Club History
Club History
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The Way of the Thistle
(The Way of the Thistle, A short club History)
Ayr Ice Rink 1952
In 1951, the Cluarankwai Judo Club was established by Ted Routley, a student of the Budokwai. This is the date in which the club was set up as an organised body, as there is evidence that the club had been practising Judo in Kilmarnock prior to 1951. The Club may have been in existence since 1948, but due to club records being missing prior to this date we can not verify the exact date of the founding of the Cluarankwai Judo Club. If anyone out there has any other information which could verify this we would be grateful for this Information. Other members who played a major part in the clubs early years included Roger Traynor, Bert Houston, John K. Young, Pat Hughes. Over the years the Club has produced many high quality Judoka such as Eddie Cassidy who was a British and Scottish International player. Eddie retired from competition a number of years ago and is the highest graded player at the club. Other players included John K Young, Paul Cassidy and many other players who represented the United Kingdom and Scotland at Junior and Senior International level. The name of the club was attributed to Bill Shearer and translates from the Gaelic and Japanese as "The Way of the Thistle", Cluaran is the Gaelic for the thistle which is the national flower of Scotland and Kwai is Japenese for the way of. Over the years the club has been honoured by visits from Anton Geesink, Saburo Matsushita and George Kerr. Since the club started they have produced 34 Dan Grades, 11 BJA Coaches (8 still take classes at Cluarankwai), 10 personal safety advisors; 2 referees and 6 table officials as well as Scottish and British Internationalists. In 2006 the clubs new lottery founded Dojo was officialy opened. **If you wish something added then please e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ** |
The Way of the Thistle
(The Way of the Thistle, A short club History)
Ayr Ice Rink 1952
In 1951, the Cluarankwai Judo Club was established by Ted Routley, a student of the Budokwai. This is the date in which the club was set up as an organised body, as there is evidence that the club had been practising Judo in Kilmarnock prior to 1951. The Club may have been in existence since 1948, but due to club records being missing prior to this date we can not verify the exact date of the founding of the Cluarankwai Judo Club. If anyone out there has any other information which could verify this we would be grateful for this Information. Other members who played a major part in the clubs early years included Roger Traynor, Bert Houston, John K. Young, Pat Hughes. Over the years the Club has produced many high quality Judoka such as Eddie Cassidy who was a British and Scottish International player. Eddie retired from competition a number of years ago and is the highest graded player at the club. Other players included John K Young, Paul Cassidy and many other players who represented the United Kingdom and Scotland at Junior and Senior International level. The name of the club was attributed to Bill Shearer and translates from the Gaelic and Japanese as "The Way of the Thistle", Cluaran is the Gaelic for the thistle which is the national flower of Scotland and Kwai is Japenese for the way of. Over the years the club has been honoured by visits from Anton Geesink, Saburo Matsushita and George Kerr. Since the club started they have produced 34 Dan Grades, 11 BJA Coaches (8 still take classes at Cluarankwai), 10 personal safety advisors; 2 referees and 6 table officials as well as Scottish and British Internationalists. In 2006 the clubs new lottery founded Dojo was officialy opened. **If you wish something added then please e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ** |
