1. Enthusiasm for sports among the deaf awakens in Helsinki

In Finland, organised sports emerged in the late 19th century. Until then, people got most of their exercise from work and from walking or skiing to work. Industrialisation and urbanisation increased the need for sporting activities, and so did the temperance movement. The first sports clubs were established at this stage.

Exercise was considered to promote mental and physical health and seen as a solution to the problems brought about by urbanisation, which included health problems caused by poor working and living conditions, alcohol abuse, and general inactivity.

Gymnastics and sports gained an important role in school education, and this also included schools for the deaf. The boy pupils at the Turku School for the Deaf even took part in the competitions of the Finnish Gymnastics and Sports Association and won medals, for example, in running, long jump, high jump and shot put.

Of the special groups, the deaf were the first to engage in organised sports. From the beginning, they emphasised the importance of exercise as a promoter of health and well-being. They also wanted to show that they are capable of similar athletic performances as the hearing. Sports promoted equality even in a broader sense. In both sports and the society, the deaf were regarded as having the same rights as the hearing.

The oldest known deaf sports club is probably the football club for the deaf founded in England in 1871. The sports movement quickly spread to the Nordic countries. Sports clubs were established in Stockholm and Oslo as early as 1892. In Finland, the first sports club was established in 1904 in Helsinki, and after a few years, sports clubs were also established in Tampere (1907), Turku (1909) and Kymenlaakso (1919).

Enthusiastic deaf male athletes were found in Helsinki as early as 1900. At the time, a deaf Swedish man, Edvard Klöfverskjöld, organised ski competitions for the members of the Helsinki Deaf Club. The management of the club encouraged sports enthusiasts to establish their own sports club as a subdivision of the deaf club. This is how the Helsinki Gymnastics and Athletics Club of the Deaf-Mute was born in 1904, which was then registered in 1924.

All members of the Helsinki Deaf Club who had paid the club's membership fee became members of the club. There were twelve founding members, of whom Sulo Wuokko was elected the first chairman. The club’s operations got off to a good start. Wuokko led gymnastics sessions, which were initially attended by only ten men. Soon the number increased. The club also hired external gymnastics teachers to lead the sessions.

Gymnastics maintained its position alongside competitive sports. During the winter seasons, efforts were made to hold gymnastics sessions on a regular basis. Gymnastics performances were also proof of the rapid development of the deaf sports culture.

The Helsinki Deaf Club supported the sports club by awarding grants to help the club pay their facilities’ rental fees, among other things. The premises and the summer house of the association were also available to the club.

In 1908, the Helsinki Gymnastics and Athletics Club of the Deaf-Mute became a member of the Finnish Gymnastics and Sports Association. The Finnish Athletic Association of the Deaf (SKUL) was founded in 1920, and HERO immediately became a member.

In the autumn of 1908, the female members of the Helsinki Association of the Deaf founded their own gymnastics club. It was joined by fifteen women who took up gymnastics under the guidance of a hearing instructor, Helmi Nyberg. In Helsinki, the exercise of deaf women seems to have been limited to gymnastics, which was common for women at the time. The operations of the women's gymnastics club came to an end in 1916, when a women's gymnastics and sports division was established in connection with the Helsinki Gymnastics and Athletics Club of the Deaf-Mute. 18 women joined the new division, and Ida Viljavuo (later Mouton) was appointed as the representative on the club's board.

The club contributed to improving the physical health and strength of the deaf community in Helsinki and paved the way for Finnish deaf sports club activities. The abbreviation HERO was used in documents as early as the 1940s. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the name of the Helsinki Gymnastics and Athletics Club of the Deaf-Mute was changed to the Helsinki Deaf Athletic Club (HERO).