Amateurism (from Fr. amateur "lover of," from O.Fr., from L. amatoremnom. amator, "lover,"). As a value system, amateurism elevates things done without self-interest above those done for pay (i.e., professionalism). The term has particular currency in its usage with regard to sports. By definition amateur sports require participants to participate without remuneration. Amateurism was a zealously guarded ideal in the 19th century, especially among the upper classes, but faced steady erosion throughout the 20th century, and is now strictly held as an ideal by fewer and fewer organizations governing sports, even as they maintain the word "amateur" in their titles. Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... A profession is a specialized work function within society, generally performed by a professional. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Look up amateur in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The term "shamateurism" has been coined to refer to the hypocrisy which arose in some highly competitive sports where it became common for individuals, governments, and/or private organizations to extend to "amateur" competitors financial rewards for their participation or achievements, in effect making a "sham" of their amateur status.

Background

In the United Kingdom sport had always been the preserve of the rich who were the only people who had free time in which to pursue sport, the working classes worked six days a week and sport was forbidden on the sabbath. The traditional mass sports that did exist were mostly played on public holidays e.g. Shrove Tuesday when traditional 'mob football' was popular. When the 'Factories Act' gave working men half a day off, the opportunity to take part in sport was suddenly available. Unlike the rich where payment had never been an issue working class sportsmen found it hard to play top level sport due the need to turn up to work. Hence there were competing interests between those who wished sport to be open to all and those who feared that professionalism would destroy the 'Corinthian spirit'. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      In Christianity, the Sabbath... Pancakes with strawberry syrup and black currants Shrove Tuesday is the term used in the United Kingdom,[1] Ireland,[2] and Australia[3] to refer to the day after Shrove Monday (or the more old fashioned Collop Monday) and before Ash Wednesday (the liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash... The Factory Acts were a series of acts passed by the British Parliament to limit the number of hours worked by women and children first in the textile industry, then later in all industries. ... Corinthian refers originally to the port of Corinth in Greece Corinthian order, a classical order of ancient Greek and Roman architecture The League of Corinth, a federation of ancient Greek states Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: First Epistle to the Corinthians Second Epistle to...

Proponents of the amateur ideal deplored the influence of money and the effect it has on sports. It was claimed that it is in the interest of the professional to receive the highest amount of pay possible per unit of performance, not to perform to the highest standard possible where this does not bring additional benefit. For other uses, see Money (disambiguation). ...

Strict prohibition of professionals was held to inhibit the stated goals of celebrating the highest standards of performance, and this argument has generally defeated amateurism around the world in many sports.

The present day

By the early 21st Century the Olympic Games and all the major team sports accepted professional competitors. However, there are still some sports which maintain a distinction between amateur and professional status with separate competitive leagues. The most prominent of these is golf. The 21st century is the present century of the Anno Domini (common) era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ... This article is about the sport. ...

Problems can arise for amateur sportsmen when sponsors offer to help with an amateur's playing expenses in the hope of striking lucrative endorsement deals with them in case they become professionals at a later date. This may jeopardize their status as amateurs, and if allowed to let slide, may be seen as corruption or cheating rather than as true "shamateurism."

Where professionals are permitted, it is hard for amateurs to compete against them. Whether this is a triumph of the free market or an example of corruption depends on the viewer's perspective. To some an amateur means an incompetent or also-ran, and to others it means an idealist. To say that the athlete should not be paid can prevent performances only possible for an athlete who is free to pursue the sport fulltime without other sources of income; to make payment for performance the driving engine of the sport can invite cynicism and inflated wages. A free market is an idealized market, where all economic decisions and actions by individuals regarding transfer of money, goods, and services are voluntary, and are therefore devoid of coercion and theft (some definitions of coercion are inclusive of theft). Colloquially and loosely, a free market economy is an economy... In philosophy, idealism is any theory positing the primacy of spirit, mind, or language over matter. ...

