> but once the dominant professional association the game changes forever, because the vast majority of people just want to emulate the pros, because they grew

> but once the dominant professional association the game changes forever, because the vast majority of people just want to emulate the pros, because they grew up dreaming of becoming pro I don't want to squash anyone's dreams but I feel like "emulating the pros" undermines the "spirit of the game" a lot. Most sports are literally "bet I can" style games that have then been refined and refined. They don't intrinsically matter to life continuing. When you've experienced "sledging" in a low skill amateur series and the defence is "the pro's do it" then the fun of the game is gone...