AMATEUR SPORT

Expense accounts for free-lance hockey, tennis and golf players have furnished humorists with copy for years. The old problem was given a new turn recently when the Olympic congress at Prague rejected a proposal to reimburse amateur athletes for the working time they have lost while competing in sports.

The spectacle of too many gilded "amateurs" has spoiled the possibility of any such request being granted. People suspect a fake in the picture of the amateur athlete, burning with desire to do his duty by the public, yet faced by the necessities of bread and butter. Presumably, the amateur turns his back on Mammon and unselfishly offers his talents and his time on the altar of public service. Growing boys are crying out for an athletic example, old men's eyes will flash with ancient fire at the spectacle of his skill and might, young girls will realize that none but the athlete deserves the fair. Nevertheless, he is flat broke. The adulating world, he now says, must remedy his situation; this is the picture of buncombe which springs into most people's heads.

What is an amateur? a person who engages without remuneration in sport. Whether he is in it for publicity or pleasure, he is free to drop out when he chooses, and while the public may admire his prowess, it owes him no more for following his inclinations than it does to the spring crop of marble players. The distinction between amateur and professional is still far from trenchant; and it must be zealously guarded for the good, of amateur and professional sportsmen alike.