More Than Just a Game: One Hundred Years of Organized Sport in Prince Edward Island, 1850–1950

C.E. (Kit) Lefroy is director of the School of Sports Administration at
Laurentian University.

Ballem has meticulously traced the development of organized sport in
Prince Edward Island from 1850 to 1950. Beginning with the formation of
the Charlottetown Cricket Club and finishing with hockey developments,
he describes the rich history of a surprisingly large number of sports.

While the focus is descriptive rather than analytical, the author does
make some generalizations. For example, he characterizes the early
decades of Island sport as a time of “British influence.” He also
touches on the effects of the Depression and the two world wars.
Sprinkled throughout the book are brief commentaries about urbanization,
women in sport, and elitism (there is clearly more to tell about those
social forces), as well as good descriptions of the events, characters,
and some of the local and Maritimes issues affecting sport on the
Island.

More Than Just a Game is light in references, but includes a detailed
index of almost 16 pages and more than a hundred photographs. The book
would be of interest to Islanders, former Islanders, and—as a starting
point for further research— sport historians.