PEPESTRIANISM

NZ Truth, Issue 100, 18 May 1907, Page 3

PEPESTRIANISM

(By Spearmint.) ,

Durng the week the' Wellington Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association dealt with the suggested reciprocity agreement between the N.Z.A.A.A. and the N.Z. Athletic Union. There was a good attendance, and some windy words were spoken, while not a little conwnonsense has also to be credited to come of those present.-

One B. A. Guise, wh q is a" legal imp m this city, was the first speaker, and indulged m a big, harangue against professionals and all connected with them. He could only see- through one eye, and never a word of praise, for any one except amateurs. (Shamateurs would be a better name)-. One statement made by Guise, viz., the subsidises of the proprietary sports by bookm alters was absolutely contrary to fact, and probably the result of ?n imaginative mind.

About betting being carried on at professional meetings the writer admits that to be r the case, but. for the life of him he cannot see anything wrong with it. and, would point out to Guise, Pollock and Co. that more letting goes on at shamateur meetings than at professional meetings. At the latter meetings the bookmakers have to pay a license while at the former they can bet freely, and, having no license t 0 pay. they swarm up m large numbers and do a big business.

Mr J. Pollock, a man very' -well known to rn,ost sportsro-en m this colony, a man who, m his running; days, ...always competed for the ."gonce," a man who has made his living by being, a professional gambler nearly all his life, deplored the prevalence of betting at the professional sports meetings, and wh§n queried as to whether he had ever known betting at amateur meetings replied m the' negative, and stated his intention of holding the offenders over' to the police whenever he did so- Needless to say this outburst was. not taken seriously by those present.

Mr Jimmy Doyle, "who has probably forgotten more about athletics than, anyone of those present said he felt miit-e shrivelled up under the storm of rontumelV that had been heaped upon professionals. They were apparently regarded as a sort 1 qi social -leper* Neveri^©^,. Us be-.

lieved that only by amateurism could sport l:e properly fostered, and he advocated the acceptance oC an exprofessional as an amateur without the long waits of the past. Disqualification for two years took the very a . bloom out of a career of athletics. He urged the removal of this and the securing of the very cream of professionals as much as possible. Some of them were honorable and desirable fellows. <

The whole of the speakers .appear-ed-to be very much afraid that the revival of professionalism would be the death-knell of amateurism, though of course they would not admit it.

„ There is plenty of room for both classes, of sport and no doubt both will live a long time yet, but it is absurd to see the way the governing body of the amateurs are twisting cad squirming and trying to block a lot of decent young fellows from winning a few pounds by their prowess as athletes.