History of School Sports in Hong Kong

School Sports in Hong Kong has a long history, tracing back to the pre-war period.

Before the 1950s
The Inter-School Sports Committee, founded 1877, governed inter-school sports events until the 1950s.

1950s
The Hong Kong Schools Sports Association (HKSSA) is officially consituted in 1951 with 46 founding member schools.

In 1953, the New Territories Schools Sports Association (NTSSA) is founded.

1970s
In the 1972 season, there are 24 NTSSA and 137 HKSSA secondary school members, and 308 NTSSA and 108 HKSSA primary school members. Realizing that efforts to promote primary school sports are inadequate, the HKSSA established two branches governing school sports for primary schools and secondary schools respectively, and decentralized primary school sports competitions into districts,

Due to the popularity of some sports events in the Urban Region, the HKSSA introduced a multidivisional system for such events, for example the athletics and swimming. The HKSSA also operated some sports competitions with separate leagues in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, such as football and basketball.

In 1974, the Hong Kong Schools Sports Council (HKSSC) was founded by the Sports Division of the Education Department to oversee interport and international competitions.

1990s
To improve representation, efficiency and the use of resources, it was planned in the early 1990s to merge the three organizations into a new federation. The Provinsional Federation was set up in May 1995 to prepare for the amalgamation and to restructure the work done by the three organizations. The Hong Kong Schools Sports Federation (HKSSF) was incorporated on 4. July 1997 and the amalgamation completed on 1. September upon the official inauguration of the HKSSF and the beginning of the 1998 season.