AMATEURS, CASH AMATEURS AND PROFESSIONALS: A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY

279 Pages·2010·5.28 MB·English

AMATEURS, CASH AMATEURS
AND PROFESSIONALS: A
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
HISTORY OF BICYCLE RACING
IN NEW ZEALAND,
1869-1910

A thesis
submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
At
Lincoln University

By
Michael S. Toohey

Lincoln University
2010
ABSTRACT

Amateurs, Cash Amateurs and Professionals: A Social And Cultural History of Bicycle
Racing in New Zealand, 1869-1910

The thesis explores the early history of bicycle racing in New Zealand, from its
introduction in 1869, until the major decline of public interest in bicycle racing on
specially constructed oval tracks which was, practically speaking, complete by 1910.
Particular attention will be paid to the development of “cash amateur” bicycle racing,
which began in Melbourne in 1890, before spreading to New Zealand in 1892.
The position will be taken that sport is socially constructed and that the
institutions which are grown around it are shaped by, and reflect, broader cultural,
political and social norms. It will, therefore, examine the social construction and
meaning of the terms “amateur”, “cash amateur” and “professional”. It will contend that
while athletes were classified by such behaviours as the acceptance of cash prizes or
membership of governing bodies, concepts of race, sex, and class also informed
descriptions of these behaviours by stakeholders in the construction process such as the
press, bicycle manufacturers, promoters of bicycle racing and by the bicycle racers
themselves
Focus will be placed on bicycle racing in New Zealand, with comparative
reference to Australia, Britain, the United States and Continental Europe (primarily
France). A central premise of this thesis is that nineteenth century New Zealand society
was highly interconnected with a wider Anglophonic cultural, political and economic
world, and that industrialised communication – steam ships, railways and telegraph –
enabled and hastened the diffusion of trans-national cultural phenomena such as
“velocipede mania” and the “bicycle boom”. Within these broader movements there
was, however, room for localised variations. Cash amateurism, it will be argued, was
one such local solution to the problem of reconciling the ideologies of amateurism and
laissez-faire capitalism, the divergence of which was sharply identifiable in bicycle
racing.
The overarching thesis is thus one of social and cultural history, exploring the
social and institutional organisation of bicycle racing within a broader social and
cultural context. It is structured as a narrative with chronological organisation. Within
this framework, it explores themes of class, race, sex and identity, amateurism,
professionalism and commercialism in sport, cultural construction by the press and
modernity as a commercialised commodity.
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CONTENTS

ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................ii
CONTENTS................................................................................................................iii
FIGURES......................................................................................................................v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DEDICATION.......................................................vi
GLOSSARY...............................................................................................................vii
A NOTE ON PRIMARY SOURCES...........................................................................ix
Chapter 1 – INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................1
Aim of this Thesis....................................................................................................1
Methodology and Primary Sources...........................................................................4
Previous Research...................................................................................................12
New Zealand Social History................................................................................12
Cycling History...................................................................................................15
Sports History......................................................................................................19
Chapter 2 – ANTECEDENTS: VELOCIPEDE MANIA, HOLIDAYS AND RURAL
SPORTS MEETINGS.................................................................................................23
Introduction.............................................................................................................23
From Draisienne to Velocipede................................................................................25
Velocipede Racing at Holiday Sports Meetings........................................................30
Virtual Velocipede Mania?.......................................................................................35
Delivering Rational Recreation in a Colonial Environment......................................40
Enclosure................................................................................................................45
Conclusion..............................................................................................................49
Chapter 3 – THE BID FOR AMATEUR CONTROL...................................................52
Introduction.............................................................................................................52
The Age of the Ordinary Bicycle.............................................................................54
Amateurism.............................................................................................................56
Australasian Variations............................................................................................59
The Pioneer Bicycle Club........................................................................................66
Why Form a Club?..................................................................................................71
Who Joined?............................................................................................................80
The New Zealand Cyclists’ Alliance........................................................................85
Conclusion............................................................................................................101
Chapter 4 – CASH AMATEURS...............................................................................103
Introduction...........................................................................................................103
The Melbourne Bicycle Club and the Austral Wheel Race.....................................104
Trans-Tasman Reaction.........................................................................................107
The Drive for Cash and Amateurism’s Internal Conflict.........................................109
The New Zealand Cash Amateur Bicycle Club......................................................114
Conclusion............................................................................................................122
Chapter 5 – THE STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL OF BICYCLE RACING IN NEW
ZEALAND................................................................................................................124
Introduction...........................................................................................................124
The Bicycle Boom.................................................................................................125
The Boom’s Effect on Racing................................................................................132
Newspaper Involvement........................................................................................134
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Attempted Amalgamation......................................................................................138
Who Founded the League? The Conundrum of Cash Amateurism..........................161
Amateurism, Sportsmanism or Athleticism? The Modern Gentleman-Knight Versus
Foreign Interlopers, Lazy Natives and the Inexorable March of Progress...............171
Races for “Ladies” and “Natives”: Inclusiveness or Spectacle?..............................176
Conclusion............................................................................................................183
Chapter 6 – CASH, CORRUPTION AND THE DECLINE OF TRACK RACING....186
Introduction...........................................................................................................186
Decline..................................................................................................................188
Names on Jerseys: Makers’ Amateurs....................................................................192
Criticism of Industry Support.................................................................................199
Appearance Money................................................................................................205
“Bookies”, Cash and Corruption............................................................................210
Loafing..................................................................................................................219
Pacing...................................................................................................................224
Spectacle versus Partisanship.................................................................................225
Coda: Bicycle Racing in the Twentieth Century.....................................................229
Conclusion............................................................................................................231
Chapter 7 – CONCLUSION......................................................................................232
Cash Amateurism and New Zealand Historiography..............................................232
Cash, Sport and Society in Nineteenth Century New Zealand................................233
Discovering the Cash Amateur...............................................................................235
The Importance of Being Amateur.........................................................................237
Internal Contradictions..........................................................................................239
Legacy...................................................................................................................242
Appendix 1.1: Titles comprising the Papers Past collection of digitised New
Zealand newspapers and periodicals..................................................................244
Appendix 2.1: Tuapeka Times, 31 July 1869, 6...................................................245
Appendix 4.1: Lowry's Motion, New Zealand Referee, 10 September, 1891.......249
Appendix 5.1: Advertisement, Wanganui Herald,31 January 1898, 3.................250
Appendix 5.2: Advertisement, Evening Post, 9 April 1898, 6.............................251
BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................252
A Note on Digital Materials...............................................................................252
Primary Sources....................................................................................................252
ARCHIVAL MATERIAL..................................................................................252
CONTEMPORARY BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS............................................252
CONTEMPORARY NEWSPAPERS & PERIODICALS...................................255
Secondary Sources.................................................................................................256
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FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Model of Social Class by Occupation........................................................11

Figure 2.1: Advertisement, North Otago Times, 17 August 1869, 3..............................30

Figure 2.0: Mentions of “velocipede” in four New Zealand Newspapers, 1868 to
1876…………………………………………………………………………………….38

Figure 3.1: The Ariel...................................................................................................54

Figure 3.2: The Ordinary bicycle at the height of its technical development, circa
1885…………………………………………………………………………………….55

Figure 3.3: “A halt on a trip to Akaroa, at Barry’s Bay[1886]”.....................................75

Figure 3.4: A sociable tricycle in use in Dorset, England, in the early 1880s. Steering is
controlled via the “spade handle” lever in the man’s right hand...................................77

Figure 3.5: 1889 Singer Solid Tyred Safety Tandem Bicycle........................................78

Figure 3.6: Advertisement, Star, 24 December 1887, 2………………………………93

Figure 5.1: A quad and a triplet pacing a cyclist at Lancaster Park.............................146

Figure 5.2: R. P. “ Dick” Clarkson.............................................................................167

Figure 5.3: Advertisement, Star, 23 December 1890, 2……………………………....183

Figure 6.1: Charles M. Murphy and the specially adapted train behind which he
pedalled one mile in less than one minute in 1899..................................................187

Figure 6.2: Mentions of the phrases: “Wheel Race” and “Bicycle Race” in the
Wellington Evening Post and the Christchurch Star, 1879-1915.................................189

Figure 6.3: Comparison of mentions of five sports in the Wellington Evening Post and
Christchurch Star, 1879-1915....................................................................................190

