Central Coast rugby league clubs won’t pay players this season
This season of the Central Coast District Rugby League will be `amateur only’ with clubs ripping up contracts and telling players there will be no payments, casting concerns over an exodus of first graders.
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From first grade sides littered with 18-19 year olds to NSW Cup players returning to park footy, this season will change the landscape of rugby league on the Central Coast for years to come.
Central Coast rugby league clubs have been “pretty unanimous” in their decision to cut any player payments this season as the COVID-19 pandemic brings licenced venues — and the clubs they support — to their knees.
There has always been a seismic gap between the teams backed by licensed leagues clubs and independent clubs in terms of player payments and on-field results.
But instead of independent clubs trying to use the current climate to turn the tables on bigger clubs, it appears all clubs have agreed to an amateur season.
Kincumber Colts coach Tony Clark, who spent several years with the powerhouse Wyong Roos, said it was actually an opportunity to “restructure Central Coast footy”.
“We have told our players all previous contracts are null and void,” he said.
Clark said player payments have long been an “ill wind” that blows through competitions with wealthier teams able to pay more to buy talent simply “because they could”.
He said while he could understand if some current first grade players did not want to play, it would be good to see players doing it for the love of the game.
“If we see 18 and 19 year old kids playing first grade so be it,” he said.
“If we can bring through a new generation without this sense of entitlement it will be good.”
He said any exodus of players could be balanced by NSW Cup and fringe NRL reserve grade players returning to their local club looking for a game.
However Central Coast District Rugby League president Gerard Andrews said that was unlikely with moves to form a President’s Cup competition in Sydney for those players.
Some local first grade players have said they will sit the season out with the player payments the final straw.
“We’ve already missed half the season by now,” one player told the Express Advocate.
“Why would I play half a season and risk injury, and have to take time off work, if there’s no payments. As it is, it’s two nights at training and pretty much all day Sunday, it’s a big commitment.”
Mr Andrews said he understood that sentiment and said in the current jobs climate those players needed to look after themselves and their families.
However he too sees it as a chance for leagues clubs to start with a “clean slate” in 2021.
“Really I think this is a great opportunity for those leagues clubs to recalibrate their match payments,” he said.
Mr Andrews said match payments were “unsustainable” and this crisis would enable leagues clubs to sit down and really think about how much they are paying players in what is essentially a fourth-tier competition.
“And whether they’re getting ripped off,” he said.
How much players have been paid on the coast has been a tightly held secret but it is understood some marquee players could get up to $1000 or more for a win with other signing bonuses thrown in.
Mr Andrews said a salary cap would be impossible to police but the effects of this season’s absence of payments would be felt for years to come.
He said it was inevitable some clubs would start offering a bit of money to attract someone to their team but it would take a few years for the leagues clubs to financially recover from the economic impact of COVID-19.
It comes as the Wyong Roos have announced the club will field teams this season after initially ruling out the season because of the cost.