A happy club?

[Wardy]

Well what ever the problem is, I hope that it gets sorted quick smart. Its not doing the club nor the players any good.

[Schneiderman]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
You might new some, but the average annual salary is about where the minimum salary plus for AFL players is (what is your source for that number?). Most people who will earn more than $45K don't do so for a few years. Most players currently playing earn more than the minimum.

Well I would argue that the "most" tag applies to the same players over and over again. Hence you will have a team that has 22 or so regulars, and then another 16 or so fringe players. In any given five year period, most clubs may have 30 players who play 3 or more years on the senior list, another 5-10 who crack it for a year or two, and the remainder (with all of the forced team rotations this could be as high as 20) who never see a senior game over that time. By that logic, only half of the players over a five year period will get paid above the minimum.

The data for the National Average Wage comes from the ABS:

http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/Home/key%20national%20indicators

It's a good gig whatever way you look at it.

Having always wanted to become a professional sportsman myself (golf) I would be the last person to argue otherwise. I am also realistic and objective enough though to realise that not every player (in fact surprisingly few) actually get paid good dollars. A heck of a lot struggle in any professional sport to eek out a normal existence, but that doesn't make the job undesirable for most.

My point after all that, is that the players rarely do it purely for the money. Or at least not until they are a wanted and valuable commodity.