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fame?

Who wouldn’t pay in August t

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see Jackie Parker score a touchdown like this in All-Star

All-Star game in August would
Jam the stands with paying fans

What should be done about the Shrine football game to aid crippled children? Should
the whole project be abandoned? Should the game be played earlier in the season? Or
Should the Big Four and. WIFU runners-up meet, rather than a collection of All-Stars?

~The question, and various solutions, take up quite a bit of newspaper space. Fact that
the games to date have been’ played in snow and ice, under water, and in a dust bowl con-

Vinces most fans that some-
thing must be done. This
year’s “classic” at Hamilton
Was a farce, with less than
5000 shivering fans in at-
tendance, although another
10,000 bought tickets and
Stayed away.

_ Attitude of team managers
1S that they don’t want a pre-
Season game, because some of
their players might suffer in-
Juries. But the same thing
Could ‘be said about August

“€xhibition games, yet they

ave arranged year after year.

hy? Money, money, money.

Proceeds of the Shrine game
80 for charitable purposes. It
Seems a shame that money to
help Crippled children doesn’t
Come from government
Sources, rather than charity
affairs, But as things are at

the moment, no one would:

SUggest cutting off this source
of income.

The All-Star game should
€ played in August, when the
Weather is perfect and thou-
pots of fans would turn out
© watch the previous year’s
brightest gridiron stars in ac-
On, and savor a taste of
What’s ahead.

Eoinnis Stukus of the Van-
uver Sun likes the idea of a
Post-season tussle between the
Sing finalists in each con-
Sens, played on the Wed-
ey before the Grey Cup.

isn’t likely that there will
: much support for this pro-
®sal, for it would take the
®dge off the Cup final.

Best solution is an August
meeting of East and West, a
prelude to ‘the regular sea-
son’s games, and an oppor-
tunity to estimate the rela-
tive strengths of the Big Four
and WIFU rosters.

The chances of injuries in
an All-Star game are no
greater than in a regular ex-
hibition tilt. Managers should
be willing to take that chance

for charity, as they willingly
take it for money. :
One Hamilton official, Jake
Gaudaur (rowing fans will
recognize the name) pumps
for the game to be staged in
Hamilton every year. A fine
gesture, but fans will undoubt-
edly demand that it be held
in the East one year, and the
West the next. How about try-
ing Vancouver next August?

Some workers spend their Christmas holidays gazing at

for the slopes of Grouse Mountain, Hollyburn or Seymour.
letically inclined sling skis over their shoulders and head
for the slopes of Grouse Mountain, Hollyburn or Seymour.
Whichever type you are, season’s greetings!

is amateur
in the

“amateur”

OW
A sport? A

People’s Voice (New Zealand)
tilts a lance at the sham of

writer

amateurism, thusly:

“The word amateur comes
from the Latin ‘amare,’ to
love. However, it isnot the
love of sport but the love of
money — by manipulation of
commercialized sport under
the guise and facade of sham
and hypocrisy—that is known
today as AMATEURISM.

“Amateurism, as we know
it, has its roots in snobbery.
Today it is upheld not by the
snobs of the last century but
by the tycoons who make for-
tunes from the champions of
sport.

“Sport was once considered
the sacred domain of the
wealthy. And amateurism was
the spiked barrier to keep the
toiler in his place —at work.

“But, as capitalist society
developed, so did sport. It be-
came highly competitive and
highly lucrative. In these cir-
cumstances the workers were
needed and, with a few ex-
ceptions, the sporting ‘gentle-
men’ were pushed aside.

“Many well known tennis
players today are being haul-
ed over the coals while on
tours for allegedly accepting
such a lowly thing as money,
and are employed by sports
firms to play the whole year
round. In fact, in some coun-
tries they are wage workers
for sports firms whose direc-
tors occupy influential posi-
tions on the Lawn Tennis As-
sociations and use the sham
of amateurism to retain their
hold on these players.

“Could it be accidental that
their itineraries while on pri-
vate tours overseas coincides
with the tourist programs of
the wealthy ‘silvertaiis’ who
lounge on the Riviera, at
Bournemouth and other such
places in Europe?

“Tf it’s not accidental (and
who could doubt that it isn’t?)
players, again under the sham
of amateurism, are being used
as paid entertainers for
wealthy tourists. They, of
course, are allowed “expenses.”

“But suppose a player while
on tour accepts an offer from
the owner of some luxury
tourist hotel to play for his

PS ES RE IER PI DIDI EE PEE BIRDIE DIELS IE IS DIU
SEASON’S GREETINGS

TO CUSTOMERS AND FRIENDS
Concrete Work — Readymix — Expert Finishing

ELMER H.

HANEY, B.C.

Box 502

PNG oo -6 2G ios Gee en och ag

guests? Under the lily-white
rule of amateurism, he can be
paid only expenses and fares.

“But there is no law in the
world to. prevent the hotel
owner betting the player any
amount of money that he
e2n’t hit-a golf ball 20 yards.

“When the player wins the
bet, the hotel owner would,
of course, settle the bet like
a gentleman.

“When some of Austrailia’s
best tennis players, like
Frank Sedgman and Lew
Hoad, broke away from this
facade and joined a profes-
sional troupe, we can still re-
member what they were call-
ed by the amateur brass.-But
who can blame these players
for wanting some of the
‘cream’ that is offered?

“Some time ago there was a
public*outcry over wide-scale
betting and its associated evils
in U.S. inter-college basket-
ball.

“There is ample evidence
that big-time gambling rack-
eteers control many aspects
of professional sport, particu-
larly in the. United States.
Boxing is an example.

“Is this beyond the realm
of possibility in amateur sport?
You be the judge.”

Plenty of meat in the above
for some of the Holy Willies
of amateur brassdom to sink
their teeth into.

'In Canada, “amateur” hoc-
key is a farce. Whenever an
amateur develops to the point
where his services are in de-
mand he demands, and gets,
under the table payments.

The “amateur” hockey teams
we send on tour abroad are,
in everything but name, pro-
fessional.

In socialist countries they
take a more realistic and
truthful approach to sports.
All athletes are listed as ama-
teurs, but they are given time
off from their jobs (and re-
ceive full wages) while train-
ing for big sports events, in-
cluding international competi-
tion.

Here we publicly raise our
hands in horror at ‘such frank
behavior, and privately con-
tinue to pay our ‘amateurs”
in cash for their services.

Isn’t it high time we put an
end to such hypocrisy?

WALSKE

Haney 5-9306

Nd dh dk dg ek

December 19, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 11