PROFESSIONAL SPORT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 118, 20 May 1907, Page 6

PROFESSIONAL SPORT.

Tho sirugglo bo'-wcen amateurism and professionalism h 03 otornai as tho principles of good and evil. As long sa thcro aro tares rrncng the wheat, thoro will be persons desirous of importing tha element of gcin into any cutdoor gams tkrt in cu."dcicnUy cpcctrcular to command c, '-ga^e."' Let ?.ny sport arise crt of obscurity into a position of public "favour, and tho eld loavoa bog'm3 to work. In- tho overage caso, tho amateur finds his standard limited by his opportunity ; unices ho is a man of wealth and leisure, hs cannot givo rnEtintcd energy nnd time to prepare himself go that h« may. minister to the spectacular craving of tho lookor-on. Then it is that tho professional, iv greater or lens proportion, ontci'3 on tha scene. It is rc.ison-.ble to look i'cr mcio from him, because he received a consideration in return. If tho professional leaven is successful in raising the" standard of play cnoctacularly, then tho "gale" increases, and automatically tho professional, ,who owes hia cxistenco to it, multiplies too. The tendency of such a process >f unfair competition is to'cithor cUmin-ite tho average amateur or rcduco him to a make-weight. A concomitant symptom of the process which evolves th<, looker-on, the "gate," and tho prolession&l, J3 the betting ovil, on which it is unnecessary to dwell. So the ovil waxes until its own viru lcn~o cures it. Tho public conscience, which, though tardy enough, rejects in tho long run nil frauds, political or olKavwiso, revolts at a sport prostituted to. tho' professional, tho gambler, and theii 1 satellites. The "gate" dies out, and with it departs tho professional. It 13 loft for tho amateur, by many years of steady uphill work, to put a wronged and discredited sport on to a wide footing again ; whereupon tho process of prosperity and corruption mns 6nce moro its appointed course. Lucky indeed is tho manly exercise which can find for itself a half-way position and defy the law of ovolution in ' its wellnigh reEistloss tnarcJi. In these latter years wo havo seen podestrianiam, which from a position oi great favour had fallen practically to zero, picked out of tho gutter by the amateur bodies. And what have wo now as a consequence? Tho proprietary sports. So also our amateur Rugby achieved for itself, in ono stroko of surpassing brilliance, a position of world-wide eminence j and tho outcome to-day is the project of a second team, travelling on tho advertisement of tho first, but going for what it can mako. It would bo well if everyone marked carefully tho signs of tho times. Nothing will be gained by vituperation or by extremist utterances. Ihe co-oxistence of amateur and protessional is a tact in cricket and many other games ; somo peoplo ■vvil^dafond it. Hut at leasb thoso who have the direction of amateur affairs should sco that no tactical advantage is conceded to the enemy. Whether it is oxpedient or not that tho New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association should ontor into a reciprocity agreement with tho professional body, tho Athletic Union, tho least that it should -do is to stand by tho decision of tho Amateur Contro in Wellington, not to ratify any agreoment until tho Athletic Union has discountenanced effectively tho proprietary sports. A public or somipublic directing -body ia at any rate more answerable for its actions than v private proprietor ; and of two evils it may bo well to choose tho less. As k) professional footballers, we take it that their Kugby career in this Polony will be finished unless on their return they can carry tho war into our citadel and establish a cash union in our midst.

"Soi for many years has rhero been a lime when amateurism had' such need for eternal vigilance Should the professional (jaia control, it would be but i poor comfort to know that he may bo lelied on, in his own time, to kill the | goose that lays the golden egg.