Originally posted by Buchy:
http://www.london-irish.com/AboutTheClub
"Established in 1898, London Irish became a professional rugby club in 1996. There have been many developments over the years, including a move out to Madejski Stadium where London Irish now play all their home matches, but it is The Avenue that the Exiles find their spiritual home."
Academy:
https://www.london-irish.com/Academy
"The role of the London Irish Academy is to identify and develop talented young athletes from age 13 to 23 and engage them in a High Performance development programme. Players join the academy through a variety of routes and are assisted in their rugby development to attain their ultimate goal - joining the first team squad. This is underpinned by Education from a variety of partners, thus providing the necessary structure for each player to reach their full potential."
The academy is semi pro. They are not supposed to be paid, but they are trained on programmes to become professional. This is the equivalent of college football - UK university teams are NOT the equivalent of college football, the Club Academies are.
I'm from the UK, I played rugby from the age of 5 to 23, I know what I am talking about and know what the Academy's do.
This is just semantics I guess, and doesn't really ultimately matter, but the definition of the word "semi-pro" means you get paid money.
Was Okoye, as a teenager paid money by the London Monarchs, if "yes", then he was "semi-pro", if "no", then he was "amateur".
Olympic athletes are also mostly "amateurs", so that does not mean an amateur athlete cannot be among the best athletes in the world.
"Amateur" is too vague. "Semi-Pro" is not technically correct. So let's use the word "near professional".
So now the only relevant question becomes, "How old was Okoye when he played for the Academy?"
Obviously, a child at the age of 13 years old, cannot seriously be considered a "near professional" who is only polishing up his skills to get ready to play pro. However, a 19 year old can certainly be seen that way, but the article never tells us how OLD Okoye was when he played for this institution.