Ronaldo's wage too much?

Roar Guru

18th May, 2009

3204 Reads

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The Crowd

Roar Guru

18th May, 2009

3204 Reads

This story appeared last week about Ronaldo’s muted transfer to Real Madrid.

Let’s try and put this into perspective by reading this article about Footballers’ wages.

I take this quote from it:

“The maximum wage was increased to £14 (1951), £15 (1953), £17 (1957) and £20 (1958). The union argued that in 1939 the footballers’ £8 was approximately double the average industrial wage, by 1960 the gap had narrowed to £5 with these figures standing at £20 and £15 respectively.”

Now, as one of the many fans who stood amongst the 50,000 crowds of the day at both Sheffield Wednesday and United matches, to see a £5 difference between the average industrial wage and a footballer’s wage, given their entertainment pulling power and skill, seemed somewhat askew.

But I remember my grandad astonished when picking up his Sunday paper and reading that Johnny Haynes was getting £100 a week. I looked at his plaque on the wall that said he had worked for 50 odd years till the age of 70 in a steelworks to receive the princely sum of £2 a week pension, and was inclined to agree with him.

What of Ronaldos wage of $480,000 per week then (let alone $143 million transfer fee)? I don’t know what the average industrial wage is in England now, but I guarantee its only a fraction of $240,000 per leg Ronaldo.

Here is another article judging the current state the 1961 decision had on football.

My own thoughts are that, although the maximum £20 wage was, in my book, exploitation by the clubs, perhaps Johnny Haynes’ £100 was a more realistic wage, based in reality on what is the only real indication of a club’s drawing power: punters through the gate.

I guarantee that clubs like mine, Sheffield Wednesday, would still be a big club if wages and transfer fees were kept at a realistic distance from the average industrial wage.

The killer in my book, TV rights, has put footballers’ wages way out of proportion to the actual pulling power of the market they operate in.

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