I am sure if he keeps his place his wage will rise nicely

I want to rave to the grave. Not an early one though.

And this isn’t fantastic news for our sport. It means that our players are getting paid a pittance to play a potentially dangerous sport. The whole point of paying players big wages is so that people from poor backgrounds can enjoy a bit more of the good life. If the rugby union bosses of old had their way, Gareth would be working down the mills and playing rugby league for nothing. Thankfully Gareth can survive without having a ‘proper’ job on the side at 35k a year. But it’s still not enough.

The premiership is the best financial model that has ever happened. Alan Sugar only wants to change things because he can’t compete with billionaires (bless him) and wants Lionel Messi to earn £50 (or something like that) a game. The more billionaires we get owning premiership clubs the better because it means that players from poor backgrounds get wages that weren’t previously available to them thanks to greedy owners trying to take in as much profit as possible. This is even if it means paying their star player a pittance.

50k a year?

according to which set of books

Very admirable sentiments there

And of course for every player from a poor background that gets rewarded beyond their wildest dreams (and most not grateful for it) there are tens of thousands of fans from similar backgrounds who fork out their hard earned cash for ever more ridiculous match day prices and branded gear to support the spiralling economics. You may hold the Premiership up as a model for economic sustainability but I do not – and I certainly don’t want my sport to go down that route

Dont take the bait; he's an idiot

Ridiculous comment.

He will be paid what he is worth, its market forces.
His ability and flexibility will see him in the top 30 earners in the NRL in the next few years if he maintains his form and fitness.
That means $300-$500k a year contract with the top ups.

Well it doesnt make alot of sense. Are you saying that when people earn alot of money they cant enjoy themselves? Or that people who enjoy clubbing are immature?

The former - but I don't mean they can’t enjoy themselves, rather a change of attitude... most of the people I know who earn over £100k don't go clubbing (I think of clubbing as out till 3/4 in the morning) but still go out to bars etc. However most of the people I know who earn £100K are in their 40's and 50's (I guess professional sportsmen and city boys are different but they are the minority I would assume)

The solution for the hard up fans who can’t afford games anymore is to watch it on TV. This TV can be anywhere ranging from a pub, to the lounge a home or even a shop window. Illegal broadcasts online is an even cheaper way to follow your premiership team. For those who don’t like the glare of the TV screen then there’s radio commentary. There’s always a cheaper alternative and if you can’t afford the match day prices then don’t bother going to the games.

The bottom line is that most money these days comes from corporate sponsorship and TV deals. You could have an empty stadium and a top flight sports club can stay up. You’ve only got to look at super league attendances to confirm this. Sky TV amongst other things pay our players wages.

If you want a man u shirt cheap then get one from abroad. Plenty of dodgy copies you can get over they and no one will give a damn. I’ve had fake designer gear for years and it has given me a false sense of the good life. But so what?

Wigg,n wrote sum youngsters on £9k a year thats really bad iy true

being related to 1 of said youngsters that signed to a rather famous BIG CLUB i can confirm that rumour to be true and personally think its disgusting for what they put there bodys thru week in week out

What's classed as a youngster here though? I.e. If we are still talking an age where they could be at Uni / College £750 a month is a lot of money, however if they are around first team and 100% full time playing rugby then yea it's not great.

By youngster I mean fringe first teamers playing a handful of games a year, although if clubs pick up injuries and these players are required to play more games, their wage is still only going to be £9k.

One example is Chris Ashton in 2006 - another 'rumour' of course, but apparently he was on £12k that year and he played nearly every first team game.

Pot.

Meet kettle