The departure of Sonny Bill Williams to rugby union has been met with all sorts of vitriolic ramblings on websites and radio stations.
It’s an issue which seems to have worked people into a lather, no matter what part of the spectrum they belong to.
I thought sport was meant to be a release from all the pressures of the day-to-day world. Modern sport just seems to add to them.
Maybe it’s because sport, as I’m told in about every third post I read on it from all around the world, is now big business.
For the most part, it seems to be pretty right. But it does seem to be becoming as ruthless as anything since the beginning of the industrial revolution in terms of the way people want to behave.
But there is not just business: there is good business and bad business.
As anyone who has been in business for five minutes knows, there is way that people should behave in order to stop the whole thing just crashing down.
Those cheering on Sonny and nodding along and declaring, “That is business!”, must also be just as excited when banks close branches, Telstra stops service, the cost of fuel gets jacked up, or dodgy tradesman take off with their cash.
“Ain’t it great how business works!”, they cry as their toilet floods into the living room.
I had no idea we could get so many volunteers to go around and evict a few families on Christmas Eve for falling behind on their housing payments. After all, it is business.
Personally, I think if Sonny really wants to go to France and play rugby, then good luck and god bless. But like many business decisions, there is a right way to do things.
Sportsmen, though, seem to be living in some sort of parallel universe at the moment.
Some people say it’s because they are from Generation Y. Others blame their managers. And, of course, the media is in on it as well.
It’s not just Sonny and it’s not just rugby league.
Take a look at football.
One of the world’s best players at the moment currently agrees with the head of football’s governing body that he is treated as a slave.
Yep, 200,000 bucks a week is pretty much akin to building pyramids and picking cotton these days.
No wonder Ronaldo has a tricky ankle. It must be hell dragging that ball and chain around.
A school fete in Queensland recently offered the chance for kids to get their photo taken with Michael Clarke and his baggy green cap. All for just $50.
$50! I’d hate to see what they were charging for a sausage sandwich.
But the excuse was, “we can’t have the baggy green cap out all day.”
Isn’t that the caps job? To be out in sun all day? Were they worried the advertising on it might fade?
One of the great lines about modern sport is that player’s need to maximise their earnings because they have a limited playing career.
Sure, if you are bringing in lots of cash, if chip packets are flying off the shelves because you are on a Tazo, then here is your share.
But why the obsession with retiring at 35?
Why is it that, at a time when we hear so much about helping players for life after football, we hear just as much about players needing to earn more and more because there is no life after football.
It just doesn’t quite make sense.
But it wasn’t just the money for Sonny. It was also the media, who just weren’t funny.
Poor old Sonny just didn’t like the constant invasion into his private life. But of course, it gets a little blurry when you live out your private life in the public arena.
We don’t hear much about the private lives of about 95 percent of NRL players, possibly because it doesn’t fill the Sunday papers when you’re acting like a normal human being.
Sonny’s rap sheet was hardly conducive to a bloke who was trying to live the quiet life.
So were does it all end.
Well, I’ve seen a little window into the future and it wasn’t that pretty.
When you watch the Olympics, have a look at the athletics teams for countries from the Persian Gulf. You might notice that a lot of their runners look strangely like Kenyans.
It’s because they are.
Oil rich states in the Gulf offer millions of dollars to young Africans to take up their nationalities and run for their country. In the trade it is known as the golden passport.
It is the same reason a lot of their footballers have names with a distinctly South American handle.
One million dollars for one Olympics is a pretty good rate.
I wonder how long it might be before those boys park the Bentley out the front of the AIS and start splashing to cash up a few young swimmers.
There is not much we could do really. And I don’t think Uncle Toby’s could match the cash.
After all, it is business.
Les
Guest
Sometimes someone has to look at things in perspective, could the we cannot keep the baggy green out all day have been a throwaway. I cannot imagine that the whole proceedings were to promote Clarke's wealth. But I would imagine that it will now take a lot of persuasion to get him to do other things outside of the safe condoned appearances. As for Sonny Bill, well he is from that land over there so who will miss him, not me. His boots will be adequately filled by another up and coming star in the very near future. Clubs have been guilty of ending careers and dropping people like hot cakes in the past, so one club got caught this time, bad luck get a life, move on. Next player please.
