Can you cash in from sport?
By TMX Archives on 14th Apr 11
This week editor JD boldly sails into the uncharted waters of professional sport and dives hopefully for a reward...
In an era that sees high-end professional sportsmen and women paid by the million, pounds or dollars, you choose - sometimes per week - I have to admit to a curious interest in this aspect of sport, although by the stage you are earning professionally, the terms sport and business become virtually impossible to separate. Spectators pay to watch sport, those providing that sport are in business. My personal interest is based around the question of who provides the cash to pay the professionals their millions - with a side issue of trying to ensure that it isn't me, particularly if I have no interest whatsoever in the sport in question!
During my troll through the newspapers recently I came across an article by Martin Samuel, in my humble opinion one of the better columnists, in whatever subject he applies himself, in which he drew attention to the fact that grants for some of our so-called professional sportspersons (see how politically correct I am!) have, in light of the fact that Britain is a bust flush, recently been cut. He made reference to a female snowboarder who had just lost her annual grant from UK Sport of £20,194. I'm sure all you kids out there struggling to run your off-roader on minimum wage are absolutely devastated for her.
Our columnist went on to state that in times of austerity some things have to give and clearly paying someone in excess of 20 grand a year in order that they can apply themselves diligently to sliding down a snowy hill on a "plank of wood” (his words, not mine, I of course know that a pro snowboard is much more technical that - I also know that he was being facetious!) is something that we can actually live without.
How right he is. I have nothing whatsoever against people snowboarding, in fact I'm all for it, just as long as they aren't spending my money doing it, so I am right on side here. But our newly poor snowboarding girl is of course just the tip of the iceberg. I decided to have a quick look at Sport UK and discovered that it is funded by a combination of the National Lottery and from "the exchequer” which of course means our taxes. I don't intend to bang on about this but if you are interested I invite you to Google Sport UK yourself and marvel at some of the funding involved. My favourite was learning that the Trampolining and Tumbling World Championships, which are to take place in Birmingham in October this year (unmissable I would say, make a note in your diary now) are funded to the tune of £450,000. That's nearly half a million quid - just so a few people can bounce around and fall over.
If you really can become a professional and make money out of your sport (without me being robbed in order to pay you!) that is fine and of course many thousands do. Football, tennis, golf, basketball and cricket are just a handful of sports from which individuals can make their fortunes, snooker and darts may appeal if the fitness side of things worry you. And if making a living from sport is your goal (pardon the pun) then the obvious thing to do is get good at a sport that pays out rather than one that doesn't and then complaining about it.
I say this because I get more than a few calls and emails from people (OK parents) who bemoan the fact that they (their offspring) are good at riding their motorcycle and want to know why they aren't getting paid to do so. I do accept the point that when you are performing in front of a crowd you are providing entertainment and from that point of view you are entitled to payment. The question is, how many people are you entertaining and what is this worth? All you have to ask yourself is, where is the money supposed to come from?
Back in 1987 Derrick Edmondson was World Enduro Champion, without question one of the finest motorcyclists in the world. You would have thought, and so did Derrick, that factories would be beating a path to his door to pay him to ride a bike. Those of us with long memories though know that the best offer Derrick got that year was to act as the official factory Assistant to Steve Saunders in the World Trials Championship! This was no ‘ordinary' job offer, it was with the mighty Rothmans Honda squad.
But it does highlight the point that just because you have a natural talent, and have sweated blood to hone your skills, there is no rule that says there is some kind of ‘right' to be rewarded for it.
Martin Lampkin once told me that he had wanted Dougie to choose golf as a method of earning a living from sport. I asked Mart if he thought Doug would have made a go of it. He had no hesitation answering, "Absolutely, he'd have applied himself in exactly the same way that he did with trials, with one hundred percent dedication.”
And speaking as someone who was once paid a fiver as the prize for winning the local club's Wednesday Evening Twin-shock Over 40 Championship (four trials, three to count) which undeniably qualified me as a professional sportsman at the time, I clearly know what I am talking about here...
