Japanese Occupation

After landing in Labuan on 1 January 1942 the Japanese invasion force took Jesselton on 9 January and renamed it ‘Api-Api’. The clubhouse was used by the Kempeitai as their H.Q. It was reported that interrogation and torture were conducted there giving this period a dark chapter in the history of the club.

Revival of the Club

Due to lack of records it was not known when the club was revived after the Second World War. When consulted Mr. R.G.RN. Combe responded that “I think the returning (after the war) Europeans restarted the Sports Club. They were a mixed bag and some new comers (chiefly commercial) and were very odd. l tried (failed) to get the club to admit Asiaties as members incidentally.”

It was after the war that the post of Chairman duly elected at A.G.M. was introduced. The first to hold the post was lvor Llewellyn Brace. He was appointed by the King as the Chief Justice of North Borneo and arrived in Jesselton on 6 January 1947. In addition to his judiciary duties he was appointed by the first post war Governor E.F Twinning on 22 March 1947 as the President of Commission of Enquiry on the Civil Service; President of the Commission of Enquiry into the Railway on 9 January 1948; and the President of Enquiry on causes of the high cost of living in November 1948. He was eventually made the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei on 1 December 1951. Our first post-war Chairman was therefore a high- powered (person and the club must had been revived after his arrival in Jesselton on 6 January 1947.