Thread by @CashNSport

I was asked to look into player salaries in rugby and football in SA.

While this is tough to do because financials are not divulged, this is what I've found ⤵️

It's no surprise that most players don't earn anywhere near what you think they do...

[THREAD]

According to a 2016 FIFPRO Global Employment Report, Less than 2% of players globally earn more than $720k a year while over 45% earn less than $1k pm.

Of players earning a salary
-74% made less than $4k net/pm
-45% earned less than $1k pm
-21% earn less than $3k net/pm

According to a 2007 parliamentary discussion with the South African Football Players Association, Mr. Thulagauyo Gocoshubelwe (Deputy General Secretary, SAFPU) spoke to player salaries and said, “The average salary was the subject of a survey which had been commissioned

It showed that 51% of players earned a monthly salary of less than R10 000.l with no extra benefits.

Only 4% of players were top earners with monthly salaries of more than R20 000, while 18% fell into a bracket of between R11 000 and R15 000.

Adjusting for inflation, the top earning players in the PSL earn on average R42,732.24 or more a month while the majority earn between R23,502.73 and R32,049.18

Ofcourse this is not an accurate measure as salaries often don't keep to inflation anyway so I'd assume lower.

I went a step further and looked at what salary tracker sites show and this is the most difinitive. According to salary expert, the average base salary is about R206k a year or R17k

Entry level R153k - R12k pm
Senior R253k - R21k pm

Given what SAFPU had found in their submissions to parliament, what the FIFPRO report said and what's on Salary Tracker, it shows that salaries have not really increased over the years.

Again, these are assessment figures, if anyone has salary slips, please share.

Onto rugby

Last year, South Africa's professional rugby players were represented by My Union in collective bargaining agreements to agree on salary cuts in the face of Covid.

That bargaining agreement in which 95% of players participated revealed the salaries that players earn.

At the time there were 717 professional rugby players in the agreement

38% of them earn between 0 and 240k a year or 20k pm
27% earn a max of 500k a year or R41k pm

That means 65% of SA rugby players don't earn more than R43k a month.

In 2018 it was revealed that Western Province was by far the highest paying club with a budget: R78 mil for 128 players

Bulls R68m for 151 players
Lions R66m for 117 players
Sharks R65m for 111 players
Cheetahs R41m for 92 players
Kings R12m for 68 players

Looking at both, the same narrative we always have around the differences in sports comes to light.

There is a lot more structure and transparency in rugby than there is in football.

Again, if anyone has difinitive numbers, please share in the comments.

Cheers 🤙🏾

Guys @Mphoza929 @Skhomo23 @siyaloyilane are these numbers in the correct ballpark or way off?