TENNIS PLAYERS WHO LIVE ON THE GAME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18044, 3 January 1927, Page 4

TENNIS PLAYERS WHO LIVE ON THE GAME.

AUSTRALIAN PAPER :ays sports depots ARE UNAMATEUR. J. O. Anderson’s declaration for frank professionalism in lawn tennis creates a situation that would provoke the gods to laughter, says “Smith’s Weekly,” Sydney. Capitalising his ability as a player by taking appearance money at matches, he will be ostracised byother stars whose claim to the amateur status is based on the fact that they arc capitalising their prowess and making inonev out of the game in a different way.' The line of demarcation is very thinly' drawn between the player who lends his services for a fee and the player who sells his name to be inscribed on a racquet at so much a time. The accepted definition of amateur is “One who has never practised any athletic game as a means of livelihood or for the pecuniary gain.” How many of Australia's front-rank players in either "tennis or cricket can apply that rule satisfactorily to themselves? Leading Australian exponent of amateurism in lawn tennis is Gerald Patterson. Whatever Patterson stands for to-day he owes to his superiority It is not as his father’s son or as the nephew of Dame Nellie Melba that be is managing director of A. G. Spalding and Bros., Australasia Pty.. Ltd., with a reputed salary of £SOOO a year. This company was registered in Vic-' toria on December 21. 1924. It has a capital of £150.000. and one .cf its directors in J. W. Spalding, of New York. The allotment of shares tiled on December IS, 1925, shows that Gerald Leighton Patterson received 10.000 paid-up shares of £1 each in consideration of the goodwill of his sports depot in Flinders Lane, and that he holds a parcel of 16.684 shares in regard to which it is not disclosed how much is paid. He has also taken 15.000 shares on each of which 3d has been paid on allotment. A. G. Spalding and Bros., Inc., hold 58,332 shares on some cf which 3d is paid and - on others nothing. ~ AREN’T WE ALL? Last Saturday week at the Victorian Lawn Tennis Association tournament the inspiring sight was witnessed of one of our leading amateur players handing out fans to overheated spectators. On the back of each fan was printed: “Buy your tennis goods from Pat O’Hara Wood." O'Hara Wood was formerlv a clerk in the offices of the Broken i-lill Company. Having a reputation as a tennis player he s6t up as a supplier of sporting gv_ods. lie is, of course, still an

E. R. Schl'esinger is an amateur. Tie is employed as country traveller by David Fell and Co., who have the agency for A. G. Spalding Limited. So is .]. Crawford, of Sydney, who works for the Barnet Glass Company, which makes tennis balls. So is Harry Rice, who is agent for tennis material. So is A. W. Dunlop, who is editor of the publication “All Tennis.” As a matter of fact, barring the player who appears for money or who hires out tennis courts or teaches people to plav. “Aren’t we all?” On his last visit to Melbourne, Anderson was in various subtle ways made to appreciate the feeling of the amateur body that he had fallen from grace. There is a story of his disquietude at being placed at a little table by himself at a reception until another player was sent to bear him company. But. possibly in an atmosphere of strict adherence to the niceties of amateurism, he was feeling a little self-con-scious. Hitherto. by conducting a sports depot he was well within the pale. But to be hired to appear like a mere actor or a barrister is quite another pair of shces.

Two years ago, when the Davis Cup team went to America, each of the four amateurs drew £1 a day expenses and was provided with first-class steamer and rail travelling and de luxe hotel accommodation for himself and wife. The trip for the team and their wives cost some thousands. lIOW OLYMPICS FARED. At about the same time and by another route the Olympic Games team left Australia for Europe.. Its members travelled second-class, were allowed 5s a day expenses, and were put up in cheap lodgings while in Paris. The case of S. P. England, the former tenms champion, is instructive. He was established as a physical culture teacher m Melbourne, and he combined tin.-, work with giving tennis instruction m girls’ schools and to private pupils. lie ranked for vears a s an ama tour on this basis, the question of pavment being got over by the use of the word honorarium.” Eventually a con--Irmor s\ arose as to his status and the exemption clause applying to teachers was held not to apply to him. I, proschool <,thCr Sl,h * ct the ’• j 111 u | ll nu * s t also be taught in order to retain the amateur status T° fC - ?iona l’ S V island "is .. kind of universal provider of tennis facilities m the southern suburbs of Melbourne., He leases a large number of , -ourts whuh are available da-- and night:, conducts tournaments and generally has done more to bring tennis r^( o . the masses ’than «»n\ other individual in Australia. l„. cidentally lie has the agency for an English racquet bearing his name and he is said to Tie doing very well. In Cricket, Too.

in cricket it is just as idle to attempt to prop up a spurious amateurism. The -Australians drew £3O for each match m the last Test tour in Australia. Are Woodfull and Ponsford amateurs when each gets a royalty of }? r Io L lus autograph on a bat, ‘and \\ oodfull, in addition, received a cash ret /J! ne , r ' And what was the price of (ollinss engagement by Sidney Myer as a salesman for his cricket materials? Was he selling Myers’s bats or his own prestige and experience? That is what The argument comes to at the finish.

A little more candour and a great deal less hypocrisy would do no harm. One of the English cricketers on the last Australian tour defined the difference between a professional and an amateur in sport by the way he held out his hand—whether openlv or behind the back. And in this regard it is well known in England that it pa vs many men better to remain amateur than turn professional.

Coming back to tennis, the current Melbourne view cf the recent controversy over Patterson’s visit is this: The Sydney L.T.A. was in financial difficulties, and the debenture holders had stepped in. Everything depended on 1 the success of the approaching tournament and Patterson’s presence was essential. Hence the dismay of the L.T.A. when Patterson, after fixing the date himself, decided that business reasons (that is the business of Spalding’s) made it impossible for him to attend. Followed the mysterious telegram from Sydney which was described as an insult to Patterson. That telegram, it is stated, was a pure commercial prediction that if Patterson did not come to Sydney, the Sydney busi-

ness of Spaldings would be adversely affected. If that is so, the champion’s trip to Sydney was as much a business proposition as his previous decision not to go. It is clear that., some branches .of sport require a. new definition of amateurism. Perhaps it would lie better to make an end of cant and drop the word altogether. A point worth noting is the fact that certain Melbourne newspapers derive their tennis information from paid correspondents. who are members of the council of the L.T.A A*. The council holds its meetings in camera, the Press being excluded.