Before professionalism began in Union....

[Knight87]

How much did Rugby Union players in Australia earn before Rugby turned professional and before tournaments like the Super 14 came in? Did they earn more back then than they do today? Did contracts exist back then, or were they paid cash in hand?

 

[shiznit]

i cant speak so much for AUS but in NZ they were paid for the time off work and i think they were given a daily allowence...

they all had pretty good jobs which they scored through there rugby...

i remember Jonah Lomu was a Banking Consultant at ASB Bank despite the fact he was 19 years old and had next to no qualifications... all his collegues were 30+.

ofcourse ASB made him the face of the bank...

 

[Timbo]

George Gregan was a barman at the NSW Rugby Union club...

He was, however, the highest paid barman in the history of the universe.

 

[yankeerugger]

Love those stories of "shamiturism"... players getting new boots for each match, which happened to have a wad of bills misplaced in the toe... jobs guarding empty wharehouses and it doesn't matter if you show up or not... pretty sorry.

These things used to happen here in the states with college football players... they'd get sweetheart jobs off campus working for a wealthy alumni... NCAA has since put a crack down on it... now if you go home to your hometown, you can not even accept a cup of coffee on the house from the neighborhood coffeeshop with out being banned for accepting payments...