The_Dud wrote: ↑Thu 17 Jun 2021 10:21am
B.M wrote: ↑Wed 16 Jun 2021 11:47pm
Why is that???
It’s not just a game of local footy
It’s a multi million dollar business
Jobs are always on the line, that means livelihoods
You lose games of footy, careers end!!!
People have gone on Ashes tours and missed births, first words, first steps, milestones, family deaths.
It’s the nature of professional sport
You sign a contract
The players aren't coal miners, FIFO workers, in the Defence Force, or professional cricketers. People go in to all those roles with their eyes wide open about the travel and time away from family that is part of the job. Otherwise they don't go into those industries.
Where in the contract AFL footballers sign did it say they'd be away from their families for weeks and months on end in the middle of a pandemic?
And despite that still 99% of them went along with it no problem.
Wage is still irrelevant. They get paid so much because that's how much revenue the sport earns, its not a reflection of the importance of their job in the world. And anyway, the players are paid by the AFL (it's not St Kilda's money) and Seb and Membrey missing a game does not cost the AFL one cent in lost revenue, the game still goes on, the same amount of people still turn up and still watch it on TV.
Potentially losing footy matches and careers would have all been factors when coming to the decision, and in the end this was the best path for them both. I'm sure there are many many more instances when these things are weighed up and the player chooses to play, and we never hear anything about it.
Gee whiz Dud, we're talking a couple of weeks away. Last year was completely different. If this thing drags on into moths then I would be far more understanding.
Wage is NOT irrelevant, doesn't matter how much you say it is. It IS a reflection of the importance of their job. They are the stars in a billion dollar industry. We can try and trivialise what they do but how many of us have 10's of thousands of ppl watching us at work each week, passionately screaming that we do the right thing, idolising us, buying items with our photos on it etc etc? How many of us get interviewed after work each week? Newspapers writing about us. We can moralise about how doctors and scientists contribute far more, but as a society we have set the importance of their work and they (the players) have accepted these terms and benefited massively. I don't begrudge them 1 cent, but I expect a huge commitment and a huge sacrifice in return. I've said this ad nauseum, no -one would expect either player to be away if a loved one was seriously ill. It's simply not the case here though, but ppl keep banging on about 'family comes first.' Does that mean a player leaving the team to attend a christening, a 21st, a parents 60th birthday, a wedding anniversary, a graduation are all on the agenda for players to leave as well? Are you ok with players not playing for these reasons?
