NSW great Elias says players deserve more
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Former NSW Origin captain Ben Elias may have bled for his state for the paltry sum of $200 but he believes the current crop of representative players are grossly underpaid.
Elias, who last played for the Blues in 1994, said short-changed players deserved to be paid more than $20,000 per match.
It’s estimated an Origin series generates up to $35 million with the 34 players earning $2 million or around six per cent.
They are pushing for $50,000 a game.
“It’s like Bon Jovi coming out here singing and the promoters are going to get 90 per cent and you guys have got 10 per cent; there’s no way that’s going to happen,” Elias told AAP on Wednesday.
“The players are the entertainers and the superstars of the game and if not for these people there’s nothing.”
Elias represented NSW 19 times, captaining them in six games between 1990-91.
An exhausted Elias, completed with a bloodied face after helping NSW to a 14-6 win in game one of the 1992 series, is an enduring memory.
Now successfully involved in mining and property development and on the board of the Wests Tigers, Elias said salaries between his era and the current crop couldn’t be compared.
“We got paid $500 a win and $200 a loss but there’s been an explosion of money in that area because they’ve acknowledged what the game generates,” he said.
“Percentage wise it’s a pittance, it’s embarrassing.
“People might say no individual is bigger than the game but the players are the game.”
He likened the intensity of State of Origin rugby league clashes to a boxing world championship.
“The physical blows are frightening.
“The physical contact week in week out these players go through let alone Origin, and the remuneration … you work that out over a life-time it’s not really that much.”
He criticised the Rugby League Players’ Association, describing it as “very weak” and said it need to be emancipated from the NRL/ARL Commission.
“The Players Association is paid for by the NRL and if you’re being paid by your employer you’re going to be very soft,” Elias said.
“There’s a real conflict of interest and that’s where the players are missing out and that disturbs me as an ex-player.
“They need to be represented by an independent organisation.”
© AAP 2013
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- Ben Elias, NRL, Rugby League, State Of Origin
May 31st 2012 @ 7:54am
B.A Sports said | May 31st 2012 @ 7:54am | Report comment
Benny Elias, Ray Price, Tommy Radonikous and previously Arthur Beatson (rest in peace).
These guys seem to be on every journo’s speed dial when they are looking for someone to say something … i was going to say stupid, lets just say, controversial.
Why is it every time the game starts to make an extra $50, its decided that the players should get $45 of it?! The game won”t last long if you keep going at that rate….
May 31st 2012 @ 8:27am
mushi said | May 31st 2012 @ 8:27am | Report comment
I think the players struggle with the return on equity concept.
May 31st 2012 @ 9:07am
mushi said | May 31st 2012 @ 9:07am | Report comment
It is a very narrow view of how the revenues for rugby league work. They are looking at the State of origin in isolation rather than as a bigger slice of the pie.
Interesting that they compare them to people in the entertainment industry where most “professionals” earn the smallest fraction of the revenue they supposedly “generate”. Comparing the 34th best player in origin to people that can do a world tour and generate income from New York to London to Sydney and every where in between is utterly moronic.
But anyway what happens to the other 94%… is it hookers and blow or is it on funding other aspects of the game.
You look at the clubs at the professional level, they sure as hell don’t seem to be awash with cash right?
What about junior comps. Given they are still pretty much volunteer and pie sale dependent it seems unlikely their stealing the money.
I think players need to remember that a lot of money was spent on a lot of players before they ever make it to the first grade.
Paying to keep those players in the game is more important to the future of the game as it ensures we have 400 guys capable of pulling on clubs jerseys, rather than keep 34 guys happy when there aren’t 34 opportunities for them to take up.
It may be a novel concept for these meat heads like the idea of a future where kids can play footy on the weekend just because they like to play footy not because they are good enough to one day pull on an origin jersey. Origin helps pay for that as well and more importantly without that you won’t have anyone that gives toss about the game so no fans = no money.
I do wonder if players are willing to disclose what the origin bonuses are in their contracts tot eh public?
May 31st 2012 @ 1:26pm
The Barry said | May 31st 2012 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
well said mushi
players need to tread carefully here
May 31st 2012 @ 6:37pm
Dean - Surry Hills said | May 31st 2012 @ 6:37pm | Report comment
Good call Mushi.
Why don’t the players do the right thing and repay their club some cash ?
After all, some are given an additional three weeks annual leave leave with full pay, to go and play Origin.
May 31st 2012 @ 10:27am
wendy said | May 31st 2012 @ 10:27am | Report comment
They (NSW players) need to start winning before they get paid any more! If they want more, give it to them from the video ref’s wages – he obviously doesn’t deserve payment following his ballsup last week!
