Fred Knudsen Trophy

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Photographed November 2011	Click images for high resolution view

History of the Trophy

The trophy was probably instituted whilst Fred Knudsen was the president of AUSSI Masters Swimming in Australia Queensland Branch (now Masters Swimming Queensland). The trophy was contested at virtually all inter-club swim meets spanning ten years of competition from 1982 to 1991. At the time there may have been some restrictions on the minimum number of clubs that had to attend a swim meet for it to be considered a valid inter-club swim meet. During the time that the trophy was contested there were several years in which BSM actually ran two swim meets; however it would appear that the trophy was never awarded to the winner of the BSM short course swim meets which were conducted mid-winter (June or July). It is an historic object in that it was instituted within the first five years of masters swimming in Queensland and spans an era when there was a rapid growth in both membership and the number of clubs.

When the trophy was instituted masters the masters swimming landscape was very different from the present. There were a hand full of "super clubs" one of which was BSM. At its peak BSM had well in excess of one hundred members. In this era BSM actually defeated all comers at the Tamworth swim Meet (Queen's Birthday 1990?). The trophy provides evidence that BSM was able to defeat other major clubs on their home turf for example Toowoomba September 1983. When the trophy was instituted masters swimming was independent of FINA (first FINA World Masters Swim was in Tokyo 1986). During the time covered by this trophy the Chandler pool hosted the Australian Titles 1987, the second FINA World Masters Swim 1988 and the third Australian Masters Games 1991.

It would appear that BSM was defeated by the Gold Coast club at the second swim meet hosted by the BSM in November 1982, a result that thankfully has never been repeated. BSM is reputed to have conducted one of the first swim meets conducted in the Chandler pool, after the club relocated there in 1981. The trophy records the rise of Miami Masters which was founded as a result of a split within the Gold Coast club. It interesting during the time the trophy was contested, despite being the first masters swimming club in Queensland Brisbane Northside only won one swim meet, presumably their own, in August 1987. Another interesting fact is that BSM tied with Sunshine Coast in February 1985, presumably at the Sunshine Coast swim meet.

The deprecated acronym AUSSI (Australian Union of Senior Swimmers International) will be fondly remembered by many older swimmers as clever play on the abbreviation for Australian. The acronym as abandoned in 2010 when the membership age was lowered to from twenty to eighteen in Australia.

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