Opinion Do you believe footballers work hard?

[Silent Alarm]

A lot of rhetoric re: Kane Cornes and Ollie Wines' family + Patrick Dangerfield. The general argument is players should be allowed to change clubs, have leisure time, and make a good percentage of AFL money as they are the product essentially v players get 75k minimum (rookies), connections, fitness, two months minimum time off, and guys on a near a mil a year should behave a little for that money.

As far as I give a shit, AFL footballers live the life.

They make far more much money than the average person. Doctors, Prime Ministers are all overlapped by quite a few players.

That aside, my issue is the huge entitlement and ignorance shown by guys like Patrick Dangerfield but also the average shitkicker (Liam McBean was chiming in with the Cornes tweets – didn't this dude play three games? Isn't his old man a lawn mowing working class bloke?) is incredibly defensive about their lot. Regular phrases include 'you don't know the work we put in,' 'the sacrifices we make,' 'what goes on behind the scenes.' Players genuinely consider themselves deserving of these amounts of money but, more so, think they're immune to criticism.

The average 22-year old man in Australia is struggling. The workforce is becoming casualised and part-time work is fast becoming the norm. The idea of sick pay, leave, and entitlements is a huge privilege. A depressing, mind numbing, 'oh man I'm like the people they talk about in Fight Club!' desk job is now so desirable you'd cut your dick off for that 51k a year and all its paper cuts. Universities are crowded. Apprenticeships are drying up and work places are incentivising bringing apprentices on. Football isn't really that amazing of a gift – you're just good at one of the sports people care about... hockey is lame, water polo is a hobby, yet you can be in the best few in Australia at that and have to work at a pet shop. It doesn't take study to make it. Most people on this forum will have known blokes who drank Cruisers at every high school party and got drafted at pick 21 and played 150 games, so do not tell me about 'sacrifices.'

Why do we defend these blokes? They aren't on the front line. They aren't getting abused at Maccas at 4am because they didn't put enough chips in an order. They aren't scraping turds off a bowl on contract hours. They are not cleaning schools and being asked for three-years experience to get 19 hours a fortnight for 17 bucks an hour. They aren't cleaning spew off pub toilet grates after being pumped to be offered that extra shift. They are not desperate to feed their kids.

But that is what's scariest... the average punter takes this? I see footy fans everywhere defending these players, saying they try hard and running hurts and sometimes they can't make weddings. I see people genuinely take pity for blokes who get paid to be in the fittest portion of society, who have girls lining up, who get free cars and shoes and Nike jackets, as well as free uni education and free apprenticeship support after football (and that's without the 'hey mate, thanks for the 100 games, you were a decent dude, wanna be an AFLW support manager?' gigs). This is a beautiful, beautiful opportunity.

People go 'oh but his dad died' or 'he's an addict.' If your dad dies and you're a bloke on an assembly line, if you don't have a few days in the bank, you're going to work. If your kid is in hospital dying, you can't take nine months off to look after them. And if you have ass cancer, you generally won't even have more than 15 people giving a **** let alone Basil Zempilas rallying up the donations for your kids who already go to St Kevins.

Why on ****in earth do we actually think these footballers are hard done by or deserve their money?

If they want the 300k, do a lot for it.

If they want to sink piss, take caps, and burn little people... go back to owning hotels and working in the Myer sports basement.

 

[Pea Nut]

 

[Benny78]

Not anymore. I would like to see them sacrifice their recreational lifestyles and holidays. Focusing on nothing but becoming the perfect footballer. Once the salaries went up football came second.

 

[kid_a]

Its all relative. Compared to say the average high ranked MP or average council worker they probably do. Compared to surgeons, riggers, truck drivers, farmers not really.

The only thing I will say though is that they have much more scrutiny outside of the job in their leisure time. The average person getting pissed and banished from a night club at 2am wouldnt have to bat an eyelid at the reprecussions, and most people (outside the mining industry and a few other industries) can chuff a few bongs on the weekend.

Overall I guess a lot of them work less hard than the average aussie in relation to the cash they get, but that the industry.

I mean hollywood actors get a ludacris amount of money for the jobs they do.

 

[blitzer]

I feel like some people want to evaluate this issue on the basis of "how hard do they work compared to x industry workers". If you judge it along those lines then probably dollar for dollar they work less hard. There are some restrictions on their behaviours but overall I think most would still conclude its well worth it compared to their ordinary lives.

