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An unapologetic Sonny Bill Williams says he hopes his trailblazing defection to French rugby union will be the catalyst for a better deal for the NRL players he left behind.
Brushing off claims he’d let his former teammates down with his cloak and dagger departure from Australia which led to him being branded a coward, Williams claimed he’d “stood up for all those other players that are sitting at home” by walking out on his five-year contract with the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs and the NRL head back to the courts tomorrow where they will seek an injunction preventing Williams from playing with French club Toulon, with whom he is set to make his debut early Saturday morning Australian time in a friendly against Heyres.
“I had to have balls to do what I’ve done,” Williams told the Nine Network’s The Footy Show.
“I’m no coward you know. I stood up for myself and I stood up for player rights.
“Cowards are people that run away. I didn’t run away.
“That’s not a coward act, that’s showing some balls to really stand up and show that we don’t have to cop that, you know what I mean. We can get what we deserve.
“If some good comes out of what I’ve done, which I think it will, you know hopefully these players do start getting treated a bit better, not just like cattle.”
Williams claimed there were a number of factors – and not just money – which led to his defection, including a major bust up with Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes.
The All Black wanabe claimed he had been disrespected by Folkes when the outgoing coach allegedly mocked his decision to team up with Khoder Nasser and Anthony Mundine.
“Who does he think he is, you know what I mean?” Williams said.
“And it got to me that much over the next couple of days I went and seen my old man and I said to my dad this is what’s going on.
“… he said `people like that try and give you advice but not only give you, make you take that advice and use it’, he said he’s a tyrant.”
Williams said he had no regrets about his walkout, other than the fact he would never get to play rugby league again.
The Kiwi international, who is remarkably set to be picked in New Zealand’s rugby league World Cup squad tomorrow, claimed: “I love playing rugby league, if I wasn’t playing professional sport, I’d be playing locals with my brothers.”
But instead of playing `locals’, Williams will pocket an estimated $2 million over two seasons playing rugby union, with his ultimate goal being to represent the All Blacks at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Williams rejected claims he was being greedy wanting more than the $400,000 a year he was on at the Bulldogs, but admitted disappointment that he didn’t get a payrise following Willie Mason’s move from the Bulldogs to the Sydney Roosters.
“I had an offer (when I re-signed with the Bulldogs in 2004) to go overseas for over a million dollars,” Williams said.
“I stayed for $400,000 … that’s $1.2 million dollars I missed out on and they seem to forget that.
“All of a sudden, because I think they have a little bit of money to spend they might show me a little bit of loyalty back.
“Mason has gone, all these other players (Mark) O’Meley’s gone (Braith) Anasta’s gone – let’s not be naive.”
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Recidivist said | August 8th 2008 @ 8:44am | Report comment
The best line from SBW was the bus driver line.
The other area that he showed his true colours was when he said he had a dream to become an All Black. Putting that in perspective, he did have a contract, but that would have gotten in the way of a sportsman following a dream. Brad Thorne did do things a little more smoothly when shifting between league and union.
Fatty Vautin couldn’t accept that anyone would want to do anything else through winter than spend their time waiting in suspense for the tackle count to get to 5 for the pinnacle of rugby league, the moment when you aren’t sure whether it is going to be a cross field kick, a basic bomb or the little grubber kick….. The suspense gets me every time….
Steffy said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:07am | Report comment
Mere excuses. SBW and french union deserve each other.
cosmos forever said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:13am | Report comment
J’y a-t-il au-dessus de lui, est-il un jeu ce week-end ?
Scrum Importance said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:27am | Report comment
It is easy to try and blame Mundine – SBW has double the IQ of Mundine and he knows his worth as a brand. He signed a contract when he was one of three or four stars of the club. That means he shared all the marketing and promotion work. Now all of a sudden he is the only star player at the club and basically has to do all the promotion and the marketing, not only of the Bulldogs, but also the NZRU and even when the SOO is on, he is one if the 1st guys the footy Show wants on its panel – all this extra work and no extra dollars – he is hugely marketable, yet becuase of the Salary Cap he is restricted to what he can earn from his marketability and the club can use him for whatever purposes they see fit. In my view that is akin to theft using his image and personality for max reward (ARL, NRL and NZRL not just bulldogs) without compensation. No way any of the golfers or Swimmers would get treated in the same way.
Footy Show boof head, couldn’t have a balanced arguement if you put them on a sea saw…
Steffy said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:36am | Report comment
I take it there’s no salary cap in french union.
Recidivist said | August 8th 2008 @ 9:57am | Report comment
Steffy, There is no salary cap in French Union. Personally, I’d also like to thank you for referring to the code properly.
Rather than go back over the same ground of the sanctity of the contract blah bla blah, did anyone take the time to think about the position he wants to play? He is a big boy who can run hard. He wants to play ‘centre’ (I have a feeling he said inside centre’. IF, he can adjust to the game, he might go down as one of the scariest inside centres going around.
