Amateurism in Sport: An Analysis and Defence

Amateurism is often decried as second rate or outmoded. Yet it can be argued that doing things for the love of it rather than for money represents the higher and more meaningful form. It can also be the case that an economic system which has more voluntary, unpaid activity is thereby a more efficient system. The amateur ethos which shaped sport is under threat and in decline. There has been very little in the way of intellectual defence. One of the main problems is that amateurism is rarely seen as itself, but as a screen for something else, normally elitism, imperialism, or fear of commercialization. Amateurism needs to be taken seriously as ethical and political theory. It must also be treated seriously as a system of ethics, economics and decision-making institutions. This book takes amateurism seriously in these respects and examines its rationale, its history, its ethics and economics and the future of amateur values.

Lincoln Allison is Reader in Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick, England