Show me the money…..

Gone are the days where professional athletes had to work to support themselves. Recently a Canterbury Bulldogs player who is currently injured for the season and yet to make his first grade debut has signed a contract with a rival club for reportedly two hundred thousand dollars a season. He is only twenty years old and will earn 600 hundred thousand dollars over the next three seasons, and yet he has not played first grade. Many years ago Parramatta Eels signed a 11 year old to a five year deal, he was meant to be the next big thing in league. He never made first grade and can be found applying his trade in the Jim Beam Cup for Seven Hills.

Recently Willie Mason called for the NRL to make the minimum wage for fringe players a lot higher. Currently in the NRL the minimum wage is around 45 thousand a season, in the NBL forty thousand and in the AFL it is around 80 thousand. In America, athletes in many different sports are paid millions and millions of dollars. LeBron James was paid 148 million dollars straight out of high school in the NBA to apply his trade.

In the world of soccer and the meat market that was written about in early postings players are sold and given millions of dollars to kick a ball. Chelsea over the last three years has spent over 300 million dollars in securing the best soccer talent around such as Michael Ballack, Ashley Cole and John Terry.

So do these athletes deserve these huge amounts of money? David Beckham recently signed 320 million dollar deal with a USA soccer club for five years. Beckham who was dropped from the English team and for many months was on the bench for Real Madrid worth 320 million dollars.

Many claim that money is the reason that sport has become as corrupt and as negative as it is in today’s world. Do athletes deserve these amounts of money? Teachers, police officers and doctors who provide a greater service to mankind will not receive this type of money in their life times so how do we justify athletes wages??

Why is it that in today’s world Tom Brady is able to earn millions and millions of dollars because he is able to throw a pig skin ball further and better then somebody else. More importantly should teenagers been paid huge amounts before they have played in the top leagues.

Many simply have to look at Mark Bosnich former Socceroos and Manchester United goal keeper was found taking cocaine. He blamed it on the huge amounts of time and money he had on his hands. He stated what was a person to do after buying the house, car television, just about everything a person could want do with all the money that he had. So should we limit the amount of money that these athletes are paid. Should we go back to the days when athletes had to be work another job to earn a living.