$35000 for a youth player sounds about right to me - basically an apprentice learning the trade.

And u wonder why everyone thinks ur a troll skinet!calling anyone wanker ,idiot males u seem like a lol man!

mucker86
You are right these wankers on this website have got it all wrong the maximum wage paid is the issue in the context of the A-League there are a small number of A-League players who ridiculously overpaid by A-League standards whilst the rest are very poorly paid by any standard and are just over the minimum wage. Clubs can distribute there salary cap pretty much how they like and the average wage argument is a statistical distortion. Foreign Marquees have generally been a complete waste of time and have taken the money and run. As it is at the moment the minimum set by the CBA is about $45000 for players over 21 and $35000 for those under 21 and a lot of players are on this basic wage already effectively funding the high paid ones at the other end of the salary scale.

If they want to start talking about a minimum wage then they should also start talking about a maximum. They can't complain about players not being paid enough but at the same time be more than willing to allow clubs to pay individual players more than they can afford. Personally I'd favour a system where a minimum wage is a set proportion of what a club pays it's highest paid player (say 10%). So if Perth pay F.Rowler $500,000 a season then they have to pay A.Newbie $50,000. You could then set a floor of say $45,000 as an absolute minimum that clubs can pay players. This would help to provide a fair wage to all players and make it less appealing to some clubs to throw money at one or two players at the expense of the rest.

I don't think A-League players are earning less than the minimum wage. W-League, yes.

As for the percentage of revenues, football is different to AFL. The pro league is new and needs to invest to expand. So players have to accept funds need to used elsewhere. Also, youth development in my opinion is more important in football. You cannot develop a technically gifted player without proper coaching from a young age. Feet coordination is requires more practice at an early age. It is different to sports where hands play a big role.

So overall, I think this article is pretty pointless and doesn't even mention the big picture issues. It doesn't even mention what percentage of revenues Aussie footballers earn.

Exactly Barkster. Try comparing to profits instead of revenue.

I think economic factors are always going to be the determining factor. Players unions will ensure that players get a fair slice of the pie. That's not the problem - the problem is how big the pie is. It's not as simple to say that players in the USA and Europe get 58% or higher share in revenue, and so should players here. Running costs for mainting professional clubs and leagues are a constant. If you compare two clubs, both with $1,000,000 operating costs per season, but club A makes $10,000,000 a year in revenue and club B makes $1,500,00, you can't expect players from both teams to make the same cash. It's just not feasible.

Edited by Barkster: 9/12/2010 09:24:47 AM

Statistical BS...considering some European clubs pay more than 100% of the amount of their revenue in wages and perpetually run at a loss it kind of throws out the curve.

Benchwarmer
the average AFL wage is 222,000 per season and they are about to increase revenue to over a billion dollars so there is in affect a hierarchy in place if you read Dabschecks Report to the AAA you will discover swimmers and netballers are the worst off!!

The ANZ Championship is semi-professional. No wonder the netballers don't make minimum wage.

That's the nature of most sports in Australia. Australia has neither the population of the USA to increase revenue nor compactness of Europe to decrease travelling and associated costs.

I'm all for increasing the wage of most of our elite stars. But it's no use increasing it if they will then have no competition to play in.

Players should always make plans for life after sport. Sporting organisations should help out with this more.

Well maybe the some of the so called "stars" are playing sports no one watches like netball. Seriously how could you compare that to NFL, Football etc which people actually watch and support. Maybe thats why they get paid more.

... which is currently very under deserved subbuteo with their recent poor performances!

Ricky Ponting and the boys should be thankfull to get minimum wage :)


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article Aussie Stars Earning 'Under Minimum Wage'?
DESPITE the perception that a career as a sports athlete brings in the big bucks, many of Australia's most outstanding athletes are earning less than the minimum wage, a new report has found.

Have your say.