ANOMALIES OF AMATEURISM

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 241, 12 May 1933, Page 4

ANOMALIES OF AMATEURISM

j 0 . The United States Lawn Tennis Asj sociation's plan to hold a champion- ' ship tournament open to both amateurs and professionals serves as a j fresh reminder that, iu actual tact, j many big-timers in various sports op- ' crate contentedly in the concealed j space between the two categories I (says thjJ Christian Science Monitor). ! Not that concealment is really very j thorough. Everybody who knows anyI thing about the inside of these mati ters know that the recognised allotj merit; of "expenses" to amateurs is subI sidisation, since it enables many of them to do things which are normally i quite beyond their private means. The winning of a national amateur j championship in a major sport brings j with it —not only social but often financial advancement. Hotels, sports i outfitters, tailors, newspapers and j other concerns desirous of attracting i public attention offer the top-grade j amateur of limited means many facii- | ities which, allied to "expenses," make j it possible for him to play on the I same level as people who can afford I to do so without such assistance. The top-grade performer of adequate I means is outside the argument, for he I can afford to remain 100 per cent. j amateur if he wants to, and whether | he does or does not is a matter for i himself alone. ! Perhaps one day it will be frankly | recognised that there are three sorts !of games players—the professional, ! who plays in order to gain; the amai teur, so-called, who gains in order to i play, and the unequivocal amateur, I who is either moneyed as well as skil- ! ful or else so undistinguished that noj body finds it worth while to transport, 1 feed, equip, or clothe him for the fray, ifree of expense. Before the advent J of large gate money there were only i two classes, and present-day complt- ! cations arise from attempts to insist- | that there are still only two. j Weird anomalies and quaint ruling i result. In British aport, for example, i a boat builder can play amateur Asj sociation football, but he may not row ' at Henley Royal Regatta; an-amateur j Association football player may dis--1 port himself in a "gate money" match i in the company of professionals with- | out forfeiting his status, and so may | a golfer, but a lawn tennis player, ' track athlete or Rugby footballer may I not. While amateurs in certain sports ! are at the same time professionals in ! certain others, and while various nai tions hold various views on the sub- | ject, the general query, "What is an { amateur?" has no conclusive answer. j It is an "open" question, and maybe | America's new "open" lawn tennis | championship is one of the best rej plies furnished to date.