Nick Bendel
There’s a name for people like that
July 27th 2008 11:13
So it is with Sonny Bill Williams. Having been ‘mistreated’ by Canterbury, he has now been ‘forced’ to explore his options in France’s domestic rugby competition. He will not be unaware that thanks to the combination of ambitious owners and a non-existent salary cap, teams in the Top 14 have never been paying higher salaries. According to reports, a young star like Williams, who is said to be on $450,000 a year with the Bulldogs, could earn more than triple that amount. Of course, no amount of money could ever make up for the suffering he has undoubtedly been subjected to by the Bulldogs- but hopefully all those Euros will go some way to easing the pain.
The Williams walkout is part of an unfortunate trend that has taken hold in sport. These days, it is common for athletes to regard contracts not as guarantees that they gave of their own free will, and to which they are legally and ethically bound, but encumbrances that are to be shaken off at any convenient opportunity. The 22 year old New Zealander seems to share that view.
Nowhere is this trend more evident than in European football. Since the landmark Bosman ruling of 1995, which decreed that players became free agents once their contracts expired, footballers have increasingly grown more militant. Initially, they accepted with gratitude their newfound right to move at the end of their deals; later, they started requesting moves before their contracts had terminated; then, as the years further advanced, they began demanding to be released when more attractive offers came along; now, they no longer request or demand- they unilaterally declare their contracts null and void.
The ongoing Cristiano Ronaldo transfer saga exemplifies this militancy. Ever since Real Madrid, the club of his boyhood fantasies, came calling, the Portugese has been insisting that he will be turning out for Los Merengues next season- despite the fact that he recently signed a five year deal with Manchester United, his current employers. Indeed, such is the multimillionaire’s temerity, he has even agreed with the notion that he is being treated like a slave. When fabulously rich athletes, possessed of more money (and groupies) than common sense, earnestly proclaim that the lucrative agreements they entered into of their own volition are exploitive, it is clear that player power has reached unconscionable levels.
This is the environment in which Williams has made his decision. It is highly unlikely that he would have contemplated fleeing abroad 20 years ago, 10 years ago, or even five years ago. Yet today, disregarding a legal agreement has almost begun to appear normal. The reason is that too many clubs in too many sports have given way to too many of their employees, with the result that a message has gradually, but inexorably, taken hold: contracts can be violated without any meaningful consequences. This message has not been lost on Williams.
Some people will probably shrug their shoulders at all of this. A bloke’s entitled to sell himself to the highest bidder, they might say, or perhaps they’ll point out how unfairly many athletes have been treated over the years. However, that would be to miss the point. Firstly, today’s rugby league players are treated infinitely better than their forebears, many of whom, it is true, were shamefully exploited. Secondly, there is nothing wrong with shopping around for the best deal- but it must be done before the contract is signed, not after. Williams, who is only in the first year of a five year agreement, had the option, as recently as last year, to try his luck in France or sign with another outfit. Yet he chose, of his own free will, to stay with the Bulldogs.
The other point to remember is that contracts are a two-way street. Now that Williams understands by how much, according to market standards, he is being underpaid, he has decided to play the ‘mistreatment’ card, so that he can accept more money from another team. But imagine what would have happened if, for whatever reason, he had gone through a protracted form slump, leading Canterbury to conclude that he was being overpaid? Would they have been justified in arguing that because of the ‘mistreatment’ they had suffered at his hands, he had ‘forced’ them to terminate his contract?
Contracts are a form of gambling, in which both parties try to finish on top. While all sorts of horse-trading and manoeuvring takes place, nobody can be forced to sign. Sometimes the parties negotiate on even terms, sometimes they negotiate on uneven terms, but nobody signs unless they think that it is the best deal they can get. One year after putting pen to paper, Williams has decided that his gamble has failed, and that it is his employer who has finished on top. Consequently, he has flown to France in search of a better deal.
One can only wonder what role his manager, Khoder Nasser, has played in all of this. Has Nasser told his client that he has no legal right to do what he’s doing? Has he told his client that despite what the Cristiano Ronaldos of the world have done over the years, his is an act of such breathtaking arrogance and impudence that he will not be allowed to get away with it?
Certainly, that’s the word that has been coming from Australia. “Quite simply,” Canterbury chief executive Todd Greenberg announced, “if Sonny intends to play overseas, we’ll be looking to take out an injunction which will effectively stop him” from doing so. “I've had QCs look at his contract and there is absolutely no get-out clause.” The head of the NRL, David Gallop, was of the same mind, explaining that it was “unacceptable to walk out on a contract”, and that he would “support the Bulldogs in any legal action to prevent him playing for anyone else other than the club he is contracted to.” If Nasser hasn’t told him so, surely even Williams- a man not renowned for his intellectual capacities- must be realising that he has made a stupid decision.
As the story unfolds, it is certain to be covered with relish by the media. The last time the young renegade gave them something this juicy was when he was infamously caught in flagrante with Candice Falzon in a public toilet. Back then, he was dubbed Dunny Bill Williams. While nobody yet knows what nickname will take hold, it wouldn’t be surprising if Money Bill Williams, Sonny Dill Williams, or Sonny Bill Witless was to soon enter the Australian sporting lexicon.
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Comment by Fed up Fan
Comment by Buck
Sonny Bill has to be made an example of. It's as simple as that. If Sonny Bill walks away from his contract, it's a free for all. Any club overseas will be allowed to come in and offer players triple the money they get here. And I'd say most of them would leave.
The only person who has put Sonny Bill in this situation is Sonny Bill. Not that his manager is wearing a halo. If Sonny Bill were really a victim, sick of the attention, it wouldn't be a $3million contract he'd be running to, would it? He'd run home, or into hiding, not to money.
Sonny Bill is not walking away from bullying, and he's not been walked over. The Bulldogs opened the gates to Polynesians last weekend to appease Sonny Bill.
Sonny Bill will find it hard to get a long term contract from anyone now. Who'd do business someone who runs away from a deal?
I'm not going to say Andrew Johns is better or worse, cos I'm not impressed with him either. Plenty of people deal with far more terrible issues than the pressure of fame, and don't resort to drugs.
Comment by Nick Bendel
Sport: The Australian Disease
Comment by Nick Bendel
Sport: The Australian Disease
Comment by Buck
Sadly, you're probably right and someone will offer him a second (or is it fifteenth now) chance...