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12 - The struggle for recognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2010

Wray Vamplew
Affiliation:
Flinders University of South Australia
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Summary

The emergence of professionalism in sports such as football, rugby and cycling was very much a product of the wave of commercialisation which engulfed the leisure sector in the late nineteenth century. The same economic tide also left its mark on sports with a longer tradition of professionalism, such as cricket and horse-racing. Change was accompanied by controversy and almost every sport had its debate on the merits, or otherwise, of recognising professionalism and on the safeguards which would have to be imposed should it be accepted.

The essential difference between amateurs and professionals in nineteenth- century Britain was social rather than economic. No one labelled as professionals those early nineteenth-century, socially elite sportsmen who rowed or raced against each other for money prizes, or backed their sporting prowess with heavy wagers. Nor, at this time were they classed as amateurs: the contradistinction to professional was gentleman. However, as active sports involvement became more broadly based, the middle class added the organisation of sports bodies to its administrative portfolio and began to set rules regarding participation, rules in which birth and background became important parameters in the protection of middleclass sporting preserves. The concept of the amateur which developed was thus a by-product of changing circumstances in British sport. The ensuing struggle by professionals for recognition as legitimate sportsmen can perhaps be seen as part of the wider class confrontation taking place in society at this time.

Type
Chapter
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Pay Up and Play the Game
Professional Sport in Britain, 1875–1914
, pp. 183 - 203
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1988

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  • The struggle for recognition
  • Wray Vamplew, Flinders University of South Australia
  • Book: Pay Up and Play the Game
  • Online publication: 16 February 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511560866.015
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  • The struggle for recognition
  • Wray Vamplew, Flinders University of South Australia
  • Book: Pay Up and Play the Game
  • Online publication: 16 February 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511560866.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The struggle for recognition
  • Wray Vamplew, Flinders University of South Australia
  • Book: Pay Up and Play the Game
  • Online publication: 16 February 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511560866.015
Available formats
×