"Sports in 19th century remained a luxury of the middle and upper classes with lower class athletes routinely excluded from participation.

The rules for the 1878 Henley Regatta declared: "No person shall be considered an amateur oarsman or sculler…who is or has been by trade or employment for wages, a mechanic, artisan, or laborer."

Sports historian Allen Guttmann explains that in its earliest institution, rules of amateurism were invented by the Victorian middle and upper classes to "exclude the 'lower orders' from the play of the leisure class."

When Pierre de Coubertin called for the revival of the Olympic Games in 1892, the primary discussion amongst the elite group of educators and public figures who formed the first version of the Olympic committee was to determine who would be allowed to compete in the Games.

Historically, classism ruled the sports and athletic activities practiced by the gentry, not only to prevent the mingling of the higher echelons with the common masses, but because many of the elite insisted that the 'plebeians' had no concept of sportsmanship and fair play."


Amateurism is a farce and with the high cost of training to achieve elite performance it is returning to a system that favors the wealthy and exploits the gifted non wealthy athletes in my opinion.


where i disagree with Mark Few is allowing for profiting can only help non revenue athletes especially in the social media viral video realm.. it opens the door to gymnasts making creative content it allows any athlete to become an influencer within theirt realm and reach their viewers without the NCAA saying "no!!! because reasons"