Ultimately though they get a share of the revenue of a billion dollar industry and so society's demand for the product is what determines their higher than normal wages. If the footy industry was worth a hundred billion dollars they would be getting paid much more. If it was only worth ten million they wouldn't get much. Its really just normal capitalism at work and its up to the individual as to how they feel about it.

I make my peace with it by knowing that one day i'll win lotto which will solve all my problems.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Its all relative. Compared to say the average high ranked MP or average council worker they probably do. Compared to surgeons, riggers, truck drivers, farmers not really.

The only thing I will say though is that they have much more scrutiny outside of the job in their leisure time. The average person getting pissed and banished from a night club at 2am wouldnt have to bat an eyelid at the reprecussions, and most people (outside the mining industry and a few other industries) can chuff a few bongs on the weekend.

Overall I guess a lot of them work less hard than the average aussie in relation to the cash they get.

Politicians can’t go punching on at 3am or being instagrammed with cat eyes can they? The demographic is different (35-65 year old white guys v 18-35 year old athletic guys) but ultimately they’re both privileged, entitled, and kinda out of touch. At least politicians get shit for their mistakes and lose their job for it.

Footballers want to be the Doc Wheildon lads of the 2010s but then cry foul for being photographed doing it... you can’t have the money without the issue that come with it.

Footballers don’t wanna give up piss, the ability to send thirst trap ‘u up?’ texts, or living away from home but they want all the money. Most normal people give something up for 50k.

 

[Pea Nut]

It's an interesting discussion. There would be a lot of guys who do give up plenty just to get their chance at AFL level and to stay on an AFL list. And many more who would do anything and sacrifice anything just to get a chance. But I also completely agree with a lot of what you're saying, but it more applies to the guys who are in the top 10 or top 15 players in each team's list. The ones earning the big salaries and have a big profile within the AFL world.

 

[kid_a]

Politicians can’t go punching on at 3am or being instagrammed with cat eyes can they? The demographic is different (35-65 year old white guys v 18-35 year old athletic guys) but ultimately they’re both privileged, entitled, and kinda out of touch. At least politicians get shit for their mistakes and lose their job for it.

Footballers want to be the Doc Wheildon lads of the 2010s but then cry foul for being photographed doing it... you can’t have the money without the issue that come with it.

Footballers don’t wanna give up piss, the ability to send thirst trap ‘u up?’ texts, or living away from home but they want all the money. Most normal people give something up for 50k.

decent points. that last bit though I totally agree, loads of people have to move cross country for the benfit of their career and family and dont sulk and moan about how they miss mummy and that being a good enough reason for a certain business to transfer them back to their home town. Footy players are getting increasingly precious in that way...well a lot of them anyway.

 

[Pea Nut]

decent points. that last bit though I totally agree, loads of people have to move cross country for the benfit of their career and family and dont sulk and moan about how they miss mummy and that being a good enough reason for a certain business to transfer them back to their home town. Footy players are getting increasingly precious in that way...well a lot of them anyway.

You do realise that excuse is just a cop out because they don't want to say that they are moving clubs solely for money ??

 

[Teen Wolf]

I think Kane Cornes just wants to be able to talk shit and sling mud, and I don't see how the average punter is any different. Why? Because it's fun, except when somebody snaps back and points out you're a hypocrite or, even worse, wrong. It was that way long before the professional era of football, so excusing this pastime on the basis of modern player salaries seems rather thin to me.

 

[Silent Alarm]

It's an interesting discussion. There would be a lot of guys who do give up plenty just to get their chance at AFL level and to stay on an AFL list. And many more who would do anything and sacrifice anything just to get a chance. But I also completely agree with a lot of what you're saying, but it more applies to the guys who are in the top 10 or top 15 players in each team's list. The ones earning the big salaries and have a big profile within the AFL world.

No. It’s even the rookie listed guys.

Channel 7 tell us these mature aged draftees are such hard workers, they went to footy training after getting up at 6 as chippies! Wow! There are chippies all over the country who don’t even get the $600 a week to play footy after training... there are people who go to training after long days and pay for rego and pay for their own boots and sheepishly ask their bosses if they can be a jumper sponsor. We are constantly told how heroic it is to be on a list but the reality is, any man under 30 being on 70k isn’t a sob story. And a year of being fit, getting girls, and an that sense of achievement and pride is not something we should see as amazing.

This whole thing about determination is complete horseshit.

It also takes determination not to smack your boss in the head because, otherwise, you won’t have a house.

It also takes determination to scrape bodies off train tracks and know that 11pm call out at McIver could very well be that.