I had assumed he would play as blind side flanker. In the centres he could cause some damage!!
mudskipper said | August 8th 2008 @ 10:40am | Report comment
Sonny Bill Williams was bullied at the Bulldogs…good luck for walking away from a disrespectful working relationship.. League clubs need to look after their players better; furthermore they do treat them like cattle and are disrespectful to many… Clearly SBW didn’t want to speak openly during the channel nine interview as it is now in the hands of the lawyers…and channel nine is a NRL stakeholder…
Good luck to you SBW for walking out on a questionable contract which took obvious advantage of you. The Footy Show after chat by the panel was nonsense, contracts are broken every day, look at channel nine’s own business dealings and staff maltreatment, that’s the real world and SBW has grown up and realises it now. What profession at 22 do you sign a 5 year fixed contract, its rubbish.
I Look forward to seeing SBW play some good rugby…
Justin said | August 8th 2008 @ 11:06am | Report comment
Gee Mud you are making some statements there. Care to back it up with any facts? Whats disrespectful and how do they treat them like cattle?
If things were so sh%thouse then why sign for 5 years? Its money, plain and simple, dont treat us like fools that its anything else. If he wants to be an all black then here a news flash – he cant do it from France. Show some class and go to NZ and learn the game like Thorn did.
Jameswm said | August 8th 2008 @ 11:15am | Report comment
Tough choice of where I’d rather be playing my rugby, out of NZ and the French Riviera.
There is no question SBW’s contract was for below his market value, but what’s he going to do if the NRL win an injunction against him playing anywhere?
He thinks he was poorly treated and that may be so. He is such a huge brand in League, that he’s woth so much more than $400K a year.
Normally if an employee signes a contract (6-24 months is the norm) and they want to leave in the middle of it, they tell their employer it isn’t working out and they’ve decided to leave. I couldn’t imagine any employer taking legal action to force them to stay. Even with the injunction, SBW has not gone to a rival/competitor. Different industry, different country, normally you’d let them go.
League should have washed their hands of him and gotten on with life. Imagine if they lose the court case, which they easily could?
john said | August 8th 2008 @ 11:58am | Report comment
I must have been watching a different interview to Fatty and the rest of the footy show team, cause I totally understood what SBW was saying and thought he made a lot of sense. The only thing he didn’t explain directly was why he did it the way he did, by running away and breaking a ‘sacred contract’ (bulshit). Fatty and the team kept harping on about the contract, the contract, and didn’t seem to hear what SBW actually said.
He wasn’t happy!! The club treats players like mere cattle, it’s just a business. And the line about about what’s happended to Corey Hughes from a wonderful league family loyal to the club, shows the club has NO loyalty to players at all! So why should they be up in arms when a player is unloyal to them like Sunny?
I wouldn’t have done it exactly like Sunny did, like Laurie Daley said I would’ve gone to management and said I’m not happy, and I want out! And if they didn’t let me go then I could have walked. At least give them a chance to free me. So that’s his only error for me. But hey, he’s 22 years old, it sure isn’t a criminal offense, and the dogs and the game has only itself to blame!
I can’t believe that Fatty didn’t understand the bus driver line … like hello fatty, that was as clear as day mate! If a bus driver was offered thousands and thousands of dollars more to go to another company, wouldn’t most go? Why aren’t there limits on what anyone else can make, especially managers like David Gallop, and yet league players have a limit placed on them. That was so clear fatty, how dumb are ya mate? And the canoe line, well, don’t get me started.
Which brings me nicely to Steve Folkes and the Muslim stuff. I love Folkesy and was an avid dogs supporter in the 80′s when he was part of the grand final winning teams. I respect him very much and all that he’s achieved. But he’s only a proud of the world he lives in after all. And lets face it, our country and the world at the moment, thinks muslims are all terrorists and evil and something to be feared, so of course we wouldn’t want any friend being caught up in that!
It’s ignorance and lack of knowledge that’s responsible but also the way modern leaders like Bush and his little Aussie lacky Howard used that fear to whip up public support for a ridiculous war, that most people have now woken up to as being all about money and power … should I mention Oil? So there is a bigger picture here. League is a product of society! I just didn’t expect that of Folkesy though, given the amount of muslim players that have come through the club over the past 10-15 years. Isn’t El Masri the clearest example of how descent and ‘normal’ muslim people can be? It’s not something to hate, be fearful off etc … It’s just another religion, another way to live, and hey, why isn’t that ok?
Anyways guys, I thought SBW explained himself really well for an ‘uneducated coconut’ (footy team perception) and pointed to the problems in our game today, which of course the new rulers don’t wanna accept and face up to. The longer they delay, the further behind the game will go, and I only hope we can retrieve it in time before it really does go to the dogs!!!