthur Moorshead in Caulfield - great man. A Brit who went to Australia - I believe Arthur started his juo in London.

I fought Michael Pickens once or twice in training sessions - though he was a bit older than me. Hard man!

Take a look at the Australian newspapers online. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper There are occasional mentions way back (to include then-Lt. Nango in Melbourne; he was later an admiral and director of the Kodokan), but most of them start in the early 1950s. The articles I recollect seeing suggested significant German influence, via postwar immigration.

Joseph Svinth wrote:Take a look at the Australian newspapers online. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper There are occasional mentions way back (to include then-Lt. Nango in Melbourne; he was later an admiral and director of the Kodokan), but most of them start in the early 1950s. The articles I recollect seeing suggested significant German influence, via postwar immigration.

Can you narrow down the trove search at all?

BTW: I know a German Expat Judoka Mathew Komp who was very active in Judo at one time, came to Australia with a genuine high Judo grade, 5th dan I think; but then got side tracked into a Jujitsu organisation and is now a "10th Dan".

On the main search site. To the right, underneath. There is a link to "advanced search." There you can sort by year, paper, and so on.

Before the 1950s, you will do much better searching for "jujitsu" (in its various spellings) than judo. Professor Kano lecturing in Paris in November 1933, for instance, is described as discussing jujitsu. Kano said he introduced it to Paris 44 years earlier, so that would have been during his visit in 1889. (Adelaide Advertiser, Nov 3, 1933, page 10) Australian suffragettes borrowed a page from Miss Pankhurst's book, and started teaching jujutsu to members in 1913. (Launceton Examiner, August 21, 1913, page 5) Etc. Looks like the police stuff during the early 1910s really did owe a lot to Captain McLaglan's minions. Gasp. Anyway, it wouldn't be all that hard to come up with an Australian judo history built primarily on newspaper sources. You'd have to check spellings and question the interpretations, but this will give you names, dates, locations, and so on to follow up.

The two strongest clubs in juniors were Mordialloc Youth Club - Mordialloc Ninjas and Preston Judo Club. Teams comps were big and held at suburban town halls.

mikmak wrote:The two strongest clubs in juniors were Mordialloc Youth Club - Mordialloc Ninjas and Preston Judo Club. Teams comps were big and held at suburban town halls.

I remember some wopper tournaments at Power House

Can you provide anymore info about Mordialloc or Preston.

Clubs I have trained at that are no longer include Bayswater Judo Club, Pascoe Vale Judo Club (Both run by Daryl Clancy) and Nunawading Judo Club run by Bob Todd and more recently Seishinkan Judo Club at Tarneit run by John Guljas.

Coaches at Mordialloc - Phil Richardson and Les Galley. Coach at Preston Peter Alway. Mordialloc produced three Michaels , Trevor and the Matthews brothers. Michael Picken, Michael McMahon, Michael Young, Trevor Bilney, Ray and Greg Matthews - Picken and Young went on to be Olympians. I can remeber when Junior Nationals were started in 1969 (Sydney), 1970 (Adelaide),1971 (Melbourne)and 1972 (Hobart).

Someone needs to get a tape recorder and talk to Ern Knoop, Ivan Zavetchanos, Frank Dando etc to get the history of judo before it is too late.

With Jim Robinson now being dead for over 20 years, the History of Judo in Australia must lie in the hands (minds) of Ern, Ivan and Frank, the petty childish squabbling between the JFA, AKJA and the AJU MUST be put aside (even if only as a short truce) to amass as much information about Judo in Australia as possible.

Let's not forget the already forgotten Jack Cox who instructed Judo at the Melbourne YMCA for many years producing the second generation Judo talents of Bob and Kevin Todd, Frank Dando and many others.  Jack used to live not far from me in middle Camberwell (Melbourne)  Kevin Todd and I would drop in for a cup of tea when doing our regular runs - that was in the early 1980's and Jack was probably well past the 80 mark himself at that time.

Jack learned his Judo while a POW in Changi, Singapore during WW2 from the Japanese guards - some of whom were very proficient Judo men.  It would be a great shame if Jack Cox's name was lost to Judo history in Australia because it is such a fascinating tale of something very positive arising from Changi gaol during a time time of terrible suffering by Australian POW's.

Please remember Jack.  He was a true pioneer and gentleman.