Berkeley_Eagle
Bench
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BRAD WALTER
June 4, 2010
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...rer-slice-of-the-money-pie-20100603-x7bi.html
BOXER Anthony Mundine has described NRL players as ''slave labour'' and called for them to strike for better pay in the wake of Israel Folau's $1.5 million-a-season defection to AFL and the $2m-a-year offer tabled to Sonny Bill Williams to stay with French rugby club Toulon.
Mundine made the comments at a media conference in Brisbane to promote his coming KO To Drugs bout after Williams was asked whether he was considering a return to the NRL. When Williams explained he was unable to because of a condition in his release deal with the Bulldogs, Mundine interjected: ''They are getting slave labour over there anyway.''
A decade after he quit St George Illawarra to pursue his dream of becoming a boxing world champion, Mundine said the pay and conditions for NRL players had not improved and predicted rival codes would continue to poach the best players unless something was done.
''Nothing has gone forward,'' he said. ''In 1998, I signed a $600,000 deal and was the highest paid player in the game. But what are they getting now? They might be getting $600,000 or $700,000 but not as far as their [club] contracts, they would be getting a third-party deal to try and help them out.
''I reckon the players should go on strike, they should just go on strike. They need more money because AFL is going to take over. AFL is laughing at them and rugby is laughing at them, and they are going to steal their best players.
''It is still a great game but they have got to get their infrastructure right. The players are getting a small piece of the cake, they are looking for crumbs. The salary cap is restrictive where teams have got to cheat to keep their players and I think that is not right.''
Williams, who walked out on Canterbury midway through the first season of a $2m, five-year deal to join Toulon, said league was a tough game and players deserved to be fairly remunerated for the toll on their bodies.
''If the game is making no money, then so be it, they shouldn't get paid more,'' he said. ''But from my understanding they are only getting 23 or 24 per cent of the pool. People go to the game to watch the players, not the suits upstairs in the corporate boxes, so I believe they should be getting more than 23 per cent of what the game earns.''
Asked if he was angry at rugby league, Williams said: ''I am never angry at rugby league because it gave me the start and gave me my name. But you just want what is fair. Rugby league is a tough sport, you've only got to look at Ben Ross. He probably won't play again.''
Mundine also pointed out that many former players finish the game with little financially to show for their efforts.
''Whether it is the clubs or the league, they don't give a damn about the players,'' Mundine said. ''There is no loyalty in the game, people talk about loyalty but I'll tell you where it is, it's in their back pockets. When you have finished your career and you are broke, like Graeme Langlands, that can only do so much for you, and he is an Immortal, so you have got to get what you can when you can.
''That is why back in 1998, I told them, 'Show me the money', and today I am a businessman - I fight not just for my goals and my dreams but the business stuff too. That is just the way life is.''
Both Mundine and Williams said Folau had little option but to accept the $6m, four-year deal to play with the new Greater Western Sydney franchise and wished him and fellow AFL recruit Karmichael Hunt well.
''It is good to see these players standing on their own two feet and making decisions based on what they need and what their families need,'' Williams said. Mundine added: ''Of course they are going to leave, they are looking after themselves, they are looking after their families. If you are going to get paid $400,000 or $1.5 million, where would you go?''
June 4, 2010
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...rer-slice-of-the-money-pie-20100603-x7bi.html
BOXER Anthony Mundine has described NRL players as ''slave labour'' and called for them to strike for better pay in the wake of Israel Folau's $1.5 million-a-season defection to AFL and the $2m-a-year offer tabled to Sonny Bill Williams to stay with French rugby club Toulon.
Mundine made the comments at a media conference in Brisbane to promote his coming KO To Drugs bout after Williams was asked whether he was considering a return to the NRL. When Williams explained he was unable to because of a condition in his release deal with the Bulldogs, Mundine interjected: ''They are getting slave labour over there anyway.''
A decade after he quit St George Illawarra to pursue his dream of becoming a boxing world champion, Mundine said the pay and conditions for NRL players had not improved and predicted rival codes would continue to poach the best players unless something was done.
''Nothing has gone forward,'' he said. ''In 1998, I signed a $600,000 deal and was the highest paid player in the game. But what are they getting now? They might be getting $600,000 or $700,000 but not as far as their [club] contracts, they would be getting a third-party deal to try and help them out.
''I reckon the players should go on strike, they should just go on strike. They need more money because AFL is going to take over. AFL is laughing at them and rugby is laughing at them, and they are going to steal their best players.
''It is still a great game but they have got to get their infrastructure right. The players are getting a small piece of the cake, they are looking for crumbs. The salary cap is restrictive where teams have got to cheat to keep their players and I think that is not right.''
Williams, who walked out on Canterbury midway through the first season of a $2m, five-year deal to join Toulon, said league was a tough game and players deserved to be fairly remunerated for the toll on their bodies.
''If the game is making no money, then so be it, they shouldn't get paid more,'' he said. ''But from my understanding they are only getting 23 or 24 per cent of the pool. People go to the game to watch the players, not the suits upstairs in the corporate boxes, so I believe they should be getting more than 23 per cent of what the game earns.''
Asked if he was angry at rugby league, Williams said: ''I am never angry at rugby league because it gave me the start and gave me my name. But you just want what is fair. Rugby league is a tough sport, you've only got to look at Ben Ross. He probably won't play again.''
Mundine also pointed out that many former players finish the game with little financially to show for their efforts.
''Whether it is the clubs or the league, they don't give a damn about the players,'' Mundine said. ''There is no loyalty in the game, people talk about loyalty but I'll tell you where it is, it's in their back pockets. When you have finished your career and you are broke, like Graeme Langlands, that can only do so much for you, and he is an Immortal, so you have got to get what you can when you can.
''That is why back in 1998, I told them, 'Show me the money', and today I am a businessman - I fight not just for my goals and my dreams but the business stuff too. That is just the way life is.''
Both Mundine and Williams said Folau had little option but to accept the $6m, four-year deal to play with the new Greater Western Sydney franchise and wished him and fellow AFL recruit Karmichael Hunt well.
''It is good to see these players standing on their own two feet and making decisions based on what they need and what their families need,'' Williams said. Mundine added: ''Of course they are going to leave, they are looking after themselves, they are looking after their families. If you are going to get paid $400,000 or $1.5 million, where would you go?''
