# Boot money

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{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}

'''Boot money''' refers to money paid privately or anonymously to amateur athletes, often to circumvent laws or [league](/source/Sports_league) regulations prohibiting athlete compensation. It can be paid as an incentive to win or as a reward for a good performance, but especially in more recent times can involve a [company](/source/company) rewarding players for using their [apparel](/source/apparel) or products. This phenomenon has been found in amateur sports for centuries.  The term "boot money" became popularised in the late 1880s when [British](/source/United_Kingdom) [football](/source/Football_(soccer)) leagues prohibited [professionalism](/source/professionalism), but it was not unusual for players to find a [half crown](/source/Half_crown_(British_coin)) (two shillings and sixpence) in their [boot](/source/boot)s after a game (worth around £66 in 2009, calculated by the rise in average earnings).<ref>[http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/ Measuring Worth.com]</ref> Before the breaking of the £20 wage-cap by [Johnny Haynes](/source/Johnny_Haynes), many British football players received ciphered boot money, by fans paying for entrance but not being counted in an official match attendance. This method was also a way of escaping tax deductions too.

==Scandals==
In 1982, [Adidas](/source/Adidas) was paying British Olympic athletes to wear their gear.  The main person involved in the scandal was [Horst Dassler](/source/Horst_Dassler).

A scandal broke out over payments alleged to have been made to some [Welsh](/source/Wales) [rugby union](/source/rugby_union) internationals during the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/adidas-used-pay-bungs-welsh-1820555|title='Adidas used me to pay bungs to Welsh rugby legends Barry John and Gareth Edwards'|date=10 July 2011|website=Wales Online|access-date=6 March 2017}}</ref>  Many other ways were found to work around the laws of rugby union amateurism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.englandrugby.com/twickenham/world-rugby-museum/rugby-history/the-amateur-era/#|title=Rugby History: The Amateur Era|website=England Rugby|access-date=6 March 2017}}</ref>

==See also==
* [Shamateurism](/source/Shamateurism)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boot Money}}
Category:Boots
Category:Association football controversies
Category:Rugby union controversies
Category:Sports scandals in Wales

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Boot money](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_money) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_money?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.