True Tah
Guest
NickF, I didn't take offence about your comment and good on you for getting into your mates for abusing the lonesome swans supporter. I love it when my team wins and and hate it when they lose, but there is no way Im going to go out and get into fights with supporters of the other team because my team lost or abuse other fans for their teams failure. That is what I meant by living by your teams fortunes, sport is not the only part of my life. In terms of getting off my high horse and getting into the real world, well I am and in most cases we live by our decisions that we make. For example stuff like gambling and drugs etc, I have not engaged in either of these sorts of behaviour because I made a decision not to. In my work I have seen the effects of what gambling does in particular poker machines, and the day these bloody things are outlawed in Australia will be a great day.
Russell Bussian
Guest
Best article I've read on this SBW businees. Sorry boys but $50 for a snap with Clarkey - that is way over the odds. Stick it on ebay and you'd be lucky to get $10 back for it! The bloke who's come up with that is obviously involved with the channel nine memorabilia pricing structure. Sure the money is going to help the school. $20 would be the absolute max. $50 is just rude. Some people have to work 5 hours to earn that! What do they need so much money for - gold encrusted text books, a hyperbaric chamber for recovery from PE class? The concept of doing something to entice others to donate to a cause is great. I had a mate swim the English channel to raise money for the childrens hospital. Clarkey could have at least bowled or faced a few balls or given some tips for the fivvy. This school sounds like a breeding ground for spoilt little rich kids. An excellent example of the over-commercialism in sport. I can't believe people are criticising Steve over it. Michael, James & Justin - you are obviously very generous with your cash and you will all be invited to my kids' school fetes!
NickF
Guest
Millster - I like your logic You're right the NRL is a manufactured competition and money does rule, but it is not something that has happened overnight. It has been a gradual changing of values over time, some steps greater than others, and it is not just limited to sport, but across the whole of society. I know it's idealistic to think otherwise, and it's been happening for years, just look at how rugby league has been taking all the great rugby union players over the years. But it seem this "Money rules" and "I before We" is more easily accepted these days. Peter K, I also agree SBW leaving is probably a good thing. I heard a Bulldogs fan the other night saying "I've been a Bulldog supporter for 30 years, Sonny Bill will go and I'll still be a Bulldogs supporter". True Tah. I'm sorry you took offence, none was meant. When I wrote that I was thinking a a night sitting in a Taylor Square nightclub many years ago and a crowd of us saw a lonesome Swan fan all decked out in his red and white from head to toe. My friends ridiculed him from above, calling him a loser. I was not impressed by this and told them that whatever this guy had during the week, good or bad, come the weekend none of that mattered because he had his football team to get excited about. True Tah if you can't understand this kind of passion, I'm sorry, but some people DO live on the fortunes of their team (try living in NZ this week). One more point - "To those sort of people, having a crap job and a crap life, in most cases they have no one to blame but themselves." get off your moralistic, condescending high horse and open you eye to the real world. I'm sure you work hard, I work hard, we all work hard. Get out in the real world and get a little compassion. As for SBW having a short working career, he can do what all of us do......get a new career. I was a working musician till the age of 35, and I changed careers, why can't he.
Steve Kaless
Guest
Michael, Jameswm, Justin. Sorry you didn't like my Michael Clarke example. I was well aware of all the facts regarding the story. However, it is a fact that you had to pay $50 to get a photo with a baggy green and I felt that this was excessive, maybe just a further corporatisation of the old baggy green. You guys may have a point about choice, and that is fair enough, but my opinion was that it was excessive. This is an opinion piece so I figured that was fair enough. It wasn't lazy, you just disagreed with my opinion but I can certainly live with that. I just hope Zac doesn't get a call from Clarke's agent asking for a fee for his name being used in the story. Maybe we can do a nice photospread of the happy couple. It seems this story will lead to another battle over the salary cap and it will be interesting to see where that all leads. Obviously a clash of philosophies there, people seem to love the idea of traditional clubs, but they are probably the ones most under the gun if the salary cap goes. Rickety Knees, I guess they seem to be getting a no-dickheads policy whether they like it or not. Cros, fair call on Cuba mate, we do love our freedom, but also their cocktails.