May 31st 2012 @ 10:28am
Gareth said | May 31st 2012 @ 10:28am | Report comment
I’m with him on the “NSW Origin team = Bon Jovi” bit, but only because both are pissweak and over-rated. I’m of the opinion that Origin is its own reward. It’s arguably the game’s highest honour, and I’d have thought most players would gladly give money away for the opportunity.
Besides which – once you’ve got “Origin Player” on your resume, you start commanding a higher salary and have more opportunities to get third party endorsements. Not to mention clauses for playing rep footy. It’s all very easy to look at $20,000 vs $30 million in isolation, but you can guarantee that a big chunk of that $30 million is getting rolled into the club grants that pay *everyone’s* salary, and also into development of the game at the grass root level.
I’m pretty sick of this greed. It’s almost as embarassing as the time Yevgeny Kafelnikov came out and whinged that tennis players don’t earn enough after pocketing about $30 million in prize money alone that year. He decided that it wasn’t fair that golfers earn more, and I feel like this whinge is coming from a similar place. These day’s there’s a lot of visibility when it comes to elite sporting competitions, and I feel like NRL players are looking at NBA/EPL players on multimillion dollar contracts and wondering why they aren’t earning similar bank.
May 31st 2012 @ 3:42pm
Dogs Of War said | May 31st 2012 @ 3:42pm | Report comment
But even at 50K a game like they are demanding, it’s still only 9% of the total figure that Origin generates. I don’t begrudge the players asking for more given there short careers (especially if your a NSW rep player!).
I think that cause half the money is kept in a fund until they retire, they really don’t get to feel the full benefits of what they are getting currently.
May 31st 2012 @ 11:12am
Arthur Fonzarelli said | May 31st 2012 @ 11:12am | Report comment
Is the generated $35 million that is quoted profit, or revenue ?
If its reveune, what is the profit made on Origin ?
Where do the profits currently go ?
I could live with players getting a bigger piece of the pie at the expense of corporate profit, but not at the expense of grassroots rugby league.
May 31st 2012 @ 3:28pm
Pot Stirrer said | May 31st 2012 @ 3:28pm | Report comment
Its a bit hard to take, players on 300k plus endorsements asking for more. Ever since super league the game seems to have become all about the players. For me its always been about the Clubs and the fans. And fair Dinkum, if the players ever go on strike i dont think il watch another game.
May 31st 2012 @ 3:37pm
Ian Whitchurch said | May 31st 2012 @ 3:37pm | Report comment
Pot Stirrer,
Ummm, this is rugby league we’re talking about – the code that broke off from union on the issue that players should get *paid*.
May 31st 2012 @ 4:12pm
Pot Stirrer said | May 31st 2012 @ 4:12pm | Report comment
Ian, your a strange strange man, the players are allready getting paid, Where did i say they shouldnt, the fact is all the players in origin except maybe Buhrer are on 300k plus already, and before you shoot your mouth of about they only have a short career in which to earn it, most peolpe do not stay in there jobs for more than 5 years. Its a bit hard to swallow when some allready on 4 times as much as the average battler supporting the game is greedy enough to suggest they should be getting even more from the very game thats allowed them to earn what they are allready earning.
May 31st 2012 @ 11:14pm
robdowney said | May 31st 2012 @ 11:14pm | Report comment
the bon jovi analogy is poor.
the medium of the game of state of origin makes the money not the indiviidual player. e.g. if greg inglis does not play the gate / attendance does not drop significantly. brad pitt / tom cruise can argue greater pay / share of the takings as their starring absence / presence in a film can drop / increase the money made.
$20000 is excellent money and they have the possibility of 60000. this is on top of their club salary, sponsorships etc. i wish they would stop thinking they should make the ridiculous money of the english premier league / nfl etc. australian rugby league players are well paid. how much does a typical supporter make? a hell of lot less i think.
if substantial extra money is generated then it should be fed into promoting/ developing/expanding the game at all levels (grassroots/club/internationally).
state of origin is not about making megabucks for a player. it is an honour. one could also argue they are financially rewarded in other ways as their value on the club market goes up with SOO on their CV.
just a greedy mentality.
May 31st 2012 @ 11:53pm
ItsCalledFootball said | May 31st 2012 @ 11:53pm | Report comment
This is great.
Have a listen to this (skip the ad)
http://media.canberratimes.com.au/sport/sports-hq/thats-in-queensland-3339017.html
June 1st 2012 @ 8:46am
mushi said | June 1st 2012 @ 8:46am | Report comment
I did love Gordon Tallis’s comment on NRL on fox “there are guys going to the mines on 70k a year without qualifications” (I think it was 70 he said)
When did being an NRL player become F$%king qualification?
I also don’t know too many NRL players that gave it all up for a stint in the Pilbarra