Welcome

You have arrived at the modern window on a very old, and certainly unique, institution. The Mal de Mer Club is like no other. It is made up of a broad spectrum of gentlemen, drawn from all regions of England, all work backgrounds, all ages, all shapes and sizes. What they have in common is a passion for sport and the goodfellowship it offers.

The Mal de Mer Club exists for the sole purpose of sharing that passion with the good people of the Isles of Scilly, for whom sporting competition is severely limited by geography. The Scillonians excel at football, cricket, hockey, squash, golf and many more sports, and it is our mission to provide them with competition. It is the home of the smallest football league in the world, and the Mals play all the teams in that league – on consecutive days! And on those same days, there are cricket matches against the Island teams … it is as demanding as it is enjoyable.

The club, its aims and ideals (as taken from the 1948 brochure):

• Mal de Mer epitomises the highest standards of sportsmanship.
• It asks that members, whilst giving the best opposition at all sports to the Islanders, will set an example of exemplary sportsmanship, remembering the will to play the game comes before the will to win.
• Its ideals are the practice of good fellowship at all times under all conditions and to put the “other fellow’s” enjoyment first, and by so doing enhance the personal joy.