The Indian Reform League was formed in Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

 in 1924, following the refusal of the Suva

Suva

Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...

 Y.M.C.A. to admit Indians. Its founder was A.W. McMillan of the New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 Y.M.C.A and educated Indians and Government clerks and interpreters such as M. S. Buksh

M. S. Buksh

Mirza Salim Buksh was one of the first Fiji Indians to gain formal education in Fiji. He was chosen as one of the representatives of the Indian community on a number of occasions. He helped form and supported a number of social, and religious organisations...

, S. S. Chowla, John F. Grant, Ilahi Ramzan, and R. N. Deoki

Ram Narayan Deoki

Ram Narayan Deoki was the first Fiji Indian Methodist Church minister. He was an articulate preacher and exerted great influence on the Methodist Church in Fiji.- Family background :...

. Its aim was to carry out social work and apply pressure for social reform, like changes to marriage laws. Since most of its members were Indian Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

s, it soon acquired a sectional character.

It provided volunteer nurses during the typhoid epidemic of 1925. It had a women's wing known as the Stri Sewa Sabha (Women's Service League), founded in 1934, which carried out social work amongst Fiji Indian women.

The League encouraged participation in sports, including in cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

, football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

, hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

 and lawn tennis. In December 1927, it organised a schools football competition at Albert Park. Buoyed by the success of this tournament, the League met on 22 January 1928 and formed a Football Association committee which organised the first competition was on 26 May 1928 at the Marist Brothers School ground. In 1936, the association was renamed, the Suva Football Association

Suva F.C.

Suva F.C. is a Fijian football team playing in the premier division of the Fiji Football Association competitions. It is based in Suva. Their home stadium is National Stadium. Their uniform is white shirt, black shorts and black and white socks....

, which was one of the original Associations that formed the Fiji Indian Football Association.

The Indian Reform League, with its Indian Christian power base came into conflict with another group of organised Indians, the Arya Samajis

Arya Samaj (Fiji)

The Arya Samaj was the first religious, cultural and educational Fiji Indian organisation established in Fiji. From its inception, in 1904, it attracted the young, educated and progressive Hindus into its fold...

. Vishnu Deo

Vishnu Deo

Pandit Vishnu Deo OBE was the first Fiji born and bred leader of the Fiji Indians. From 1929, when he was first elected to the Legislative Council, until his retirement in 1959, he remained the most powerful Fiji Indian political leader in Fiji...

 accused the League of encouraging Indians to give up their culture and adopt European customs. Supporters of the League sued the pro-Arya Samaj newspaper, Fiji Samachar

Fiji Samachar

Fiji Samachar was a Hindi language newspaper published in Fiji from 1924 to 1974. It was published in Suva by the Indian Printing and Publishing Company and its first editor was Babu Ram Singh. It started as a bi-lingual Hindi and English Monthly newspaper but from 1935 became a weekly Hindi...

, for libel but suit was withdrawn when its publisher Ram Singh

Ram Singh (Fiji)

Babu Ram Singh was a Fiji Indian who had come to Fiji under the indenture system and was one of the few people who, after indenture, prospered and made an attempt to help his less fortunate ex-indentured brethren.Babu Ram Singhs surviving Business, Fiji Rubber Stamp Co Ltd is still under operation...

apologised.