FORTUNES FROM SPORT

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11652, 17 October 1923, Page 8

FORTUNES FROM SPORT

EARNINGS OF EXPERTS BOXING MEN AND JOCKEYS. GOLF AND CRICKET PLAYEIRS. In a recent lawsuit it was stated that .“Babe” Ruth, the most famous baeebalt jilayer in America, received nearly £9OO a month for his services. Even 60, however, Ruth is far from being the most highly paid professional sportsman, for several exponents of the fistio art and quite a number of jockeys earn more than the baseball expert. When Jack Dempsey fought Oairpentier he received £75,000 as his share of the gate money, together with a further £20,000 from cinema rights. It has been estimated that since the war Dempsey has earned altogether nearly £300,000, including his remunerations fiom fights, cinema rights, music-hall engagements, and so on. Evidence given before the committee sßPointed in England to report on the advisability of imposing a tax on betting showed that between £100,000,00' ana £300,000,000 was “turned over” every year in gambling on horse-racing. Considering the enormous sums stared on races it is not surprising that some jockeys earn salaries that Cab inet Ministers might envy. The sum of £IO,OOO a year is not an out-of-the-way figure for a tip-top rider, and it has been stated on good authority that Steve Donoghu© has ro ceived £83.000 in fees and presents for bis services during a single season of just over eight months. Frank Wootton was earning £15,000 a year at the age of 15. Tho best billiard-players make money quickly, and even a second-class oueman can command a comfortable £IOOO or £ISOO a year, so keen is public interest in the game. The leading exponents of break-building would consider themselves ill-rewarded' with less than £SOOO a year. THE FOOTBALLERS’ OUTLOOK. Considering the enormous interest taken in. cricket and football, the professionals who look to these games for a, livelihood are poorly paid, but it must be remembered that there are a large number of first-class performers in each of these branches of sport, whereas champions of the truf, ring, and cue may almost be counted off on the fingers. The footballer gets £8 a week, and a benefit that must not produce mare than £650, apart from outside subscriptions, after serving one club for five consecutive years. Cricketers get even less, although benefits in the summer game are more profitable. Indeed, the famous Yorkshireman, George Hirst, received over £3700 from his benefit match. First-class golf professionals have a longer active “life” than most sport-. I ing men, and the best-known of the! champions of the links earn as much as’i £2OOO a year. Money prizes won ini competitions, club retaining fees, earnings 'from teaching the game, and, in most cases, an agency for supplying clubs, balls, and so on, produce tho golf pro’s income; but the average dub professional in _ England would probably be well satisfied if he could count on a regular £6OO or £7OO a year. TEACHING LAWN TENNIS. Within, the last two or three years professional teachers of lawn tennis have been experiencing a prosperous time. Several of them enjoy incomes exceeding £2OOO a year, and even the lesser lights of the game think little of earning as much as £lO a week for their help jmd advice to aspiring ten-nis-playera. A census of «U the people who bene- | fit either directly or indirectly from one kind of sport or another would be an amazingly large one. Sports outfitters, tailors, grooms, bookmakers, refreshment caterers, railway companies, advertising agents, newspapers, and the members of many other trades and businesses share in the golden harvest.