Semi-professional
A
semi-professional athlete is one who is paid money to play and thus is not an
amateur, but for whom
sport is not a full-time occupation, generally because the level of pay is too low to make a reasonable living based solely upon that source, thus making the athlete not a full
professional athlete.
Likewise the term semi-professional can be applied to an artist such a
photographer or
musician who derives some income from their artisticendeavors but who must nevertheless take a
day job in order tosurvive. When applied to vocational tools and equipment, it refers toproducts that lie between the amateur and professional levels in bothquality and cost, though nowadays the term
prosumer is often used instead.
In North America, semi-professional athletes and teams were far more common in the early and mid-
20th century in
North America than they are today. There are many benefits, such as collegiate eligibility and the attendant
scholarships, in maintaining amateur status. Eligibility for participation in the
Olympics in some sports is still dependent upon maintaining a purely amateur status (although far less so than was previously the case), and such athletes may be supported by government money,
business sponsorships, and other systems. At the same time, professional sports have become such a massive and remunerative business that even many low-level feeder teams can afford to have fully professional athletes.
In the United Kingdom there are many semi-professional
football teams at
non-league level. The bottom division of
The Football League (the fourth tier of the
English football league system) has traditionally been the cut-off between professional ("full-time") and semi-professional ("part-time") in
English football. However, many teams in the top non-league competition (the
Football Conference) have become "full-time" in an effort to achieve league status.