North American collegiate athletics

All North American university sports are conducted by amateurs. Even the most commercialized college sports, such as NCAA football and basketball, do not financially compensate competitors, although coaches and trainers generally are paid. Athletic scholarship programs, unlike academic scholarship programs, cannot cover more than the cost of food, housing, tuition, and other university-related expenses. A promising academic can be paid to go to school, but a promising athlete cannot. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA, often pronounced N-C-Double-A or N-C-Two-A ) is a voluntary association of about 1,200 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States. ... A college football game between Colorado State and Air Force. ... College basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. Game between Illinois State Redbirds & Ball State Cardinals, February 17, 2007 in an ESPN Bracketbuster contest. ... An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. ...

In order to ensure that the rules are not circumvented, stringent rules restrict gift-giving during the recruitment process as well as during and even after a collegiate athlete's career; college athletes also cannot endorse products, which some may consider a violation of free speech rights.

Some have criticised this system as exploitative; prominent university athletics programs are major commercial endeavors, and can easily rake in millions of dollars in profit during a successful season. College athletes spend a great deal of time "working" for the university, and earn nothing from it at the time; basketball and football coaches, meanwhile, earn salaries that can compare with those of professional teams' coaches.

The most ardent critics of collegiate athletics say one of two things. First, that young athletes (stereotypically young black men, especially in football and basketball) are being encouraged to waste their time chasing after a career in basketball or football for four years rather than focus on getting an education while in college. Second, that colleges have no business wasting time and effort in developing apparently "professional" athletic programs, as they should be concentrating on educating people. An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ...

Supporters of the system say that college athletes can always make use of the education they earn as students if their athletic career doesn't pan out, and that allowing universities to pay college athletes would rapidly lead to deterioration of the already-marginal academic focus of college athletics programs. They also point out that athletic scholarships allow many young men and women who would otherwise be unable to afford to go to college, or would not be accepted, to get a quality education.

The Olympics

See Olympic Games: Amateurism and professionalism

Through most of the 20th century the Olympics nominally only allowed amateur athletes to participate. The amateur code was strictly enforced. Jim Thorpe was stripped of track and field medals for having taken expense money for playing baseball in 1912. The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... For other persons named Jim Thorpe, see Jim Thorpe (disambiguation). ... Athletics, also known as track and field or track and field athletics, is a collection of sport events. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Later on, however, successful Olympians from Western countries often accepted endorsement contracts from sponsors. Complex rules involving the payment of the athlete's earnings into trust funds rather than directly to the athletes themselves, were developed in an attempt to work around this issue, but the intellectual evasion involved was considered embarrassing to the Olympic movement and the key Olympic sports by some. In the same era, the nations of the Communist bloc entered teams of Olympians who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full time basis. (Cuba, North Korea, and to some extent China still do this; although China allows professionalism in popular team sports, it can be assumed that athletes in disciplines such as gymnastics from these countries are trained in state academies and have state-given stipends.) Sponsors in the 12 step tradition help the addict to recover by bringing a personal experience of recovery on a one to one basis. ... During the Cold War, the Eastern Bloc (or Soviet Bloc) comprised the following Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Albania (until the early 1960s, see below), the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia. ... For other uses, see Student (disambiguation). ... This article is about a military rank. ...

After the 1972 retirement of IOC President Avery Brundage, the Olympic amateurism rules were steadily relaxed and in many areas amount only to technicalities and lip service. In the United States, the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 prohibits national governing bodies from having more stringent standards of amateur status than required by international governing bodies of respective sports. Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Alternative meanings at IOC (disambiguation) The International Olympic Committee is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894 to reinstate the Ancient Olympic Games held in Greece, and organize this sports event every four years. ... Avery Brundage (September 28, 1887 – May 8, 1975) was an American athlete, sports official, art collector and philanthropist. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ...

Olympic amateurism regulations were eventually abandoned in the 1990s. For the band, see 1990s (band). ...