Figure 6.4: George Sutherland with three examples of industry involvement in bicycle
racing – his bicycle, the Royal Enfield Cup and his racing jersey, emblazoned with a
bicycle brand-name...................................................................................................198

Figure 6.5: North Canterbury Bicycle Club Race, Rangiora Recreation Grounds,1899
..................................................................................................................................199

Figure 6.6: Advertisement, Star, 11 June 1892, 4……………………………..………228

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DEDICATION

I would like to thank my supervisors, Clare Simpson, Bob Gidlow and Grant for their
guidance, support and patience and for the knowledge which they have so willingly
shared. It is the willing sharing of knowledge by others which allows any student to
achieve his or her goal. Without Clare’s pioneering social history of women’s cycling in
New Zealand, researching the history of bicycle racing would be that much more
difficult.
I would also like to thank Len Richardson. Twenty years ago, I learned of exciting
possibilities in Len’s very engaging sports history classes at the University of
Canterbury. When, almost two decades later, I asked him about the practicality of
producing a thesis on cash amateur cycle racing, he replied with encouragement and
advice. His tip to start my research in the pages of The New Zealand Referee and
Sporting Record set in action the methodology adopted in this thesis.
Researching the above sports weekly and other archived sources would have been
impossible without the dedicated staff of the Aotearoa New Zealand Room in the
Christchurch City Library. I can say without hyperbole that they go beyond the call of
duty in their preservation and cataloguing of New Zealand’s historic records. Moreover,
they provide access to this material and their own considerable store of knowledge in a
“user friendly” manner not always associated with archived collections.
Similarly, the staff of the Newspaper Collection, National Library of New Zealand Te
Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, deserve special mention. It is the nature of electronic
research that I have never met these capable librarians and archivists in person. Their
efforts have, nevertheless, revolutionised social history research in New Zealand,
including my own.
Most importantly, I dedicate this work to my wife Xiao Guiping. Her example has
constantly set an academic benchmark for me to try and emulate. She has braved
indignant argument when proof reading my efforts and taking me to task over my
random use of English grammar. She has supported and at times goaded me when ennui
threatened to take control. In short, this work would not have been possible without her.
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GLOSSARY

