Societies and Associations

The Heraklion Charitable Brotherhood (1899), the Heraklion Medical Association (founded in 1904) and the Apollo Music Society (1906) numbered among the town's most active societies. At the same time, popular European sporting activities were not slow in winning over the people of Heraklion. 1900 saw the foundation of the Cretan Sporting Association, while physical education was gradually introduced into the school curriculum. Shooting associations, such as the Heraklion Panhellenic Shooting Association and the National Ensign, founded in 1907 and 1910, gained a particularly keen following at this time. In 1909 the Heraklion Rowing Club was set up, followed in 1911 by the town's first football team, Amilla ["Rivalry"], with a doctor named Michail Ieronymakis acting as president, goal keeper and referee.