In 1904, nine boys came together to form The Boy's Own Association, a sports club that aimed to promote clean sport and recreation ? for a select few.

One hundred years later the tiny club has grown to be "everyone's own" as the Bermuda Athletic Association (BAA) with approximately 150 members from all segments of the Bermudian community.

This month, the club, located on Woodlands Road in Pembroke, plans to celebrate with a special centenary dinner on September 25.

"For us it is a chance to celebrate all the work that people did before us and particularly the fact that we've managed to produce a number of top sportsmen,and top administrators in the Hall of Fame including Francis "Goose" Gosling, Mr. W.F. Chummy Hayward, Mr. D.J. Williams (whose grandfather built the first clubhouse) and Mr. Keith Dunstan," said Jon Beard, president of the BAA.

"These fine gentlemen were all stalwart BAA members both as competitors and administrators. This indeed says a lot for the type of person who has been instrumental in the development of the club that has played a pivotal role in the development of sport in Bermuda."

Mr. Beard is the physical education teacher at Saltus Grammar School, and also the head teacher of Saltus Senior Year.

During its early years, the BAA went through a couple of name changes. A few months after opening, it became the Young Men's Athletic Association. In 1906 it became the Bermuda Amateur Athletic Association. Later, it dropped the 'Amateur'. The current Woodlands Road property was not purchased from the Hamilton Cricket Club until 1920.

Mr. Beard said that during its century in operation, the BAA has left an undeniable stamp on local sports. The BAA was the first club to offer football, rugby, swimming, athletics, and badminton to Bermudians. By making affiliations with larger sporting bodies in the United Kingdom and Europe, it also allowed Bermudians to participate in sports meets and to invite sportsmen to Bermuda in exchange.

The club's anniversary is a time to look back and reflect. Until the 1960s, the BAA was segregated. BAA played the first ever football game between black and white Bermudians in 1954 when BAA defeated the Southampton Rangers 4-0. The following year saw the clubs united into one cup competition (the FA Cup). The final in 1956 saw BAA defeat Southampton Rangers 3-1. In 1963 black and white Bermudians played against each other in one league, the Bermuda Football Union (BFU).

"Consequently, our membership has changed," said Mr. Beard. "People of all races are playing, and our field is used by Boulevard, Devonshire Colts and Dandy Town and by other teams in the community, which is what we wanted. Former club administrator, Goose Gosling, was very keen on desegregation. He believed that the BAA should move as much as it could to embrace the whole community.

"Now, the whole football thing has gotten bigger in terms of commercial league teams. Now we have three premier league teams playing there. The club's facilities are certainly being used a lot more. This year we have managed to expand our youth teams quite dramatically. Over the years the youth programmes dropped off. They were Goose Gosling's big thing. Consequently, there hasn't been the young people coming through the club that you need to develop it. We are moving towards improving that and bringing young people into the club again."

In honour of Mr. Gosling's contribution to the BAA, the field is going to be renamed 'The Goose Gosling Field'.

" We want to recognise the efforts of everybody who has gone before us," said Mr. Beard.

But the anniversary is also a time for the club to take stock of the present and plan for the future.

"I have been on the Island 30 years," said Mr. Beard, "and really, nothing has changed other than that the clubhouse was renovated in 1981. There is a lot of work that needs doing."

Buying new floodlights, an artificial football pitch and upgrading the gym could run into the millions.

"Over the last 100 years things have changed," said Mr. Beard. "Now we are trying to bring it into the needs of the present century. We are looking at how we are going to finance it. There is no sense building something that no one is ever going to use. We want to make sure that what we do is sensible, but we want to use this year to get the word out."

Mr. Beard is involved in the Island Games Association, so he gets a chance