PROFESSIONALISM IN SPORT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 172, 15 April 1919, Page 11

PROFESSIONALISM IN SPORT

COXING FOR LARGE STAKES

AN INTERESTING SURVEY

(By a "Times" Correspondent.)

There, ure two kinds of professionals. One is the professional who makes his game his actual living and tho other is the professional who cannot niforil 'to lie an amateur. In many cases the latter is never known as a professional. This is uspecially noticeable in football, both llngby and Association. Both these games'provide excellent exercise; they are team games, and as such inculcate—or should do so—an unselfishness which is necessary to the ideal game. Unfortunately for them they provide also an oxmllout'spectacle, and as such attract large crowds of spectators. There would be no real harm in this if gjl tho spec-' tutors were past the age of active participation in tile games, or deterred theroiroin for physical or mental reasons. Unfortunately this is not tho case. The result is that the mrcutatqrs ».nd noi the frames are the rulers. Spectators must be satisfied. This all_moans expense and the entertainment and" playing of teams far away from the. home ground. . When, money came into a game, "professionalism, open or concealed,-camo in as well, holdingmoney's hand • This whs a great pity. Jt was not tho fault.of the game; it was thio fault ,!of the people who would rather watch than play. No fault can be found with the man who, oiving to his limited means, cannot play iii a first-class sid?. There is no harm' in his being gi/en his railway ticket for an. away, match, but,, .when it comca to having his boots mended free and his outfit, paid for and washed, then amateurism, is professionalism' too thinly disguised. .Further, when odd .presents, are found m boots—as is said to he the, case, and "business . appointments are found for good players—such as the,secretaryship of a county cricket club, then s.urely it is necessary to pause, and wonder—what, is, aja.amateiii, what is .a professional. '"Until all incomes are equal and all. liabilities the same, it should he allowedthat an, amateur is still an. amateur so long as ho receives only his railway fare and, if the match is sufficiently far off, his bare hotel expenses. . The moment he receivos a farthing more in any way ho should he a professional. Ho should never'touch., any-of fhis money. It should all be paid by the secretary of the club and should include 110 extras. This is Beldom the case. The expenses of an amatouroricketer in a county side, paid by his county club, come to much more than the expenses of a professional. The difference is out of all proportion.

The Value of Games. Boxing is one of the very few pastimes or sports in which the professional is really essential.' Golf, tennis, and rackets" also need professionals. There is no need at all for the real professional in, Rugby.or Association football. The games do not require theni in nny way. Then why do they exist? They exist solely for tiie gratification of many thousands of people who would.ratlur watch than act, whose solo ambition cn a Saturday afternoon is to'stand, or—if financo is good anough—to sit, in inclement conditions in close contact with unknown individuals, and so placed that they cannot help but inhale the multitudinous. microbes of their neighbours. These crowds are not all mental or physical degenerates Far from such being the case, they made many thousands of excellent soldiers, but there was never a commanding officer or a company ser-geant-major who would not Say that the man who, played, no matter how indifferently, was worth three of the,man who watched. ; . ' :

All games, hut football especially, proved themselves of illimitablo value in the war. There is no doubt that there is a very Teai need for the provision at once of many acres of playing fields in and around every large town in. the country. . Legislation may be necessary to make sure of these grounds. They should be municipal -properties, and as such they will bo paid for by the public. This is.only fair, as the physique of the nation is tie public's first duty. But ■it would not bo right to oxpec't. the public, to. pay 6uch it tax wilessthe greatest benefit possible were/gained from the payment. • Tho taxpayer is entitled to full, value for his money; it is true that ho seldom receives it. He will not pet one-tenth of his value so long as Jinst people, watch and do not play. ? The oonscription of tho nation for games, or for anything, is apparently hated by tho nation except in the face of the most terrible calamities; but conscription is not necessary. All that is necessary is to make "gate money" illegal. Professional football dies at once, and with it vanish the hundreds of thousands of spectators, the vast ■ majority of whom would at once become. players to the nation's incalculable advantage.

■ Prize Contests. But boxing, among a i'eiy other games, really needs the professional. - You cannot expect an amateur to teach you the game and to allow himself to be the target of your infantile leads.. Further, the professional is necessary as a sparring partner. The jibsence of sufficient professionals of the right kind is one of the great handicaps from which pre-sent-day boxing suffers. There are iny number of men who will box each other, according to their l'fcpective popularities, for any. sum. from iivo pounds to a hundred thousand dollars. £ut . these are not the professional boxers which boxing requires. Such men are men who make boxing a profession, which is a very different thing from tho boxing professional. There is no finer exercise than a si?ar with a real professional boxer of the right kind. No exercise requires cleaner living for,; its full enjoyment; no modern game 'is so fully the equivalent of the ideal exercises of the >lder Greek civilisation. There should be a gymnasium with a ring and several profes : sional boxers in every town, in every village, and in every suburb. Professional boxers of this kind are needed everywhere.

Opposed to professional boxers of this kind are the men who make the-boxing of opponents for purse's, large or small, their profession. It is difficult to see' in what way they, do boxing any good at all. They, may attract, as active follower of the game, .some of the thousands who flock to see them fight. Even this is doubtful.,/ They , certainly do show what training and dean . -living can do, but !it--.is a\question' if this fact . sinks very deeply into the 'minds of their, spectator. Prize.contest?• such as'those in which -they .take :.'p'art9 ; are more .shows than . boxing. •, They. are 'always accompanied by much "betting. -"Many:'are financial 'transactions' rather fhta'sport. They aro sport a;use -"or which it was iiot intended^jiist as are the,great Leagtw games"-and cup matches of Association football. It is all the prostitution of true boxing and real football. A scries of wonderful fights were held recently, Bombardier. Wells meeting Beckfett at the liolborn Stadium, for a large. Bums of nionej\ Itj was certainly a. great mliow, arranged by one of the greatest showmen of <ur times. "It attracted thousands of spectators and it .interested many thousands .more who could not attend. But what good it will do to boxing no one can say. Will it make ten, men take p boxing «s an' exercise? Probably i.ot cue man will he moved even to take lessons. How different all this is from the great meeting' which was held at the Albert Ilall, when all tho King's lyixers fought among themselves land against the best men from the Army of tho' United States of America just for tho honour of tlie game. Who is to blame for all this? Certainly not the showman whose business it is, and certainly not the man who boxes for largo sums. ■ '.Phe public are solely to blamo because they cannot, cr will not, differentiate between a show or a musichall turn, which is all those %hts are in reality, and the sport on which they aro based. Prize contests for 100,000 dollars and professional football before 100,000 spectators are no more <he rcAl game of boxing'or football than u typi. cnl revue is the real art of tho theatre.