The Hawera Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1926. PROFESSIONALISM IN SPORT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 August 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star .

SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1926. PROFESSIONALISM IN SPORT.

Delivered every evening by Q o’clock In Hawera, Mnnaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kapanga, Alton, HurleyvUle, Patea, VVaveriey, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangsi, Her*. m«ve.‘ Frawr R-o&d aTid Ararat*.

Tlie defection to professional rank of so eminent a figure in amateur spoit as Mile. Suzanne Lenglen is of itself a notable event in the realm of games; but certain comments *on her action which the impetuous Frenchwoman has seen fit to make lend to the occasion a prominence which otherwise it would not deserve. “Everybody wants to make money out of tennis,’’ says Mile. Lenglen. “I think X should have my chance.’’ When this remarkable assertion is supported by the Daily Express’s belief that other famous players will soon follow the example that has been set, it cannot be disregarded by the governing body of the sport. If one of the features of lawn tennis be the desire of “everybody” to “make money out of it,” then it has passed the peak of its popularity as a game, and , is on the down grade. Possibly, I, could we see into Mile. Lenglen’s mind, her statement was not intended to be the sweeping condemnation of players which, at first reading, it is apt to appear. “I thought I had done a great deal for spore,” she said in her previous sentence, “and now think that sport should do something for me.'” The suggestion behind this thought is that Mile. Lenglen felt that clubs and tournament committees had exploited her talent for long enough, and that the time has now come for her to gather to herself a share of the profit which has for years attended her appearances in Europe. No matter how much one may regret it, and despite the smashing blow at the amateur ideal which its .declaration delivers, this is a perfectly natural attitude of mind. Who, of us, having made himself so far master (or mistress) of a hobby or sport as to merit an offer of £20,000 for a season’s engagement, would decline it? After every allowance has been made for her weaknesses of nationality and temperament, Mile. Lenglen stands out as the greatest woman athlete of modern times, and one of the greatest of all lawn tennis champions. Since the war her whole interests have been bound up with the game, which has been to her not a recreation but a profession. In sport wc have adopted the word “professional” to mark one who makes his living, either wholly or in part, from a game; but many an amateur devotes as large a percentage of his time to play as do the minor professionals. Her change to professionalism will not call for greater devotion to lawn tenuis from Mile. Lenglen, because she simply could not give more time to the. game. The real question raised by her forfeiture of status is whether money does not enter too largely into the control of amateur sport, and w T hether the “starring” of famous players at

tournament after tournament is not in itself professionalism in all but name, The man or the woman who plays for money may be as good a sp'ortsman or sportswoman as the strictest, amateur; but the canher that lias eaten the heart out of more sports than one, the insidious influence that is always at wort: against the wish to play the game for the game’s sake is the introduction of money. With professionalism, crookedness comes into sport. If, 'then, the methods of amateur controlling bodies be such as to prompt the feeling that everybody wishes to make money out of games, the very people charged with the responsibility of keeping sport clean are opening the gate to abuses.