PROFITABLE PLAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 224, 21 September 1929, Page 15 (Supplement)

PROFITABLE PLAY.

FORTUNES OUT OF .LUNGS AND LIMBS. MONEY-MAKING SPORTS. WHEN IS AN AMATEUR? (By E. H. HOUSTON.) Professionalism, lias been introduced moro and more in tlie realms of athletics in recent years, as it is natural that training for potential champions should be directed by competent teachers. In America, a good trainer in any form of popular sport can command a yearly retainer fee of £1500, if not more. America, for instance, is the El Dorado Of champion runners, some of whom possess art enormous earning capacity, especially ill those branches of sports that can be held under cover. Fortunes have been made out of running, as proved .by the examples of Joe Ray and El Quafi. in recent times. Both were still amateurs a few months ago. Ray was one of the b?st runners of the United States; El Quafi, a Coloured Frenchman, won the Marathon race at the last Olympic games held in Amsterdam. , Professional swimmers have also been fortunate during the past few years, when cross-Channel swimming camo to the fore. The prizes offered by athletic associations, private individuals, and newspapers tempted managers to try and make money out of swimming competitions. The greatest competition of recent years was tlie swimming Marathon organised for the prize of 40,000 dollars, offered by Wrigley, the chewinggum king. Among professionals in lougdistance swimming should be mentioned tlie German champion, Vierkoetter, and the Frenchman, Michel, the latter having already swum the Channel. Professional "Amateurs." Swimming is one of the sports that particularly favoured secret professionalism. Again, the American success in Olympic games brings one to the con- ' elusion that the term "amateur" has a very loose meaning in the United States, i It often happens that a-year before the ; contest, a likely candidate for the Olympic games is supported by some organisation or University, in order to 1 enable him to receive the adventages an experienced trainer can give. And should , he *win a world reputation, he will bp. i "starred" in many countries, in which I case he will receive presents and'have r his expenses paid,' thus being liand- ' somely compensated. A case in point of a few years ago was the sprinter, Paddock, the fastest runner ever known. He travelled all over Europe and around - the whole world, the expenses of which , trip were defrayed by some magnate i 1 with a passion for sport and money to burn. ' i*r~"

The United Staten Athletic Association had also provided him with means of support, and finally, in spite of the latitude allowed in the term "amateur, the famous sprinter was disqualified for a long time. Nurmi is a present-day runner who was also an expensive amateur. He has now turned professional, and charges fees of 10,000 dollars for exhibitions. Tennis a Paying Game. Lawn tennis is another field that for many years has been distinguished by its very exclusive character, but again it is a sport that pays well. A firstrate trainer can earn a good deal of money. Many clubs pay princely fees. Besides a retainer fee and free quarters, professional tennis players have certain hours of the day during which they are off duty, and can earn extra fees by giving private lessons. As a rule a professional gives only six hours a day of his time to the club that retains his services, aud can make' handsome additional fees by coaching during the rest of the day. The highest fee paid to a tennis professional was received by Miss Suzanne Lenglen, erstwhile an amateur player. At the height of her career, she turned professional, and under an American manager earned a fee of 100,000 dollars for an exhibition tour throughout the United States. This manager had got together a team of players, mostly former amateurs. But he was wrong in his calculations, and the tour was not a success. There were no players who could be pitted against Miss Lenglen, and the show, as most people remember, was a mere flash in the pan that terminated in a fiasco—("Star" and A.A.N.S. copyright.)