shamateur

This was the age of the "Shamateur", when cricketers were given lucrative posts so that they would qualify for amateur status and captaincy of their county and country.

While she advanced Didrikson's campaign to create careers for female athletes, she also helped men by moving tennis out of the "shamateur" period, during which most players took money under the table from the officials who controlled the sport.

While the Big-4 billed itself as an amateur circuit, it became known as a notorious example of a "shamateur" league, as amateur teams secretly employed professional players in an attempt to gain an upper hand on their competition.