After 88 years, golf club finally lifts its ban on Germans

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It was just after the First World War and at Filton Golf Club they were in an unforgiving mood.

In May 1919, members voted to ban Germans from playing at the 18-hole course in Bristol, or even entering the clubhouse.

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Filton Golf Club in Bristol marked the historic occasion by letting Hugo Berger, whose grandparents came from Austria, tee off wearing the national dress of his ancestors.

The rule, which also barred Austrians from playing, stayed in effect for nearly nine decades.

Now, however, it has finally been scrapped.

And members celebrated peace breaking out by letting Hugo Berger, whose grandparents came from Austria, tee off wearing the national dress of his predecessors.

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Hugo Berger: Getting into the spirit of things in Austrian dress

Nine members of the club were killed in the war.

But after the rule was passed in 1919 it faded from memory and remained forgotten in a dusty leather-bound ledger until unearthed by member Alan Barclay as he researched a book for the club's centenary.

The long-forgotten rule had remained on this dusty leather-bound ledger since 1919

"It must have been passed because there was so much hatred of the Germans for causing such loss of life during the war," said Mr Barclay, 66, a retired Rolls-Royce worker.

"I was amazed to find that it just sat there for 88 years."

However, one German slipped through the net – Anna Fischer, who joined two years ago as a playing member.

Mr Barclay added: "There is now friendship between our countries and it is not the kind of law you want a modern club to have."

When the rule was passed, 90 of the club's 200 members had recently returned from active service, including Manley Angell James, who was awarded the Victoria Cross.

 

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