Good Evening from the Red Hill Rants team. Due to a combination of the Broncos week off and my own personal technical issues (got to love PC's sometimes), there hasn't been a whole lot of action going on here. Happy to report that I'm back on deck with what seems to be impeccable timing.
Unless you live on Mars, you will have heard the news that Israel Folau has jumped ship and signed a multi-million dollar deal with the Greater West Sydney AFL franchise. With the deal being worth an alleged $1,000,000 a season, it would make him close to one of the highest paid domestic footballers outside of Matt Giteau and Stirling Mortlock from the rugger game and Chris Judd from AFL. Naturally he's not the first to leave the NRL to chase riches in other games - Wendell and Lote did the exact same thing, as did Rogers and Hunt. He's not the first and definitely not the last.
Can you really blame Israel for this? After talking to a few people about it, claims of greed and immorality are flying around. Loyalty has been mentioned more times than the phrase "Indigenous Game" by Big Dell on NRL on Fox. Is Izzy really disloyal? Not really. He hasn't broken his Broncos contract and he's more than obliged to shop around with other clubs or codes. Has he made a morally questionable decision? Probably not. League has invested a lot in Folau and off he goes to another code. Plenty of other players have done that yet the crucifixion of them lasted only long enough until the next wunderkid was discovered. In my eyes, he's a young man (21 years of age, as hard as it is to believe) who has just been offered double the salary to essentially do the same job in another city. If an employer offered me double the salary to move to another city and work, I'd give it strong consideration.
The real issue lies with the NRL and the feeble salary cap that our game is subject to. David Gallop has said repeatedly that the game doesn't have a money tree and I accept that. What I find difficult to accept is that the current TV deal that the NRL has is worth $500m over 6 years yet the AFL, who has a city centric league as well (Melbourne instead of Sydney), has a deal for $780m over 5 years. If, and that's a big if, the NRL pulls their finger out and gets a decent TV deal it must upgrade the salary cap. Even a boost of $2m per club funded by the TV deal would go a long way to preventing Gasnier's and Folau's from leaving for greener pastures. The other benefit of a new TV deal is that Channel 9 can stop punishing viewers by forcing us to listen to Fatty and Sterlo on a Sunday. That's another issue for another time however.
Yes, it's sad that Izzy is going to another code and yes, it could possibly be perceived as immoral but honestly, who wouldn't do the same if they were in his shoes?
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
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Where do I start. A 21 year old who was raised by Melbourne Storm. Nursed through his teenage years with Melbourne Storm financial support, given life skills, skilled in rugby league & shown stardom by Melbourne Storm while the QRL & ARL probably wasted money while training him in under age programmes. He leaves the Storm with the excuse of needing to be with family, goes to the Broncos (who he says is a great club) & leaves the Broncos to go to Sydney specifically to play & promote a code against rugby league that made him a household name. The Storm & Broncos & NRL have been shafted by this immature, money grabbing example of a person who thinks nothing of loyalty & morality in lining his pockets with gold. GWS may get their own taste of Folau's non loyal self centred ideas with him saying after 16 months that this is not for me I want to go somewhere else. And fancy getting advice from special K who couldn't get enough money from league to satisfy his lifestyle & couldn't cop the heat when he thought he could do what he liked (legal or not). I doubt very much he will be any good at rules & will come crawling back to league where some club will pick him up. And if Qld select him for origin 2 I won't be watching & I won't be too keen on him playing the season with the Broncos.
ReplyDeleteWere the cricketers in the 70's who went to the World Series Cricket disloyal? Was Trent Barrett disloyal for going to the UK at an early-ish age? Did Ben Graham make a disloyal decision to go to the NFL and in the process leaving Geelong at the age of 31 when he arguably had a few years left? Were the Broncos disloyal for going to Super League and abandoning the ARL? I don't believe so.
ReplyDeleteAn example of something that I deem slightly immoral is when Alfie quit the Broncos in 99 only to return to Warrington in the UK Super League. That was a hell of a lot worse than Izzy in my opinion - yes he stayed in League but what did the NRL benefit from in Alfie's case? Nothing.
Athlete's sporting careers are finite and as such I think they are justified in making the best decisions for themselves financially. There's nothing stopping him playing AFL for 3 years and coming back to the NRL when he's 25. More power to him I reckon.
To do things to improve the game or organisation you participate in within Australia is totally different to what folau has done to Aussie rugby league or chasing money overseas as Sonny Bill has done. Most league players chase the dollar in the UK when at the end of their career & hasn't Trent set the world on fire at the Sharks since coming back. Gaz was dudded by shonkey 3rd party payments. And put Ben in the hasbeen class whose contract payments may have been getting less. To compare what a few others have done as you have noted is not what folau has done. In the 70's actions were taken to improve conditions & playing formats that were needed & Super League also had an agenda to improve the game that was being run by blinkered management & both had a positive outcomes for the sport not one individual. Folau said he is not doing it for the money but as a challenge while he still hasn't mastered league, give me a break. Nothing will change in my mind his disloyalty to what made him. And I don't support what Dell, Loti & Rogers did previously.
ReplyDeleteSonny Bill was different - he openly broke a contract with the Bulldogs and in effect fled the country. Israel is honouring his contract with Brisbane and it's his right to do what he wants after that.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who says they aren't doing it for the money is a liar - but that's includes every sportsperson out there. Folau would have been instructed to say that so it doesn't attract negative publicity and really everyone does that.
I just can't agree that it's disloyal - the definition of loyalty is being faithful to commitments and Israel is doing that.
I'll agree to disagree but when money makes you turn your back on an organisation that made you what you are & you know that you were bought to attack the game that made you, you have to wonder what kind of person folau is. Not to mention the afl, the gws coach & greedy managers who masterminded this act.
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