Re: Women's Pay
Reply #27 –
Have I confused this situation, I wasn't referring to amateur sport like athletics.
This isn't just an AFLW driven issue, although the AFLW may be the cause due to the way the contracts are written.
It seems the other professional sports, BBL, FA, Netball, Basketball, Rugby are requiring players to sign waivers excluding them from playing or training in the AFLW at the same time they are employed as professionals in the other sport.
But it seems entirely fair to me that most sports are seasonal regardless of whether they are professional or not, and that the off-season of a professional sportsperson doesn't allow you to be professional in another sport.
There are some weasel words floating around in this regard, with AFLW being touted as "semi-professional" in one context and "professional" in another. The other sports seem to be taking the position that professional is professional, even if they pay less than the AFLW.
This reminds me of Ellyse Perry situation a couple of years back.
Surely they have to make a choice!
If I as a supporter, or as a sponsor, put money into the AFLW, I do not expect that money to subsidise the players participation in another sport. I gather the other sports think that way as well.
Only when the two sports' requirements are incompatible.
I'm not sure that athletics is amateur anymore, at the elite levels anyway. Kim Mickle implied that she would be remunerated for her athletics preparation but was looking forward to being paid to play footy.
If I remember the Ellyse Perry situation correctly, she ended up playing soccer for a club that could see the benefits of having her on board when she wasn't playing cricket.
I think that for the majority of AFLW players, footy is their second sport and many will drop out after a season or two. If it does develop (as I think it will), it will become increasingly difficult to combine it with another sport. I suspect the AFL realises that the AFLW will have to play second fiddle to other sports until such time as it becomes financially viable for women to focus solely on footy.
I remember reading that the coach of the Adelaide Breakers encouraged team members to put their hands up for the AFLW because he thought it would help their basketball.