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Benji Marshall of the Wests Tigers (centre) in action during their NRL Round 14 match against the Parramatta Eels. AAP Image/Action Photographics, Renee McKay
It’s official: despite their lavish lifestyles and the fact that they play sport for a living, The Sun Herald has revealed that a huge amount of NRL footballers, including some of the games biggest stars, believe they are underpaid.
The July 10 edition of The Sun Herald recently conducted their yearly NRL players forum for 2011. One of the issues raised surrounded whether or not NRL players were fairly paid or underpaid in comparison to rival code the AFL.
The results of the forum showed that a whopping 75 per cent of NRL footballers believe they are not getting their financial worth for fulfilling their requirements as a professional rugby league player.
Such requirements are (but not limited to) attending media press conferences, fulfilling weekly training requirements, and, of course, playing professional NRL football for a minimum of 24 rounds of the regular season.
The biggest NRL stars may also have to play State Of Origin, Test football or other representative matches such as the City versus Country match or the Indigenous All Stars game, which kicks off the new season.
According to The Sun Herald, AFL stars such as Adam Goodes receive a yearly estimated sum of $700,000 a year. In comparison, the NRL’s highest profile player Benji Marshall ‘only’ receives an estimated sum of $400,000 a season.
Among the 75 per cent of footballers who believe NRL players are underpaid are representative stars such as Andrew Ryan, Michael Ennis, Matthew Scott, Brent Tate, Jarrod Mullen, Akuila Uate, Trent Waterhouse, Issac Luke, Dave Taylor, Tom Learoyd-Lars, David Shillington, David Williams, Matt Ballin, Jamie Lyon, Anthony Laffranchi, Feleti Mateo and Gareth Ellis.
The gap between the salaries presented by the AFL and the NRL does not concern me here. What concerns me the most is a professional footballers inability to put their earnings into perspective with that of the whole of society.
According to an article by CareerOne editor Cara Jenkin published on news.com.au this year, the average Australian full-time worker receives just under $66,000 per annum – a whopping $334,000 less than the estimated salary of NRL stars such as Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah.
From an ethical and moral standpoint, I do not understand why a considerable amount of the NRL’s best players believe they are not getting their desired salary.
While I will not deny that there is a gap in the salaries presented by the AFL and the NRL respectively, such a gap should not encourage NRL players into believing they are not getting their money’s worth, especially when one considers the fact that these athletes are playing professional sport for a living.
What is amazing from my point of view concerns the fact that the NRL’s broadcasting rights deal to be announced soon will most likely deliver the wage increase that rugby league footballers feel they deserve.
But when these wage increases do occur, I doubt that these players will remain content with their improved pay packets. I write this because NRL superstars such as those mentioned above, will begin to argue why they deserve the pay-packets distributed by some of the world’s biggest leagues including the NFL, NBA, the EPL and the MLB.
Personally, NRL footballers really should stop complaining and comparing their yearly salaries to other sporting codes.
This driven obsession for wealth and power continually frustrates NRL supporters such as myself who are encouraged to show support for NRL club’s by using our hard earned cash to attend regular season matches, help sell-out State of Origin fixtures and buy merchandise to help promote and preserve the code’s strong following in both New South Wales and Queensland.
I, for one, would like to encourage newspapers such as The Sun Herald to put up an NRL’s supporters forum so that the average Australian earning $66,000 a year may have their say on whether or not these professional athletes are getting paid enough for their efforts on the sporting field.
I would definitely be interested to hear what my fellow citizens think of this matter.