Trailblazing Administrator James Taylor Stands Tall as Australia’s First Apostle Of Amateur Sport

Paris Olympic team
PARIS BOUND: Australia's 1924 Olympic team with gold medallists standing, Richmond "Dick" Eve (second from left), Andrew "Boy" Charlton (fourth from left) and Anthony "Nick" Winter (Far right).Photo Courtesy ES Marks Collection (Mitchell Library).

On this day 100 years ago on April 29, 1920, the federated Australian Olympic Council was formed and one of the unsung heroes of Australian sports administration James “Pa” Taylor was elected President – a position he was to hold until his death in 1944.

Today’s anniversary marks the formal separation of Australia and New Zealand from the combined “Australasia” entity which had competed in the 1908 London and 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games.

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Australia’s trailblazing Olympic and Swimming administrator James Taylor. Photo Courtesy: (IOC Archives Lausanne)

Taylor has been described as “an apostle of amateur sport” – the longest standing president of both NSW and Australian Swimming.

A man who loved swimming, who rose from a humble club handicapper – a member of the NSWASA since its inception and Balmain Club delegate in 1894 to Australian Olympic chief and in 1924 Australia’s second International Olympic Committee member.

An extarordinary career – spanning over 50 years and unsurpassed in Australian sport – who in 1993 was admitted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame for Administration Services to the Olympics and Swimming, having had a significant impact on Australian amateur sport during the first half of the century.

And celebrating the 100th anniversary of his election to the top of the Australian Olympic Council and Australia’s longest standing Swimming president, Taylor must now be in line for even further posthumous recognition.

At his last annual general meeting as president of the NSW Amateur Swimming Association he was not only re-elected for a 33rd consecutive year but also as its first ever Life Member – and his 51st year of service which also saw him serve as Chairman from 1898 to 1909, the year he was elected for his record presidential term.

Concurrently serving as Australian Swimming Union president and Olympic Committee chairman from 1920 until his death – a truly extraordinary career, a lifetime of service – dedicated to the cause until the end.

In 1920, the first Australia-only Olympic team competed at the Antwerp Games. Australia sent a 13-member team winning two silver medals and a bronze.

In August 1923, the Australian Olympic Council changed its name to the Australian Olympic Federation (AOF) – an identity it was to hold until June 19, 1990 when it was re-named the Australian Olympic Committee.

After it was formed, one of the Australian Olympic Council’s chief tasks was raising funds to send teams to Olympics – just as it is today.

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Manly Swimming Club contingent, 1924 Olympics. Standing from left “Ossie” Merrett (Manager), Tom Adrian (trainer); Ernest Henry, Dick Eve, Andrew “Boy” Charlton. Photo Courtesy: Ernest Henry.

Thirty-seven athletes compised the Australian team for the 1924 Paris Olympic Games where Andrew “Boy” Charlton commenced Australia’s proud 1500m freestyle gold medal history, Richmond “Dick’ Eve captured the plain highboard diving, and Anthony “Nick” Winter was first in the hop, step and jump, now known as the triple jump – the trio hailed as “The Manly Boys” all living in the popular seaside suburb of Sydney.

It is often stated that the character of Australia and of Australians is best reflected through its love for sport and swimming has played such an intricate part in that success as the Australian Olympic Committee today celebrates its 100th anniversary.

Organisations so diligently led by Taylor – a street smart Balmain boy who dealt with the world’s shrewdest minds in sport.

A man who laid a foundation for 10 decades of Australian swimming and Olympic administrators, coaches and the swimmers who have all played an intricate part of its rich history of success from pools to board rooms and beyond.

The forgotten men, trailblazers who made the tough decisions, men like Taylor, as respected Olympic historian Harry Gordon described “as a massive man who had once played water polo and who had given great service to sport; as president of the Australian Swimming Union from 1909; president of the NSWASA since 1908, chairman of the AOF since 1920 and member of the IOC since 1924…..who held all positions simultaneously until his death in 1944, aged 72.”

A man who was the first of three Australians, followed by AOC Life Members Kevan Gosper and John Coates to be the president/chairman of the Australian Olympic Committee as well as being a member of the IOC.

Taylor had a feeling for sport at the highest levels in the corridors of the IOC to the trenches of sport declaring in a report after the 1924 Games in Paris (where Australia had won three gold, one silver and two bronze – all but one gold to swimmers and diver Dick Eve) that coaches were missed.

“There was not one official coach with the team. We had the natural athletes, but they were devoid of that finish which often makes the difference between success and failure. In my opinion, with scientific coaching and intensified training, our flag would have been raised more frequently. The success of the United States team was largely due to an almost military discipline, supported by also coaching and managing,” Taylor wrote.

An example of an administrator ahead of his time, who at the close of the ’24 Games was invited to attend a special session of the IOC and would later that year become Australia’s second representative on that prestigious Committee.

Taylor was described by swimming historian Murray Phillips “as an apostle of amateur sport” and by respected journalist Alan Clarkson in Lanes of Gold “100 Years of Swimming in NSW” as “unquestionably a giant of swimming’s earlier days…and administrator who had (certainly) left a lasting impression.

He was a chartered accountant and a director of several Sydney companies who had the financial means to pursue the administration of amateur sport and he travelled extensively to attend five Olympic Games as well as regular IOC meetings.

According to “The Referee” Newspaper Taylor “was the most influential, forceful and eloquent orator on Olympic ideals and the amateur spirit of sport.”

When Taylor died in Hornsby on June 28, 1944 Les Duff, from the then Australian Swimming Union recognised his contribution, saying: “The loss of Mr Taylor will be deeply felt not only by swimming enthusiasts but by all amateur sporting bodies throughout Australia…everyone looked to him for advice….because more than any other man he was the embodiment of amateurism.”

His contribution to swimming had local, national and international dimensions, a career in senior administration which spanned some four decades, and was recognised by the award of Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1933.

Taylor had attended a meeting on July 14, 1928 in London, along with representatives of Canada, South Africa and New Zealand, at which the Empire Sports Federation was founded. Its main objective, was to promote the Empire (later Commonwealth) Games, resolving to hold the first Games in Hamilton, Canada in 1930.

As a member of the International Olympic Committee he was the representative of that body in Australia, succeeding the late and often feisty and controversial Roger Coombes.

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Australian greats Frank Beaurepaire (left) and Harold Hardwick who swam in the James Taylor era. Photo Courtesy: ES Marks Collection (Mitchell Library).

He attended the Olympic Games at Antwerp in 1920, Paris 1924, Amsterdam 1928, Los Angeles 1932, and Berlin 1936. Born at Gosford on December 1, 1871, he subsequently came to Sydney, and in 1899 opened business as an accountant, in partnership with Mr. F. E. McLean, later one of the first members of the Federal Parliament.

 

 

Aussies are well known for working hard to achieve, and certainly celebrating their successes with the Olympics is a special part of their national identity and a key feature of its rich sporting tapestry.

The Australian Olympic Committee’s unique spirit “is an intoxicating brew and its elixir binds people together whenever the Australian flag is hoisted, and when men and women wearing green and gold enter the field of play….Glued by the theatre and drama of Olympic competition, mesmerised by the speed, power and artistry of athletes, and we are inspired by their ambition and success. We cheer and rejoice when our athletes climb the podium, and we feel their pain when disappointment arises.”

There is no doubt that sport in Australia owes men like James Taylor, and his life time of voluntary work, an enormous debt of gratitude and due recognition.

A true trailblazer for future administrators and shapers of modern day sporting ideals and endeavours.

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