Just over a century ago a group of expatriates, mainly British and living in the North of Thailand, spent many of their leisure hours playing Squash. Most were in the then highly lucrative timber trade and thus it is not surprising that they built their courts from Teak.

One of these happy band of Squash players was a Mr. D.F. Macfie (Douglas Fleming) who worked for the Borneo Company and appears in Squash records from the middle 1890's to the middle 1920's. He played all his Squash during this period on Teak Courts whilst he was in Northern Thailand. He was one of the 14 founder members of the Chiengmai Gymkhana Club (Louis T Leonowens, whose wife Anna was the famous "The King and I" Anna was another) which started in 1898. The Club still exists and although Polo is no longer played they still play Squash. They have a thriving Squash section playing on two  modern courts which were built in 1979 and 1985.  When the second court was completed the Teak Court was dismantled and, we believe, put in storage.

There were a number of such courts but all but one have disappeared or have been converted to other uses.  One still remains in Chiengmai, in the compound of the old Borneo Company, but this is now a house.  Traces of the wall sidelines were still visible when last inspected.

Mr. Macfie left an outstanding legacy.  This was the "Chiengmai Cup"  for doubles squash which he presented to the Royal Bangkok Sports Club in 1910.  The competition for this cup has been played almost continuously since 1910 to this date.  The only times it was not played were the war years and a couple of "administrative slippages".  We believe the competition holds the record for the longest still played.