What’s the obsession with prize-money?

Posted: 2009-05-13 14:44
on www.kickoff.com

Have you ever noticed how obsessed the local soccer scene is with the prize money that is up for grabs in the various club competitions here on South Africa?

You can ask any Chiefs or Pirates supporter how much money their club stands to gain by winning the MTN 8, Nedbank Cup or the Absa Premiership for example and they’ll be able to spit out an answer without thinking twice about it!

Now try asking a Barcelona or Manchester United fan how much their club stands to win if they go on to lift the League or Champions League trophy and they will struggle to give you an answer.

For some odd reason we have developed this obsession with prize money, focusing more on the fat check than the actual trophy! Why must there always be some guy in a suite presenting the winning team with one of that big fake fat cheque’s as if they’ve just won a house on Win ikayah?

The latest 'craze' seems to be the media speculation on just how much money the players stand to gain if they win the cup. Is it really any of our business if a club decides to give the players a portion of the winnings?

I get that these big corporations spend a lot of money as sponsors of the Competitions but surely by now the public knows that there’s a couple of million on the line. We all know the Absa Premiership is the richest League on the continent, but you have to ask yourself whether the league is rich in value as well. So few Absa Premiership players go on to make a name for themselves in big European teams and the last time a South African team won the African Champions league I was 10 years old! (I’m now 23)

I think it’s time that we changed this “prize money” mentality around and start focusing on what’s really important. Playing with pride and playing for titles!

This piece was written by Ashraf Stakala on Team KICK OFF