Baseball

• Amateur Baseball in the United States

There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

Cricket

English cricket maintained a division between amateur and professional cricketers until 1963, but ways were sometimes found to give the "amateurs" financial compensation, especially after 1945. Cricket even went so far as to have annual "Gentlemen versus Players" games between amateurs and professionals and there were requirements for "players" to refer to "gentlemen" as Mister or Sir whereas "gentlemen" would refer to "players" by their surnames. Since the early Nineteenth century, cricket has gradually developed from an amateur recreational sport in England into a fully professional international sport from which leading players can earn a large income. ...

Football (soccer)

Boot money has been a phenomenon in amateur sport for centuries. The term "boot money" became popularized in the 1880s when it was not unusual for players to find half a crown (corresponding to 12½ pence after decimalisation) in their boots after a game. This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

The Football Association prohibited paying players until 1885, and this is referred to as the "legalization" of professionalism because it was an amendment of the "Laws of the Game". However, a maximum salary cap of twelve pounds a week for a player with outside employment and fifteen pounds a week for a player with no outside employment lingered until the 1960s even as transfer fees reached over a hundred thousand pounds; again, "boot money" was seen as a way of topping up pay. Today the most prominent English football clubs that are not professional are semi-professional (paying part-time players more than the old maximum for top professionals; this includes all the major existing women's clubs, in which full professionalism has not taken root yet) and the most prominent true amateur men's club is probably Queens Park F.C.. The oldest football club in Scotland, founded in 1867 and with a home ground which is one of the twenty-nine UEFA five-star stadia. They have also won the Scottish Cup more times than any club outside the Old Firm. Amateur football in both genders is now found mainly in small village and Sunday clubs and the Amateur Football Alliance. The Football Association (The FA) is the governing body of football in England and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... UEFA Womens Cup Final 2005 at Potsdam Womens association football is the most prominent team sport for women in many countries, and one of the few womens team sports with professional leagues. ... Queens Park F.C. is a Scottish football team with much history and tradition, today it remains as the only amateur club in the Scottish League. ... One view of the split. ...

Sailing

Ironically, sailing has taken the opposite course. Around the turn of the century, much of sailing was professionals paid by interested idle rich. Today, sailing, especially dinghy sailing, is an example of a sport which is still largely populated by amateurs. For example, in the recent Team Racing Worlds, and certainly the American Team Racing Nationals, most of the sailors competing in the event were amateurs. While many competitive sailors are employed in businesses related to sailing (primarily sailmaking, naval architecture, boatbuilding and coaching), most are not compensated for their own competitions. In large keelboat racing, such as the Volvo Around the World Race and the America's Cup, this amateur spirit has given way in recent years to large corporate sponsorships and paid crews, but even there one will occasionally find a team that stays true to the Corinthian ideal. For either of the songs named Sailing, see Sailing (song). ... Dinghy of the schooner Adventuress A dinghy is a small utility boat attached to a larger boat. ...

Figure Skating

Ekaterina Gordeeva and partner, late husband Sergei Grinkov compete in 1994 Winter Olympics

Like other Olympic sports, figure skating used to have very strict amateur status rules. Over the years, these rules were relaxed to allow competitive skaters to receive token payments for performances in exhibitions (amid persistent rumors that they were receiving more money "under the table"), then to accept money for professional activities such as endorsements provided that the payments were made to trust funds rather than to the skaters themselves. Image File history File linksMetadata Gordeeva_grinkov. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Gordeeva_grinkov. ... Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Gordeeva (born May 28, 1971) is an Olympic and world figure skating champion. ... Sergei Mikhailovich Grinkov (February 4, 1967 - November 20, 1995, Lake Placid, New York, United States) was an Olympic and World figure skating champion. ... Figure skating is an ice skating sporting event where individuals, mixed couples, or groups perform spins, jumps, and other moves on the ice, often to music. ...

