Semi - professional A semi - professional athlete is one who is paid 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 as a photographer or musician who derives some income from their artistic endeavors but who must nevertheless take a day job in order to survive . When applied to vocational tools and equipment , it refers to products that lie between the amateur and professional levels in both quality and cost , though nowadays the term prosumer is often used instead . Origin . The San Francisco Olympic Club fielded a football team in 1890 . That year , the Olympic Club was accused by a rival club of enticing athletes to jump to its ranks with offers of jobs . An investigation by the Amateur Athletic Union ruled that the Olympics ' practice was not actually professionalism but only a " semi " form of it , thus inventing the term " semi - pro " . Although the Amateur Athletic Union didn ' t like the idea very much , it decided that clubs could indeed offer employment without losing their amateur status or compromising the athlete . North America . In North America , semi - professional athletes and teams were far more common in the early and mid - 20th century 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 . 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 Conference National have become " full - time " in an effort to achieve League status . Women ' s football in England is semi - professional at the top levels , as finances depend both on promotion and relegation of parent male teams as of the female teams themselves . Full professionalism for women is thus still in the planning stages ; top female players often depend on other sources of income ( such as coaching and physical training ) , and many attend university or college while playing . In Scottish football , semi - professional teams compete at all levels below the Scottish Premier League , with most teams below the Scottish First Division being semi - professional . Historically , English rugby league and rugby union have had one full - time professional division , with semi - professional divisions at the next level down . The second tier of union , the RFU Championship , became fully professional beginning with the 2009 – 10 season .