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Successful workers or exploited labour? Golf professionals and professional golfers in Britain 1888–1914 1
Author(s) -
VAMPLEW WRAY
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.014
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1468-0289
pISSN - 0013-0117
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2007.00380.x
Subject(s) - club , recreation , professional sport , cricket , football , welfare , young professional , business , marketing , public relations , management , political science , league , economics , market economy , medicine , ecology , physics , astronomy , biology , law , anatomy
Golf was one of the fastest growing recreational sports in Britain before 1914. It created a market for professional golfers as shopkeepers, teachers, green‐keepers, and craftsmen. A database of 3,000 players was used to examine their social and economic experience at club and competitive level, and this experience was then compared to that of professionals in horseracing, cricket, and football. Golfers were the first sportsmen to permanently organize themselves with the establishment of the PGA in 1901, which provided welfare services and promoted tournaments, thus actively and uniquely assisting the development of the industry within which its members worked.