sheek
Guest
SBW has replaced global warming/climate change as the reason for all of the planet's ills. Who said human nature doesn't mimic a frenzy of sharks smelling blood. I don't condone what SBW has done. But it's a case of he who has not sinned, blah, blah, blah.......... Seriously, it's the age we live in. Nobody wants to honour a contract anymore - whether its a sportsman, a sports club, a CEO, captain of industry, politician, whoever. We live in the instant gratification society. The envy society. The keep up with the Joneses society. We see what the other guy's got, & we want it also straight away. On another point, I like the socialism of American sports, which sits oddly with their entrepreneurial spirit of get what you can while you can as often as you can (the problem with the French, President GWB once opined, is that they don't understand the meaning of entrepreneur). But I digress.......... It's noble to want to protect your iconic structures into perpetuity. Therefore you need things like a salary cap, draft, transfer fee, etc. Hell's bells, what kind of a society do we live in? Let's have some perspective - being a professional sportsmen sure beats digging ditches for a living. And pays far better. People ought to learn to appreciate what they DO have, rather than dwell on what they DON"T have. So called experts tell us this is a basic tenent of personal happiness & contentment. End of surmon.
cosmos forever
Guest
Millster - i use the glorious memory of the might Cosmos (adequately remembered by the very scoreline you quote) to underline both the sheer joy and sheer futility of those poor fools who seek to run sporting clubs outside of the "primary market" in lieu of "ratings" and without a large number of "third party agencies". Viva cottage teams in niche competitions!! Nice to hear you've maintained that soft spot for our teams - you can take the transient out of Canberra but you can't take the parks, clear air and fine living out of the transient ;)
Dublin Dave
Guest
Whoops! Sorry Pete. Drawn to your words like a moth to a flame. I must read the forum headings more closely. Though I dare say such restrictive practices have played their part in keeping League a minority and parochial sport as well. Just a thought.
Peter K
Guest
My friend Dublin Dave I agree with you in regards to rugby. However very rare for me I was blogging on a rugby LEAGUE forum. I think the existing salary cap in league is good for their game. For rugby all that would achieve is for all the good talent, since it is the same game, go to Europe to earn 10 times more. That is why the best players in ARU earn so much more than the regular S14 players , and more than their league counterparts.
Dublin Dave
Guest
Peter K It is indeed an irony that American sports operate salary caps and preferential draft procedures to aid their weaker teams. Very un American. Especially when you consider that the English soccer league operates on an almost completely open market for inward investment and purchasing of the most expensive talent in the world. I would argue (and maybe I am a little off topic here) that the "socialist" nature of American sports organisation is the main reason why Americans have been totally unable to export their games to the rest of the world. With the possible exception of basketball which has spread around the world in much the same way as soccer is spreading through America. The reason being that both are the most simple and "viral" of games for kids to play. This is remarkable when you consider how mimicked and, yes, admired the rest of American popular culture is. We all know American movies, music, food (OK, maybe we don't admire it but we endure it in vast quantities). We mimic their business methods, their casual fashion sense and we adhere to the basic principles of their methods of governance. But in terms of sport? I bet the average European could name ten famous baseball players with the same ease that the average American could name ten famous Belgians. I don't know about Australia but I reckon it's pretty similar. Socialism is great at sharing out wealth you already have; it's pretty crap at creating it. The Brits, say what you like about them, have been brilliant at exporting their games. Why? Because they exported the raw material itself, ie the game and said "Learn how to play this and then we'll come over and take you on." They even have the marketing nous to let Johnny Foreigner win more often that not. ;) Americans don't want other people to play their games. They want us to support their franchises, buy the souvenir caps and jerseys, support the top players already in the game. They can't countenance other countries being their equal on the field. Because it would upset the finely balanced system. How can you enforce a salary cap if somebody outside your jurisdiction is going to exceed it? Which brings me back to your salary cap for rugby proposal. Rugby, because it was codified in Britain (by and large) is already a multinational sport. That genie is out of the bottle. You can't make a salary cap work in international terms. Not unless it is set well above what the top European teams are going to offer. Otherwise your players will leave. Your local talent will be evenly spread, but the overall bar will be lowered a notch or two. Like many socialist practicalities: it's a nice idea, not a good one. I wish it would work too, but it tends not to.