In 1992, trust funds were abolished, and the International Skating Union voted both to remove most restrictions on amateurism, and to allow skaters who had previously lost their amateur status to apply for reinstatement of their eligibility. A number of skaters, including Brian Boitano, Katarina Witt, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, and Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, took advantage of the reinstatement rule to compete at the 1994 Winter Olympics. However, when all of these skaters promptly returned to the pro circuit again, the ISU decided the reinstatement policy was a failure and it was discontinued in 1995. Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... Katarina Witt (December 3, 1965, Staaken) is a German figure skater, in Germany commonly affectionately called Kati Witt. Won two Olympic Gold Medals for East Germany, first in the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics and the second in 1988 at the Calgary Olympics. ... Jayne Torvill (born October 7, 1957, Nottingham, United Kingdom) is a British figure skater who won a gold medal in ice dancing at the 1984 Winter Olympics with her skating partner Christopher Dean and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. ... Christopher Colin Dean (born July 22, 1958 in Nottingham, Great Britain) is a British figure skater who won a gold medal in ice dancing at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill. ... Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Gordeeva (born May 28, 1971) is an Olympic and world figure skating champion. ... Sergei Mikhailovich Grinkov (February 4, 1967 - November 20, 1995, Lake Placid, New York, United States) was an Olympic and World figure skating champion. ... The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, were celebrated in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ...

Prize money at ISU competitions was introduced in 1995, paid by the sale of the television rights to those events. In addition to prize money, Olympic-eligible skaters may also earn money through appearance fees at shows and competitions, endorsements, movie and television contracts, coaching, and other "professional" activities, provided that their activities are approved by their national federations. The only activity that is strictly forbidden by the ISU is participating in unsanctioned "pro" competitions, which the ISU uses to maintain their monopoly status as the governing body in the sport.^[1] Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ...

Many people in the skating world still use "turning pro" as jargon to mean retiring from competitive skating, even though most top competitive skaters are already full-time professionals, and many skaters who retire from competition to concentrate on show skating or coaching do not actually lose their competition eligibility in the process.

Rugby

Rugby has provided one of the most visible and lasting examples of the tension between amateurism and professionalism during the development of nationally-organised sports in Britain in the late-1800s. The emergence of Rugby League, initially in the form of a breakaway governing body but subsequently as an entirely separate code from the more established sport of Rugby Union, arose as a direct result of a dispute over the latter's strict enforcement of its amateur status. Wally Lewis passing the ball in Rugby League State of Origin. ... For other uses, see Rugby (disambiguation). ...

Rugby football, despite its origins in the privileged English public schools, was a popular game throughout England by around 1880, including in the large working-class areas of the industrial north. However, as the then-amateur sport became increasingly popular and competitive, attracting large paying crowds, teams in such areas found it difficult to attract and retain good players. This was because physically fit local men needed to both work to earn a wage - limiting the time that they could devote to unpaid sport - and to avoid injuries that might prevent them working in the future. Certain teams faced with these circumstances wanted to pay so-called 'broken time' money to their players to compensate them for missing paid work due to their playing commitments, but this contravened the amateur policy of the Rugby Football Union (RFU). An independent school or private school in the United Kingdom is a school relying for all of its funding upon private sources. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the rugby union governing body in England. ...

Following a lengthy dispute on this point during the early 1890s, representatives of more than 20 prominent northern rugby clubs met in Huddersfield in August 1895 to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU), a breakaway administrative body which would permit payments to be made to players. The NRFU initially adopted established RFU rules for the game itself, but soon introduced a number of changes, most obviously a switch from 15 to 13 players per side. It became the Rugby Football League in 1922, by which time the key differences in the two codes were well established, with the 13-a-side variant becoming known as Rugby League. Huddersfield is a large town in England near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme. ... The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in the United Kingdom. ...

