Le Cercle Sportif Saigonnais (The Saigon Sports Circle) (C.S.S.)
(now Cung Văn hĂła Lao Động)
The Saigon Sports Circle (Athletic Club)
55, Chasseloup-Laubat Street
(in 1955 HĂ´ng Thâp Tu St. now 55B Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai, Bến ThĂ nh, Quận 1)
Saigon
Tel: 20.385
Bar: 20.288
It was in about 1896 that the Cercle Sportif was established, but its status wasn’t officially recognized until 1902 and its activities ceased in 1975 with the fall of Saigon.
The C.S.S. occupied a space of about 5 hectares (ca. 12 acres) which belonged to the Saigon-Cholon area and which it rented. It consisted of several colonial style buildings :
The swimming pool was inaugurated in 1933 and was much used by the French and later by the Americans (among which the ambassador of the United States Henry Cabot Lodge during the ’60’s.).
"Our swimming pool, the pride of Saigon" was the motto of the bi-monthly magazine "la Revue du Cercle".
Ten tennis courts, eight of which were lighted.
Having returned to Saigon in 1968, General of the South-Vietnamese Army Duong Van Minh was a regular on one of the tennis courts of the Cercle Sportif SaĂŻgonnais.
Football and rugby fields with bleachers that could hold 12,000 people.
Gyms for martial arts, calisthenics, fencing, etc…
The library was created in 1933 and in 1950 held 5,000 volumes, and the reading room had numerous newspapers and magazines from France. Periodicals arrive by sea, and newspapers by air.
our or five balls took place each year (the first was given on February 28, 1920!) to mark the visit of athletic teams; two parties were held around the pool; the grand ball at the end of February on the on the slippery floor of the courts was one of the most enjoyable social events of “Saigon’s gentry”. Christine Chanut.
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