Peter K
Guest
I have to say I am for a salary cap. I prefer sporting competitions to be reasonably even where over time you would expect your team to get to the top. I agree its a bit socialist, you punish the successful and help the weakest. The trouble with no salary cap you can entrench the same few teams that will dominate for a long time. Any good players that other teams develop will be pinched. Look at Man United and Chelsea in the English premiership. No other team has a chance. These teams since they are successful will continue to attract the sponsors etc. Even in captalist paradise USA their NFL, and NBL have salary caps, even if they are incredibly high.
Millster
Guest
Cosmos - well written and a balanced view of the situation. I totally agree that League is certainly not the only culprit in terms of balancing mechanisms, but just perhaps that the importance of those grows even starker with a code's vulnerability. And I don't question for a second that the 80 minutes of competition is genuine, or that the players don't put in 100%. The things we're debating are only relevant to the validity of season standings, premierships etc - not to each individual game within itself. PS and unrelated. Your name makes me smile. I was at the last ever Cosmos game at Bruce Stadium, a 3-0 loss to Perth. And though I'm now a few years past a decade-long stint of living in the ACT, Brumbies remain my number one S14 club and if pressed I'd probably have to admit to a soft-spot for the Raiders alongside my support for the Roosters.
cosmos forever
Guest
Not taking any of this as a league bashing exercise (and my reference to the S14 to True Tah was more deliberate niggle than blind defence of code) Millster. I think what's interesting is that the case raises a whole range of issues for all codes. It's no secret the NRL is a house of cards - the reduction in poker machine tax has highlighted this in a much more powerful way than SBW - but I do think that a niche game that serves a regional as well as metro footprint should have some contrived outcomes. What I mean by that is that the NRL have (in my mind) agreed that the code is vulnerable, but at the same time they have made a decision to artificially keep the broad representation in by manipulating the market. This is no different to a range of niche codes in Australia - and like new products of mass codes like the A-League and W-League. These leagues just have different forms of contrived outcomes (like the no second team policy). So, long story short - I wish rugby league had the domestic strength of AFL - a code I also love, but it doesn't. I wish it had the volume of available teams for a promotion and relegation battle over multiple divisions like the FA is lucky enough to manage - but it doesn't. So I'm happy for a contrived league as long as for 80 minutes each weekend I know the competition between two sets of blokes is genuine.
Millster
Guest
And a PS to Cosmos, as you posted while I was writing my previous one. If "Easts, Manly and a few others" are what's left once you strip away all the smoke and mirrors and fakeness that sustains the rest of the competition then what would you prefer? A large but contrived and fake League, or a small but truly sustainable and long-term-merit-based League? Just to make sure people understand, this is not an attack on League as a game, which I quite like watching. It's an attack on administrations and structures that make any competition fake, and I have said the same about AFL and even my most loved code football.
