The United Services Recreation Club (USRC) () is a historical club located on

Gun Club Hill Barracks Gun Club Hill Barracks are barracks in King's Park, or in Jordan, Hong Kong formerly used by British Army garrisons during British colonial rule. The military began using the area shortly after 1860 when the British acquired Kowloon. The barra ...

site at

Gascoigne Road Gascoigne Road () is a main road in Kowloon, Hong Kong, going west-east from Nathan Road to Chatham Road South through the head of King's Park, leading vehicles from West Kowloon to the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Gascoigne Road Flyover () is a ...

in Kowloon,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. Originally it was a British colonial establishment but now is a property of the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

after they took over the barracks on 1 July 1997.

History

The club was founded in 1911 for the benefit of British officer-level personnel. It was considered one of the key social clubs for military officers. During the Japanese occupation, it was used by Japanese military personnel. Queen Elizabeth Hospital was built on the USRC's former golf course. After the

handover of Hong Kong Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the British Hong Kong, former colony. Hong Kong was establ ...

to China, the land on which the USRC is located is now property of the PLA garrison. However, according to previous agreements the PLA has not intervened with the club's activities, and shares no profits. In 2011, a book was published called ''Trees of the United Services Recreation Club''. From the beginning, the club admitted civilian members in order to balance out the transient nature of the military population. Today, the majority of members are civilians.

Membership

A corporate member needs to pay one-off payment of HK$408,000 to join the club while the ordinary membership fee is HK$188,000. In addition there is monthly subscription fee of HK$1,390.

Sports

USRC sponsors various sporting activities, most notably the

USRC Tigers RFC USRC Tigers (三軍會猛虎欖球會) is a rugby union club based in King's Park, Hong Kong. It arose from the merger between Kai Tak Tigers and DeA Flamingo Rugby Football Club in 1990 to become "DeA Tigers". In 2014, DeA Tigers associated wi ...

, a semi-professional rugby union team as well as youth teams. The nearby King's Park is seen as the home ground for the club's rugby and football teams. Main facilities provided by the club include a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

, an outdoor swimming pool, and four

floodlit A floodlight is a broad-beamed, gas discharge lamp#High-intensity discharge lamps, high-intensity artificial light. They are often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is Night game, being held during low-li ...

tennis courts. There are also indoor or outdoor courts for cricket, squash, basketball, etc.

References

{{Cricket in Hong Kong King's Park, Hong Kong Gentlemen's clubs in Hong Kong Cricket teams in Hong Kong 1911 establishments in Hong Kong

History

Membership

Sports

See also

References