Training at your footy club then getting drafted isn’t really determination.

 

[Benny78]

Well if electricians actually charge $200 to move a single lightswitch 5cm then footballers work incredibly hard.

If the government made washing your own car illegal. You'd probably have to pay someone $200 for that too. It's called taking advantage of the situation and exploiting others.

 

[FISTO]

They work harder than public servants.

 

[turtles]

They work harder than a bloke who quit on his team to join the fire brigade to then quit on them to work at his easy job of being a hypocrite on twitter.

 

[RAPPA]

when you’re on this kind of money, there are no excuses for some of the ridiculously horrid disposal out on the field. It’s their job. Some people are working 5 or 6 or 7 days a week in a full time role, burning both ends of the candle, doing 60+ hours a week and scrutinised for any error they make. I seriously don’t understand nor sympathize with the plight of an AFL footballer. They deserve every bit of assistance for any kind of mental health issue in the same way as John Smith, but don’t try and convince me that they’ve made massive sacrifices. Gagf you petulant group of ungrateful wan*ers

 

[Pessimistic]

A lot of rhetoric re: Kane Cornes and Ollie Wines' family + Patrick Dangerfield. The general argument is players should be allowed to change clubs, have leisure time, and make a good percentage of AFL money as they are the product essentially v players get 75k minimum (rookies), connections, fitness, two months minimum time off, and guys on a near a mil a year should behave a little for that money.

As far as I give a shit, AFL footballers live the life.

They make far more much money than the average person. Doctors, Prime Ministers are all overlapped by quite a few players.

That aside, my issue is the huge entitlement and ignorance shown by guys like Patrick Dangerfield but also the average shitkicker (Liam McBean was chiming in with the Cornes tweets – didn't this dude play three games? Isn't his old man a lawn mowing working class bloke?) is incredibly defensive about their lot. Regular phrases include 'you don't know the work we put in,' 'the sacrifices we make,' 'what goes on behind the scenes.' Players genuinely consider themselves deserving of these amounts of money but, more so, think they're immune to criticism.

The average 22-year old man in Australia is struggling. The workforce is becoming casualised and part-time work is fast becoming the norm. The idea of sick pay, leave, and entitlements is a huge privilege. A depressing, mind numbing, 'oh man I'm like the people they talk about in Fight Club!' desk job is now so desirable you'd cut your dick off for that 51k a year and all its paper cuts. Universities are crowded. Apprenticeships are drying up and work places are incentivising bringing apprentices on. Football isn't really that amazing of a gift – you're just good at one of the sports people care about... hockey is lame, water polo is a hobby, yet you can be in the best few in Australia at that and have to work at a pet shop. It doesn't take study to make it. Most people on this forum will have known blokes who drank Cruisers at every high school party and got drafted at pick 21 and played 150 games, so do not tell me about 'sacrifices.'

Why do we defend these blokes? They aren't on the front line. They aren't getting abused at Maccas at 4am because they didn't put enough chips in an order. They aren't scraping turds off a bowl on contract hours. They are not cleaning schools and being asked for three-years experience to get 19 hours a fortnight for 17 bucks an hour. They aren't cleaning spew off pub toilet grates after being pumped to be offered that extra shift. They are not desperate to feed their kids.

But that is what's scariest... the average punter takes this? I see footy fans everywhere defending these players, saying they try hard and running hurts and sometimes they can't make weddings. I see people genuinely take pity for blokes who get paid to be in the fittest portion of society, who have girls lining up, who get free cars and shoes and Nike jackets, as well as free uni education and free apprenticeship support after football (and that's without the 'hey mate, thanks for the 100 games, you were a decent dude, wanna be an AFLW support manager?' gigs). This is a beautiful, beautiful opportunity.

People go 'oh but his dad died' or 'he's an addict.' If your dad dies and you're a bloke on an assembly line, if you don't have a few days in the bank, you're going to work. If your kid is in hospital dying, you can't take nine months off to look after them. And if you have ass cancer, you generally won't even have more than 15 people giving a **** let alone Basil Zempilas rallying up the donations for your kids who already go to St Kevins.

Why on ****in earth do we actually think these footballers are hard done by or deserve their money?

If they want the 300k, do a lot for it.

If they want to sink piss, take caps, and burn little people... go back to owning hotels and working in the Myer sports basement.

Casualise?. AFL forces it’s franchises to sack 10% every year

 

[Pessimistic]

Anyway why deflect form that rat Cornes being called out?