Blue Riband – Blue Ribband, Blue Ribbon. From an unofficial prize for the fastest
crossing of the Atlantic by an ocean liner. A Blue Riband event was thus the
premier or championship event at a sports meeting. All three spellings were used
in nineteenth century newspapers, Riband is used here for consistency.
Chop, the – The Joke. An informal arrangement made between riders, deciding who
should win. Presumably referring to the prize money being “chopped up”
between the co-conspirators.
Cronk (Riding/Running) – Crooked Riding, Running Dead. Dishonest racing.
Usually, not trying to win. Cronk riding was associated with gambling and
betting against oneself. It might also be employed to assist another to win in
return for a share of the prize. See Chop.
Drafting. See Pacing.
Drasienne – Drasine, Hobby Horse, Dandy Horse, Laufmaschine. A progenitor to
the bicycle. The Drasienne enjoyed a brief period of popularity in 1819. The
Drasienne featured two wheels arranged in line fore and aft, the front wheel
being steerable. It lacked any means of propulsion bar the rider’s feet pushing or
paddling against the ground. Named after Karl Draise, a German inventor of
aristocratic birth and democratic principles.
Handicap (Race). A race where the slowest riders were given an advantage over the
fastest riders. On the track, this was achieved by reducing the distance ridden by
the slower riders, with all the riders starting at the same time. In a race of 100
yards, for example, if limit was 20 yards, then the slowest riders would start 20-
yards in front of the fastest riders. In road races, slower riders were given a time
advantage. Handicaps were allocated based on past performances. See Limit
and Scratch
Headwork. Racing tactically rather than relying on physical effort alone. See Loaf.
High Wheeler. See Ordinary.
Limit (riders). The first riders to depart in a handicap race (nominally, the slowest group
of riders).
Loaf – Crawl. To ride slowly in a race, trying to get one’s rival to take the lead, thereby
gaining aerodynamic advantage. Loafing was originally frowned upon, but has
since been incorporated into the Olympic discipline of the 200-metre sprint.
Multicycle. A bicycle designed for two or more riders. See Pacer.
Ordinary – Penny Farthing or High Wheeler. A bicycle developed from circa 1870
with a large, driven, front wheel and a small rear wheel.
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Pacer. A cyclist, cyclists, motorcycle or other machine used to offer aerodynamic
advantage to a cyclist in a race or record attempt. Originally pacers were solo
cyclists, but these were quickly superseded by multicycles (tandems, triplets,
quads and quints) ridden by two or more riders. See Stayer and Pacing.
Pacing – Drafting. Riding behind a bicycle, motorcycle or other machine to gain
aerodynamic advantage. Pacing was a popular form of racing at the end of the
nineteenth century. Today, it is still used in record-attempts and some specialised
races. See Pacer and Stayer.
Peleton – The Bunch. The main group of riders in a road race. Sometimes used to refer
to professional bicycle racers as a body; e.g., “drug use in the professional
peleton”.
Penny Farthing. Originally a pejorative term used to describe the Ordinary after it had
become unfashionable. Although sometimes frowned upon by purists, “Penny
Farthing” has, through widespread usage, gained some ground amongst
veteran-cycle enthusiasts. See Ordinary
Road Racing. Bicycle racing conducted on public roads. See Track Racing, Time
Trialling and Road Record.
Road Record. An individual record, sometimes paced, set over a measure distance or
time on open roads. See Time Trial.
Safety. Although Safety originally meant any bicycle that incorporated features
designed to increase the physical safety of cyclists, after 1896, it commonly
referred to a bicycle developed in the 1880s and widely adopted from the mid
1890s. Now commonplace, the Safety has two wheels in line, the rear wheel
driven by a transmission (usually a chain, but also a belt or shaft).
Scratch (Race). A race where all the riders leave from the same mark at the same time.
Scratch (Riders). The last riders to leave in a Handicap race (nominally, the fastest
riders in the race).
Sociable. A bicycle, tricycle, quadracycle, etc., on which two riders are seated side-by-
side in a “sociable” arrangement.
Sprint. A race of 200-metres which evolved from mile or kilometre scratch race. See
Loaf.
Spurt. To sprint or increase effort.
Stayer. A rider in a paced race. A Stayer rode at high speed, behind a Pacer or Pacers
mounted on Multicycles or large motorcycles. See Drafting, Pacing, Pacer.
Tactics. See Headwork.
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Time Trial. “The race of truth”. In a time trial, cyclists set off as individuals or teams at
timed intervals and race “against the clock”. The resulting effort may be
recorded as distance or time; e.g., the 40km time trial or the 12 hour time trial.
In the case of the former, the winner is the cyclist who covers the 40km in the
shortest time. In the latter, the winner is the cyclist who covers the greatest
distance within the 12 hours. See Road Record.
Track Racing – Path Racing. Bicycle racing conducted on a Track or Velodrome,
usually oval and surfaced in grass (in New Zealand, Australia and Britain), clay,
wood, asphalt or concrete.
Velocipede – Boneshaker. A bicycle developed in the 1860s. Constructed of wood
and/or iron, using coachbuilding techniques, the velocipede was superseded by
the Ordinary in the 1870s.
Velodrome – Path, Track. Originally French, velodrome is now the accepted term for
an oval bicycle racing track. The English favoured the term path. In Australasia,
the term track was widely used in the nineteenth century (although path and
velodrome were also used occasionally). For the purpose of this thesis, track
will be used as it is the most common contemporary term.
Wheel. Late-nineteenth century jargon for bicycle.

Wheeling. Cycling.

A NOTE ON PRIMARY SOURCES
Some confusion may arise from the fact that the Christchurch Press Company published
two titles in one weekly issue: The Weekly Press and the New Zealand Referee and
Sporting Record. Further adding to the confusion, each issue used consistent pagination
from cover to cover, despite containing two discrete titles. The Weekly Press was
published in Christchurch from 1865. From 1891, it incorporated the New Zealand
Referee and Sporting Record. The latter became New Zealand’s longest-running sports
weekly, finally sputtering out in the mid-1920s. Despite the shared pagination, I have
treated the Weekly Press and the Referee as separate titles in the footnotes of this thesis.
I have done so because the Referee is readily identifiable as a separate title devoted
solely to sporting news.
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