ABSTRACT
Today we find leading amateur sportsmen lending their names for reward to recommendations for a variety of goods and articles, and not merely those which, in the course of their amateur sporting activities, they come to know and appreciate. Indeed, from what I have myself read and observed I believe it to be the fact that at least one prominent amateur sportsman has formed a proprietary company for the exploitation of his name and reputation so that he may sell his recommendations in the advertising market and yet, so I assume, attract a minimum of taxes. In making this comment I do not wish it to be thought that I desire for one moment to criticise amateur sportsmen who have indulged in this activity. The new and altered standards must be accepted by the courts once it is apparent that they have been accepted by the community.
The point which seems to emerge with clarity is that one’s conception of the status of an amateur sportsman 30 years ago is quite different to what is accepted today. The development in the advertising of products to which I have referred has opened up a new field of gainful employment for many persons who, by reason not only of their sporting, but of their social, artistic or other activities, which have attracted notoriety, have found themselves in a position to earn substantial sums of money by lending their recommendation or sponsorship to an almost infinite variety of commodities.
