TENNIS PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 25, 31 January 1933, Page 3

TENNIS PROBLEM

SUBSIDISED PLAYEKS

ENGLISH VIEWS

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 15th December. At the annual meeting of the Lawn Tennis Association the chicf1 interest lay in the last item on the agenda, which was concerned with the player said-to be subsidised in some form or other by firms supplying sports goods or equipment for tournaments. It had been proposed by the council of the association that for the next season players should be required to. sign a declaration along with their entry form,' stating that they had not, directly or indirectly, any pecuniary interest' in the particular firm supplying the equipment for the tournament, and did not derive any benefit of a monetary nature from competition in the tournament, and would not receive any hospitality or rebate other than that allowed by the rules of the association. COUNCIL'S PURPOSE^ Mr. H. H. Monekton, putting forward the council's proposals, said that their purpose was to give publicity to the laws of the association, so that players should know where they stood and might not plead that they did not know the laws. There seemed to be a considerable amount of objection among the delegates attending the meeting to the form of the declaration which players were to be called on to sign before taking part in a tournament. It was complained that the declaration was not made to apply to the national hard courts and grass championships. The explanation was that it might then in flict on players,,-from oversea conditions which would not be applied by their own associations and make illegal conditions which were enjoyed by British players who went abroad. Another objection was that the declaration might prevent players of slender, means from purchasing racquets or other equipment at reduecd prices. It was explained that the declaration was not aimed at that, but at more serious and harmful practices. Extracts were read from a circular letter in which a firm of sports goods manufacturers claimed personal friendship with many of the leading players, and suggested that it might secure we'll-known'players and pairsfor tournaments when their goods were used. \ The council, it was said, was anxious for free trade in players. It did not want the tournaments to get into the hands of firms which manufactured or supplied sports goods or, equipment. ASKING TOO MUCH. . According to "The Times" special representative at the meeting, there was a feeling among many that the declaration1 was somewhat more severe than the occasion demanded, and that it was asking too much of the players to make it obligatory for them, many of whom might be quite innocent of such practices, to sign it. The representative of the council declared thai their object was simply to bring out into the open the- practices of which, they complained. The' player who did nothing wrong had nothing to fear from the declaration and could sign it with an easy conscience.

A motion was submitted, referring the whole matter back .to the council for further consideration.. F/inalfy, a proposal was accepted unanimously, and in place of the declaration signed by the player there will be a notice appended to the entry form informing the entrant of the laws of the association and of the position and powers of the council.