NationStates Jolt Archive

Please approve my proposal. I feel it's a very important issue that must be fixed.

Amateurism must be stopped. Amateurs are runners who are not allowed to get payed for their running, no matter how good they are, or allowed to be sponsered by a company. They can't even wear clothes with a company logo on it, without thread of being banned from competing. Amateurism is governed by a league, which is different depending on the country and is in many nations. Runners are not allowed to run in the olympics, which is obviously the most prestigious event in running worldwide, if they turn professional. Thus, a runner has to decide between the lure of money, or the fame of the olympics. This is completely unfair. All olympic runners in countries that have amateur rules, do not get proper pay. The rules of amateurism are unfair. I propose that the concept of Amateurism be completely abolished.

Tobias McLean, Weegie Delegate to the United Nations, speaks up.

"The whole point about amateurs is that they do it for the love of the game, rather than just for pay. Are you seriously saying that you would stop, say, amateur teams from forming merely because they play for just fun rather than for money? I find that, in my opinion to be grossly unfair. For instance, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children in my nation have formed amateur football teams, to play the game for fun, to have a little kick-around, to enjoy themselves. They've even formed their own body to organise the various teams into leagues, the "Sunday League Association". Under this proposal, all of these people who enjoy this kickabout would be banned from doing so. The same goes for running clubs, boxing clubs... any sport you wish to mention. We can't all be professional atheletes - some of us just do it for fun. I call on the United Nations to reject this absolutely silly proposal."

OOC: I'm a Scot, so football = soccer for all you Americans.

Gregor Re speaks briefly on the issue:

"I agree with fellow Delegate Tobias Mclean on the issue, but I also would like to add, in all due respect to the introducer of this proposal, I fail to see how this is a matter of international importance. Let the personal governments decide weither or not they would like to allow this, not the United Nations."

Likewise. This issue has absolutley nothing that would make it justifiable for the United Nations to enact policy. We have far more important things to worry about than the moral dillema that a superstar athelete must face when choosing between money and the Olympics.

Many athletes resent the rules of amateurism. Havn't any of you ever heard of Steve Prefontaine's quest years ago to end amateurism in the U.S.?

"If some professional atheletes have some sort of problem with people enjoying a sport, doing it for fun rather than material gain, then I only feel sorry for them. Again, I reiterate; why stop people from doing something they enjoy?"

OOC: You can't use specific real world references. In NS, the United States does not exist. Neither does the athelete you speak of.

ahhh. Ok. Sorry. I rarely use the rp forums.

But for those athletes that would like to get payed, the rules are very unfair.

"Why? Why are the rules unfair? Amateurs quite normally have seperate sporting clubs, groups, and teams than professionals, so how on earth would an amateur side detract from professional sportsmen?"

Quite. There are amateur contests and professional contests; athletes can choose freely between these categories. (In truth, most so-called amateurs compete for very significant prizes and sustain themselves in this way). If some amateur contests are more prestigious than professional ones, what of it? The reverse is true in many sports - football of both kinds, rugby, boxing, tennis, golf. In truth, the amateur sports are mostly those relatively unpopular ones that couldn't support themselves as professionals and require government backing; people will cheer a triple jumper, a gymnast or a badminton player for a day or so if they win a medal for their country, but they won't follow their career or pay to see their events.

Essentially, then, these athletes owe their upkeep, the programs that discovered and trained them, and the arrangements of and prizes from competitions to government sponsorship. Their sports are unsustainable without subsidy; perhaps a few star athletes might be able to support themselves on advertising alone, but they'd soon find themselves without a field to compete in.

The best way to achieve your goals, if you really think they're valid, would be to work towards establishing more big-stakes professional tournaments in sports where no such categories exist. This can and should be achieved without UN intervention; I see no reason whatsoever why the UN should prefer one category over another.

In the Olympic Games in any case, only a few sports still keep the 'amateurs only' rule. Athletics discarded this some time ago, according to my understanding of the Games as they are played today.

Two-thumbs down on this. It is asinine.