Fifty years of athletics

FIFTY YEARS OF ATHLETICS
29
(5) That betting and roping was demoralising amateur
athletics throughout Scotland.
This was a strong indictment, and action was promptly
taken upon those findings—which disclosed the parlous
condition into which amateur athletics had fallen—and the
offending parties dealt with.
Subsequently, however, upon appeal and submission
of the argument that certain of the evidence had been
obtained by the Commission upon assurances of immunity
for certain witnesses—which was denied by members of
the Commission—the penalties which had been imposed
upon the offending parties were cancelled, and an un-
savoury episode closed.
Thus, in the course of a decade of its life the Association
had passed from a state of idealism to one which revealed
the stark materialism which had permeated amateur sport.
But still more testing times were to be experienced
1895-1914
I
N
1895 there were fifty-four clubs in membership of the
Association, more than one-third being comprised of
football clubs, the management of which was organised
upon amateur principles. Two years prior to this date
(1893) however, professional football in Scotland became
legalised, yet many of the football clubs who adopted the
professional code still retained membership of the Scottish
Amateur Athletic Association. It is a remarkable fact
that this anomalous position—challenged from time to
time—existed until 1933, when the constitution of the
S.A.A.A. was amended to restrict membership to amateur
bodies only.
That there was a distinct decline in the morale of
athletic sports meetings at this period is evidenced by the
abnormal number of suspensions of athletes dealt with by
the S.A.A.A. The betting canker, with its accompanying
evils, was still eating its way into the vitals of amateurism,
and no legal assistance was possible because of the existing
state of the Gaming Laws.
Early in 1895 the Scottish Cyclists' Union gave notice
to terminate their agreement with the S.A.A.A. on the
plea that it was unworkable. Prior to this intimation, the
General Council of the Union had had under consideration
the amendment of the definition of
an
amateur cyclist,