Some Are More Equal Than Others And Gasnier Just Wants To Bring Home More Bacon
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday May 2, 2006
NEVER underestimate the jealousy at work inside the dressing room of a football club. It's like a giant monopoly board: some neighbourhoods are worth more than others.
The problem arises when someone who should be living in Mayfair earns labourer's wages and someone from Whitechapel Road is paid a fortune. St George Illawarra five-eighth Trent Barrett is paid twice as much as centre Mark Gasnier. Gasnier's flirtation with rugby union may well be rooted in this disparity.The problem may be solved this week or next week when Barrett announces he is playing with Wigan, thereby freeing up $450,000 for Gasnier. Gasnier is currently paid $220,000 a season.The Dragons are confident of retaining Gasnier because the net, guaranteed dollars to him are about the same in both codes.It's understood St George Illawarra will offer the 24-year-old a playing contract of $325,000 plus $50,000 from a club sponsor. He is also legitimately allowed two $50,000 contracts with third party sponsors indirectly related to the club, such as News Ltd, Fox Sports and Channel Nine.The salary cap rules also allow him to do coaching and development work in the St George Illawarra region. If he is paid $25,000 for these services it takes his NRL package to $500,000.Rugby union's offer is $110,000 base contract with the Waratahs plus a probable $300,000 from the ARU. Match payments for internationals, based on $11,200 a Test, could deliver $135,000. Super 14 appearances of $3000 a game could bring in another $45,000. In addition, he would receive a Wallabies living allowance of about $40,000. If his third party deal were $100,000, his total package would be $730,000.The difference between the two deals is $230,000, which would be roughly halved when taxed. However, the gap in guaranteed money is only $10,000 if you ignore third party deals, match payments and living allowances.While the Dragons will certainly find a club sponsor to contribute $50,000, there may be doubt in both codes about money from third parties, which, in the case of rugby union, allows player managers to take 20 per cent.This means Gasnier would receive only $80,000 of the estimated $100,000 third party deal, with his manager, George Mimis, collecting $20,000. Match payments are critical in the equation. Rugby league doesn't make any significant payments for club or representative games, although it is expected the ARL is about to significantly upgrade payments for Origin matches and Kangaroos Tests.The Wallabies play 12-13 Tests in a normal year but players who sit on the bench are paid the full amount. Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones made this offer to Andrew Johns when the Newcastle half was considering switching, even though the ARU refused to top up his Friends of the Waratahs contract. In other words, if new Wallabies coach John Connolly wants Gasnier, he can make a de facto guarantee of $135,000 in match payments.There are other factors, such as the effort involved in earning income. Next year, the NRL expands to 16 clubs with no byes and a 30-game minimum season for Gasnier. The Waratahs have a short Super 14 season, then there would be the World Cup in France, the third most watched global event after the summer Olympics and football's quadrennial extravaganza.Rugby league's international festival is a Tri-Nations tournament at the end of this season in Auckland, Melbourne, Christchurch, Sydney, Wellington and Brisbane and a World Cup in Australia early in 2008.Rugby union can give Gasnier a Ferrari, while a family car counts under the NRL cap.But champion players will always want to test themselves in the most physically and skilfully demanding arena and league is tougher than union. No matter how many platitudes players offer about not being concerned what teammates earn, they resent inequities when some stars in the constellation are paid far more, even though they shine far less.George Orwell could have been writing about football when he said in Animal Farm that all animals are equal but some are more equal than others.In Orwell's novel, pigs were the favoured ones. The difference in the salary of Barrett and the expected offer to Gasnier suggests the Dragons may have some spare funds in the trough.Barrett's impending departure means Gasnier could join the sows, rejecting the silk purses.
© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald