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Amateur or Professional

Where should the line be drawn?

Learning Objectives

• What does amateur & professional mean?

1. Who decides?2. Are top amateur really not paid?3. Why keep the distinction between the

two?4. Amateurism & the Olympic Games?5. The story of Rugby League & Rugby

Union.

The important facts

• How do you tell who’s amateur & who not?

• Amateurs don’t get paid for playing the sport.

• Professional play full time & get paid for it?

• Semi-pro’s are like professionals but play only part time & have another job to.

Who decides?

• The individuals sports international governing body.

• Many sports divide players clearly into professionals & amateurs.

• In some sports most athletes, even the top ones, are ‘amateurs’

• Another sports are open. A&P can compete freely in most events.

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Are top amateurs really not paid?

• To be a top athlete you need to commit yourself full time to your sport. But if you’re not allowed to earn money from it, how do you survive?

• Scholarships & Grants

• Jobs

• Special training camps

• Trust funds

Why keep the distinction?

• Top ‘amateur’ get paid indirectly. Which means……

• The distinction between A&P is a fuzzy one.

• So why not just drop it & make all sports open???

• MONEY

MONEY

• Would be the main reason competing.

• Athletes would do anything to win.

• The idea of fair play would go out the window.

• NGB’s might lose control of their sports to commercial organisations.

Amateurism & the Olympic Games

• Its meant for amateurs. TENNIS 1920’s

• But many athletes are not truly amateurs as rewarded when they return home.

• 1981 saw the term ‘Olympic amateur’ dropped from the rules.

• TENNIS 1988

• The only prize of offer at the Olympics are the MEDALS

• The International Sports Federations have the final say.

• Some sports uphold the amateur ideal more strictly than others

• Pro football can take part.

• Pro boxers can’t.

Decision Time

• Rugby began at Rugby School. The rules were laid down in 1846. By 1881 Rugby Union governing bodies had been set up in England, Scotland & Wales.

• But in 1895 Rugby League was born when 22 northern clubs broke away. There players wanted compensation for the time spent away from work, training and playing. Rugby Union refused them.

• Rugby League became the professional game, and developed its own rules over the years.

• Then in 1995, a hundred years later the RFU finally backed down & let professional players in.

The story Rugby League & Union

Class Work

• Complete the sheets I’m about hand out to you.

Homework

• Transfer the information for today lesson on revision cards

RECAP

• PROS – Do it for the MONEY

• Amateurs – For the LOVE