The RFU took strong action against the clubs involved in the formation of the NRFU, all of whom were deemed to have forfeited their amateur status and therefore to have left the RFU. A similar interpretation was applied to all players who played either for or against such clubs, whether or not they themselves received any compensation. Such players were effectively barred sine die from any involvement in organised Rugby Union. These comprehensive and enduring sanctions, combined with the very localised nature of most rugby competition, meant that most northern clubs had little practical option but to affiliate with the NRFU in the first few years of it existence.

Rugby football in Britain therefore became subject to a de-facto schism along regional, and to some extent class, lines, reflecting the historical origins of the split. Rugby league - in which professionalism was permitted - was predominant in northern England, particularly in industrial areas, and was viewed as working class game. Rugby union - which remained amateur - was predominant in the rest of England, as well as in Wales and Scotland. Rugby Union also had a more affluent reputation, although there are areas - notably in South Wales and in certain English cities such as Gloucester - with a strong working-class rugby union tradition. This article is about the country. ... This article is about the country. ... Approximate extent of South East Wales. ... Gloucester (pronounced ) is a city and district in the English county of Gloucestershire, close to the Welsh border. ...

Discrimination against Rugby league players could verge on the petty - even as late as the 1970s an English Rugby union club was instructed to dismiss a cleaner who was married to a professional Rugby league player.

The Scottish Rugby Union was a particular bastion of amatuerism and extreme care was taken to avoid the taint of professionalism: an international player rejoining the national team after the end of the Second World War applied to be issued with a new pair of playing socks and was reminded that he has been supplied with a pair of stockings prior to outbreak of hostilities. Logo of Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. ...

In Wales the position was more equivocal with clubs attempting to stem the tide of players going north with boot money a reference to the practice of putting cash payments into player's footwear whilst they were cleaning up after a game. Sometimes payments were substantial. Barry John was once asked why he hadn't turned professional and responded I couldn't afford to, Barry John (born 6 January 1945 in Cefneithin, Wales) is a Welsh rugby union footballer, considered by many to be the greatest fly-half in the sports history. ...

Rugby Union was declared "open" in August 1995 - almost exactly 100 years after the original split occurred - meaning that professionalism has been permitted in both rugby codes since that date. However, while the professional-amateur divide remained in force, there was very limited crossover between the two codes, the most obvious occasions being when top-class rugby union players 'switched codes' to rugby league in order to play professionally. Welsh international Jonathan Davies was a high-profile example of this switch. Jonathan Davies, MBE, (born 24 October 1962 in Trimsaran, Carmarthenshire) is a former Welsh dual-code rugby international. ...

Other sports

Rowing is one of the most sincere forms of amateur sports. In Ireland, the Gaelic Athletic Association, or GAA, protects the amateur status of the country's national sports, including Gaelic football, Hurling and Camogie. Major tennis championships prohibited professionals until 1968 but the subsequent admission of professionals virtually eliminated amateurs from public visibility. Golf still has amateur championships but their champions are far more obscure than professional champions and very few of those who compete in open events are not professionals. Paying players was considered disreputable in baseball until 1869. For other uses, see GAA (disambiguation). ... Gaelic football (Irish: Peil or Caid ), commonly referred to as football, Gaelic or GAA (gah), is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. ... For the Cornish sport, see Cornish Hurling. ... Camogie (in Irish, camógaíocht) is a Celtic team sport, the womens variant of hurling. ... For other uses, see Tennis (disambiguation). ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the sport. ... This article is about the sport. ... 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

References

See also

• Amateur and professional cricketers
• Gaelic Athletic Association
• Boot money scandal
• History of rugby union
• History of rugby league
• Professional sports

Since the early Nineteenth century, cricket has gradually developed from an amateur recreational sport in England into a fully professional international sport from which leading players can earn a large income. ... For other uses, see GAA (disambiguation). ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Football games of various types were played long before the 19th century but it was not until the middle of that century that rules were formulated and codified. ... The history of rugby league began with the schism of 1895 in the sport of Rugby football. ... In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, athletes receive payment for their performance. ...

External links

• CBC Digital Archives - Funding of Amateur Sports