Gentlemen v Players

I am very puzzled that Geraldine Van Bueren thinks “an amateur event with no financial reward” is an argument that a sport is not elitist (“Making waves”, Opinion, 11 July). Amateurism at this level is the privilege of those who can afford it. It is why rugby developed two codes, one for the paid working class, the other for the unpaid middle and upper classes. Cricket didn’t bother, it just distinguished between the servants of the club, the paid Players and the Gentlemen.

Farah Mendlesohn
Anglia Ruskin University