QUESTION OF STATUS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 232, 1 October 1943, Page 3

QUESTION OF STATUS

AMATEUR OR PROFESSIONAL

<P-A.) Wellington, Sept. 30. “There should be no need for differentiation between amateurs and professionals in any federation of sport, ’’ said Mr. W. A. Jenkins (Dunedin), chairman of the conference of delegates of provincial sports councils held in Wellington yesterday for the purpose of forming a national council of sport, when this subject was raised by a Canterbury delegate.

“The amateur and professional bodies,” Mr. Jenkins continued, be able to work together in complete harmony for the good of sport as a whole. The bogy of professionalism does not hold good for one moment. A few typical examples may be quoted. George Davidson was a Rugby League footballer shortly after the last war, but this did not prevent his selection for a New Zealand team for the Olympic Games as an athlete. Brian McCleary was the professional heavyweight boxing champion of New Zealand, but this did not prevent him from being a member of the 1924 All Blacks in Britain, who were managed by Mr. S. S. Dean. Athletics, swimming and rowing are the most strictly amateur organisations, and a man who is a pro. fessional in any branch of sport is not permitted to take part in competition or in the administration of these sports, but there is nothing to prevent a rower, swimmer or ath’ete from playing in a Rugby football team with a professional runner, professional boxer or professional wrestler. Boxing and wrestling associations control both the amateur and professional sides of the sport, and there is no doubt that* the professional helps

to keep the treasuiy full to enable the amateur to carry on. “Professionalism in sport. in this country is only a word. Very few athletes ever make enough to do more than pay their expenses, and there are men engaged in the administration of sport in other branches who are given more by wav of honorarium than any competitor ever made. I am not putting forward these facts antagonistically, but merely to show that there is no great difference after all. S Rugby Union officials have been known to receive honoraria as much as £lOO per annum. “Tom H r eney, world champion boxing contender, was a Rugby footballer while engaging in professional boxing in New Zealand. Eddie Holder was a professional athlete, yet an All Black. Dick Webb. Otago representative footballer, and afterwards prominent Rugby official in Southland, was well known as a professional athlete. These ar? H?-t a few many more may b? quoted, but I think this will serve to prove that professionalism is in reality just a word.”

Mr. J. A. Redwood 4 (New Zealand Rugby League) said the chairman had classed George Davidson as a professional because he had played League football. This was incorrect. League football id New Zealand was 100 per cent, amateur, and Davidson had never received a penny piece for playin- it.

Several other delegates agreed with the fl airman that there was no need to differentiate between amateur and professional athletes.