First professional to be employed by a Canadian club was Geroge Norley by Trinity College School, according to p.164 of "Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game 1883".

In his "reminiscences" detailed in Sixty Years of Canadian cricket Colonel Wallace, who organised the 1874 Halifax Tournament, stated that the games that the two games that Knickerbocker played against St Georges and Philadelphia were "the first and, I hope, the last I shall ever see played for money".

TC Patteson explained the problem in his "reminiscences" by stating that "a match means two whole days or more away from business" and "no leisure class exists in our village" and "the game suffers from a lack of patronage". He then makes the logical conclusion that some form of professionalism is required, although he warns that "cricket in Canada is seldom good enough to attract a paying gate". However, the International Series was restricted to amateur players [ref Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game 1884 p.51]