AFL stars accused of greed

[think positive]

thank the lord it wasnt our players!!

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-pair-apologise-for-organising-party-breaking-social-distancing-guidelines-20200323-p54d0z.html

[think positive]

[K]

Players and their managers who held off contract talks must be wishing they hadn't.

OTOH Grundy and his manager will be very happy they didn't wait. His (original) contract may end up being the last big contract ever in the AFL.

[K]

"The AFL and the players association have failed to resolve their pay dispute after a second day of negotiations, with both parties remaining frustrated.

It comes as one of the game’s greatest ever players and legendary coach Leigh Matthews slammed the current group of footballers as "embarrassingly disappointing".

League heavyweights reiterated their position on Tuesday that a 50 per cent pay cut by the players for eight weeks would not be enough as the game continued to bleed cash.

Sources have told The Age that league officials are pushing for players to take a 75 per cent cut, but it’s unclear for how long that would apply.
...

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, who is also a key member of Gillon McLachlan’s war-time cabinet, confirmed on his morning radio show on Tuesday that host broadcasters Channel Seven and Foxtel have stopped their payments."

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-players-continue-dispute-over-pay-cut-20200324-p54da6.html

[updated]

[Mr Miyagi]

Dangerfield attacking the AFL now, he's demanding full transparency of AFL finances.

Money money money. Maybe the game has always been about money and I was naive, but today's AFL seems more about money and less about community. I'm just finding few reasons to care about footy these days.

[E]

This is bullshit. The league exploits their players in the good times and needs to honor the pathetically small contracts that the players are forced to sign due to the restraint of trade that is the salary cap.

The contracts are guaranteed and the players should get paid.

I'm still getting paid. I bet all of you are too even though you are all working at about 10% of your capacity. Why should the players get paid what they signed up for? they committed to the club and the clubs should commit to them (in good times and in bad).

[Wonka]

[Mr Miyagi]

I'm not getting paid, I lost my job. Currently dealing with the Centrelink chaos. As a middle-aged bloke, wish me luck finding a new job. To continually read about people earning 500,000 a year bitching about and refusing to take a small pay cut to help keep jobs alive for hundreds of other people... sigh

Look at Chris Scott, he saw the forest for the trees and he's taken a 100% pay cut for the year.

[K]

[Abdul The Bull]

This is a difficult situation. It is too simplistic to suggest that the players simply take a massive cut. They have restrictions on what and how they can earn outside of their contracts thanks to the salary cap.
If they were true performance-based athletes - that is, only get paid when you win (ie Tennis professional as an example) then they pay cut would be an easier negotiation. However, as the players do not have endorsement contracts readily in place then this limits their ability to earn outside the game.
One of the negative aspects of such a tightly-held industry such as AFL.

[Abdul The Bull]

Also, there is an additional complication as each player's contract is structured differently. Some are base retainer plus match payment and incentives, some are front-ended, some are a large lump sum up front for getting to round 1 in-tact. Therefore, calculating how to equitably reduce these payments is difficult. I suspect it is easier for the coaches - (ie Chris Scott) whom, I imagine, get a straight fortnightly or monthly payment - to take a straight hit as it's a relatively easy calculation.
However, for the players - like most things in life - nothing is that straight-forward.

[stui magpie]

[watt price tully]

The players should proceed with caution. I wouldn’t be giving up hard won conditions and wages. They should take their time and act slowly. No need to rush just yet.

[K]

^ Maybe... but there'll be cuts to the total player body's payments whatever they do. If they hold out, there'll just be much smaller playing lists. How about a playing list of 25 plus slave-wage top ups? (Niall already reports that it's going to be 35, if not in 2021 then in 2022.)

And the smaller the playing group, the more important it'll be to come from the "right", i.e. privileged, background to get drafted.

[K]

Barrett:

https://www.afl.com.au/video/390168/players-afl-must-back-off-from-hardline-stance?videoId=390168&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1585193422001

..........................


Meanwhile, Blicavs had a house party for his teammates a few days ago:

https://www.afl.com.au/news/390192/star-cat-s-house-party-a-grave-mistake-scott

Not a good look for the players.