In Toronto's Financial Post, Sports Scribe Ronald Williams called them "shamateurs." The Canadian Rugby Union insisted they were amateurs. The Dominion's Revenue Department, which defines an amateur as a player "not signed to a professional contract," accepted the C.R.U.'s ruling. Result: big-time rugby teams will not have to pay the 20% federal amusement tax.
That did not end the argument as far as the issue of amateurism was concerned. As everyone knew, teams drawing bumper crowds were piling up receipts. Although club owners wouldn't talk, payments to players in eastern Canada's Big...
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