What do players deserve?

When one comes to discuss players salaries it is a tricky issue in any sport and in many countries around the globe.

The general public will often say that sports persons earn too much, club and country managers would often agree, while players will say they are earning at market value and would earn even more if possible. And to be honest who wouldn't...


Now we come to the difficult situation surrounding the Indian national football team.

The All India Football Federation is to contract 30 players from June 2010 to January 2011 as part of Team India's preparations for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

And I saw this step as a right one when announced, but a lot of time has gone since the announcement and June 2010 is just a couple of weeks away with the contract issue still not settled.

And then there is the question if Bob Houghton is still the coach.


The issue which interests the players the most are their own salaries.

These players live of these salaries and they need the assurance from the federation for this eight month period.

Initially the AIFF stated that the players would get paid as per their contract with clubs in the 2009/10 season.

After protest the federation changed their mind and all players would now get a 15% increase from their last contract and players, who had much higher offers for the upcoming season, would be looked at separately.

But this doesn't seem to be enough as the players have asked for a meeting with the AIFF president Praful Patel to discuss the issue.


One has to question the AIFF why the issue wasn't sorted out earlier with the plans sanctioned a while back.

Some within the AIFF even went to the extend to tell the players not to look at the money, but rather play for the country with pride. This somewhat sounds like blackmail to me.

You should be proud that you play for the country, don't worry about the money.

The best way to have avoided such a situation would have been to put a system in place under which the players would have been divided into pay brackets depending on a number of factors, like:

- the number of international matches played
- the tours/matches they have been part of
- the number I-League matches played
- the number of years on the Indian football circuit

This to me would have been a fair system as some clubs just pay less then others.

Luckily I don't have to decide this, but still I can give a suggestion. Maybe someone at the AIFF is listening...


What do you think???

Reply to me here on my Blog, on Facebook and Twitter .