Gareth only went up into the top 25 at Melbourne this year, minimum payment for the top 25 is $55k a year, so this is where the journos are getting the $55k figure from, previous years he was on even less, but he has been an apprentice at Melbourne since he was 16, through the 18s, 20s, NSW Cup and now 1st Grade and like all apprentices he started on the minimum wage for the grade that he was playing at the time, he has bided his time in the lower ranks so to speak and taken whatever the prevailing rates that were available at the time and gone with the flow. He is on, with others at the club, the current minimum wage + match payments which would more than double the minimum wage at the conclusion of the season.
He has also just signed a 3 year deal, (3rd year is player activated) with the Storm which is worth 200K+ a year.

Journo’s are lazy by nature and more often than not report half a story or their own spin on a story anyway.

Professional players these days deserve all they can get because contrary to belief they only get 1 day off a week and if you’re a rep player up to a month off at the conclusion of the 4 Nations before pre-season starts all over again, they spend a lot of time away from home and family and not to mention the toll they put their bodies through in their relatively short careers.

Come the new Cap deal in 2014 players should be able to increase their salaries’ by at least 50%. And good luck to thenm I say.

While I appreciate spending time away from family, and the stresses and strains playing a game must come with I have nurse friends who are lucky to get one day off fortnight, work double shifts and get paid a hell of a lot less than 35k a year! Also take in to account the length of the players days, not many clubs drag their players in at 6am anymore and most will be at home or in the pub having a nice cold beer by 4pm.

A nurses career may go on longer but you say that as if the rugby player has no choice in the matter. He among many others are encouraged to go to college, many Rovers players have their courses funded and many already have the qualifications to go out in to the real world and start earning a healthy living. They do not in the majority just get thrown on to the scrap heap at 35 with a handshake and well wishes.

Also house prices may be that high over there but Gareth is 22 and knows he will earn mega bucks (injury permitting) within a short period that he will be able to buy a tidy house in the sun from. I'd be lucky to get a mortgage for 60k and I can tell you something that ain't gonna buy a lot!

As said he should and probably is very grateful that he is earning anything just to play the game that he loves while getting to hang around with his mates all the time safe in the knowledge that he is one day going to be pretty rich from doing just that.

On a side note how many days off do soldiers get while serving in Afghanistan? Their wages including bonuses probably don't come to that 35k amount and I'd bet the injuries sustained there are a little more worrying for their families.

Sports stars get paid healthily and fair enough it is accepted now, I am not going to take that away from them but when the minimum wage for a youngster in the first team is 35k and people say this isn't much is a really poor way to look at life and I may be wrong but to me it looks like those people have probably never had to worry about where the next penny is coming from and never truely learnt the true value of money.

When (or I guess a pretty big if) you start earning £100k a year, you won’t be going out clubbing much anymore – it’s called ‘growing up’ my friend

Anyway, back to topic... the news that Widdop is earning £35k a year is fantastic news – it means that out sport is living within its means and the same way that Damo here can’t afford a mortgage on the property he aspires too, similarly Rugby league can’t afford to pay players ridiculous wages and the sooner people stop looking at football and RU as some kind of sound financial model the better

Short careers? Are rugby league players incapable of doing anything once they finish playing? How much should Widdop be paid? I should imagine that this amount is his basic contract, with appearance bonuses, win bonuses, league placing bonuses etc factored in to his contract.

Valid points in a few areas and especially on the nurses, forces and to a degree I will add the teaching front, they deserve triple the pay that they are currently getting because of the nature and hours worked on the job. I understand where you are coming from, but I still stand by my comment that footy players deserve everything they can get, for the reasons previously mentioned, you say there is life after footy, but not all players have the option to re-train in a different field, then they have to start all over again on a minimum wage because of their lack of experience in their new professions!! Also how many of us have journos following our every move, they cannot let your hair down for fear of it appearing in the tabloids, I know people will say it goes with the job, but I don’t think I would like to live a life like that, so fair play to them if they get paid a lot more than most of us because they have to put up with a lot more than the most of us.

But getting back to the topic, I was only pointing out that the journos get things so wrong to build a story and I was correcting that point, a journo was trying to make out that half the Storm side was only on minimum wage so that they could keep the big 3, Cam, Cooper and Slater. When in fact with match payments they would be on double that if in 1st Grade.

Before the floor fell out of the economy a few years back that sum is just over £20k remember. And as far as cost of living goes over there it will be a similar sum.

Well we are not talking about a few years back we are talking about today!!! Or should we also compare it to the 40s when it was probably worth 2 and 6!!!!!

Widdop's still got a hell of a lot to prove.

I must admit last year's four nations p155ed me off, no end. Just because he plays in the NRL it's to be assumed that he's a better bet at full back than everyone else? His performances proved otherwise.

I'd love to be on 35k.

So do you think the Aussies said, "Hey, lets drop all our prices by 40% because the UK Pound is dying on it's ar[is[/ie"

When the markets were stable, $55k was the equivalent of £22k. For the people who live there $55k is still $55k. In other words for someone who lives there, $55k is still worth £22k to them. Its only from an outside POV where it's massively different. I hope you understand that.

Unless your Sean Long and get paid £175,000 for 2 yrs to get him to sign for Hull

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.

Why is that?

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