 

[Schauermann]

Very restricted drinking and being recognised a lot in public? I'd say they underpayed by a lot.

 

[The Dice Man]

SA you seem to be becoming quite dark about life and a bit surly about missing out on something. I was like that too but we can’t all be Jimi Hendrix or Justin Beiner.

You’re young and intelligent and have plenty of time to find your space. Chill and enjoy the ride. Things work out if you keep your chin up.

 

[Gavin Excell]

SA you seem to be becoming quite dark about life and a bit surly about missing out on something. I was like that too but we can’t all be Jimi Hendrix or Justin Beiner.

You’re young and intelligent and have plenty of time to find your space. Chill and enjoy the ride. Things work out if you keep your chin up.

SA has a fascination with how much money someone earns

 

[Man0gwaR74]

I read all of the comments and the OP makes some decent points but the main motive of argument for them deserving more money is coz of the massive amount of money that the AFL generates and it's a valid argument for a bigger piece of the pie when the players are the product. Dangerfield is the head spokesperson for the AFLPA, so he is obligated to being their voice. The other point of argument is that not all players are able to find a suitable role of employment with their life after football and some players are virtually cripples after they retire; joint replacements, etc. I think a good case to remind people here of is Daniel Menzel who displayed all the signs of becoming a star, only to now be one knee injury away from ending his career without realizing his full potential but some don't even make it that far on a list before injury forces them to retire as a footballer. We also need to be mindful that players are public figures that represent the club/AFL 24/7 and are subjected to social media, which could have a huge strain on their mental state depending on how they deal with having their privacy taken away from them.

 

[Teen Wolf]

when you’re on this kind of money, there are no excuses for some of the ridiculously horrid disposal out on the field. It’s their job. Some people are working 5 or 6 or 7 days a week in a full time role, burning both ends of the candle, doing 60+ hours a week and scrutinised for any error they make. I seriously don’t understand nor sympathize with the plight of an AFL footballer. They deserve every bit of assistance for any kind of mental health issue in the same way as John Smith, but don’t try and convince me that they’ve made massive sacrifices. Gagf you petulant group of ungrateful wan*ers

With all due respect, it might be worth taking your own advice. Take an interest in a subject that doesn't upset you so much. I don't think it's possible to really appreciate the game without having some sort of feel for the challenges that players face. Sounds like Australian football just isn't for you.

 

[kaiserchief13]

I read all of the comments and the OP makes some decent points but the main motive of argument for them deserving more money is coz of the massive amount of money that the AFL generates and it's a valid argument for a bigger piece of the pie when the players are the product. Dangerfield is the head spokesperson for the AFLPA, so he is obligated to being their voice. The other point of argument is that not all players are able to find a suitable role of employment with their life after football and some players are virtually cripples after they retire; joint replacements, etc. I think a good case to remind people here of is Daniel Menzel who displayed all the signs of becoming a star, only to now be one knee injury away from ending his career without realizing his full potential but some don't even make it that far on a list before injury forces them to retire as a footballer. We also need to be mindful that players are public figures that represent the club/AFL 24/7 and are subjected to social media, which could have a huge strain on their mental state depending on how they deal with having their privacy taken away from them.

Okay then stop propping up teams losing money and that money can go towards player salaries

 

[HTT]

A lot of people are willing to pay a lot of money to watch them do their job. The players' work provides us with entertainment on the weekend. Of course they earn their money.
A lot of people forget the risks and sacrifices a lot of players make to play in the AFL. While they earn well above the average salary, it is only for a short period. Many players only stay listed for a few years - and then what? Even an average player who plays a full career but never commands a huge salary comes out in their mid 30s, still needing to work for a living, but with a body that is very sore after years of being pushed to its limit, and probably only high school education.
Ultimately, the fans decide the salaries of players anyway. If you pay the money to watch them, that money is going to end up with the players at some point isn't it?

 

[Underarm]

What a silly question.

Quality Footballers are in high demand and their salary is set accordingly. They train and put their bodies under a lot of stress day in, day out for 10 months of the year. Many injuries a player might suffer will have last effects well after they retire.

At best, they can earn this high amount of money for 15 years after which they need to reskill themselves (or have been doing extra study while they were playing). Most however aren't good enough and last only 3-4 years.

On top of that, they're every move is being followed and every minor discretion gets made into a big deal. If they make a simple mistake or a tactical error on the field they get attacked on social media, on radio, on TV - there's no other job that faces the public scrutiny quite like the AFL footballer.