AMATEURS PLAYING with professionals in sport has always created problems, as you will discover if you delve into the histories of any of our major sporting bodies. In field trials, amateur handlers have always competed against professionals, even from the earliest days when wealthy owners employed their gamekeeper or kennelman to handle their dog (or dogs) for them.
There’s a strong argument that professionals raise the standards to which the amateurs must aspire to if they are to succeed. However, if you look at the recent winners of all the major