Photon
Guest
Gentleman, the sad reality is that in modern society "Might is Right". The IRB dont care about Rugby League, and they aren't gonna stop this going through. If they could they'd crush rugby league. No jurisdiction, what a load of tripe, every rugby union in the world is affiliated to the IRB, If they lean on the French Rugby Board, they'll lean on the French Clubs and the fella won't get a contract. I don't understand how you can just walk out of a contract, Bakkies Botha tried that earlier this year, but he was stopped. Why can't Sonny Bill be stopped, I'll tell you why, caus the IRB doesn't give a rats ass about Rugby League, and they're sending a big up yours in the best way they know how
cosmos forever
Guest
With the greatest respect to you (and me) I would also imagine that as opposed to the 'sheltered workshop', sites like this are a bit too much like 'Sheltered Qantas Club'. I would assume the type of people Nick is trying to represent hardly have the time to wax lyrical during business hours on sports blogs... That's not having a go at anyone - just seems that before any of us seek to hold the moral high ground on what the definition of sport is to people today,it's probably worth having a realistic assessment of our own demographic. And Captain Carnage - agree. Interestingly SBW is spoken about in terms of 'what could be', not on what he has actually achieved. There are plenty of poor players who have played many more tests and achieved much more in the game. Concentrate on the under 20's Raiders (and sign them all to 10 year deals in case the cap goes!)
Millster
Guest
TT - very well put with your "sheltered workshop" comment. Its strong but makes the point very well about drafts, salary caps and other 'strugglers benefits' that I've been banging on about in a whole lot of posts all year. I also thoroughly agree with you on the 'crap life' issue. Its a very antequated view in relation to modern sport. Like you, I work damn hard but am successful and relatively rich and happy in my work. Yes sports is a very welcome distraction and a great way to unwind from the daily grind. But when I attend it is not as dramatic an occasion as a total escape from an utterly miserable life. It is certainly not the kind of analgaesic religious experience that NickF proposes. Looking around at a game of A-League, AFL, League or Super 14 (I'd attend at least one game of each in a given year) my estimation is that its the same for 99% of people there. Perhaps sadly, I suspect that those really struggling in society in the way that NickF describes could not afford a ticket to a live match these days anyway, let alone the $10 cold tasteless hot-dog that is so much part of the experience.
cosmos forever
Guest
Fair enough Tah - some people are content with a competition that has three teams in a comp that can only scrape together 14 teams and two months of competition across three nations. Let's get rid of the cap and leave it up to Easts, Manly and a few others and fill the tradesman skills shortage with all those other blokes currently playing the game. I'm sure SBW will need an army of strong athletic tradies to build his mansion back here when he retires in three years ;)
Captain Carnage
Guest
So much written about the plight of such an overrated player...unbelievable.
True Tah
Guest
NickF, that is a very heartfelt post, but I have some tissues with the following line "Some people have a crap job, or a crap life, and live for their team playing on the weekend." To those sort of people, having a crap job and a crap life, in most cases they have no one to blame but themselves. I worked by butt off to get a well paying job I love and a good life, and I know scores of others who have done the same. We make our decisions and in most cases need to live by those decisions. I love my sport and always get a kick when my team wins, but I certainly dont live on the fortunes of my team. Lets apply this logic to SBW, the man himself. Ultimately, SBW will retire, as NRL players have a short working career, and then what? By not earning his maximum earning potential, he would be screwing himself in later life and be one of those people with a "crap life"...are those fans who are whinging about what he has done now going to give two hoots about him in 10 years? I doubt it. The Bulldogs via the salary cap are the ones who would have benefited most from the 5 year contract - Williams' earnings from potential sponsors are also limited by the salary cap. If he stayed at the Bulldogs he would undermine the whole morale at the club. I agree with Millster that the salary cap is an artifical mechanism, trying to put everyone on the playing field - the sooner they get rid of it, the better off the NRL will be. A few clubs will fail as they go broke, but thats exactly what happened to the Bears, and apart from Bears supporters, no one cared that they were gone. If it goes to court, it will be interesting to watch, because I have a feeling that the salary cap will not hold up so well - I see it as a sheltered workshop- and if that does happen, supporters of Sydney clubs, make sure you enjoy your team when you still can (and judging by last weekends crowds not too many people were) because there is a chance your team might not make the next 20 years. Gallops comments about having SBW jailed for contempt of court re: his injunctionjs are clutching at straws, if that did happen the NRL would be painted in a similar light to rugby union of old - not a good light, and that would be publicity that the NRL could not afford.