04/20/24
June 07, 2007
Bluebirds and Vikings: A product of English football's centre of excellence, Rhys Weston made his debut for Arsenal on the same day as Ashley Cole, has been capped multiple times for his country and has played more than 200 professional games. But now, along with hundreds of other footballers each off-season, he's out of a job, thinking about mortgage payments and waiting for the phone to ring.
posted by Mr Bismarck to soccer at 05:47 PM - 9 comments
£67,850 may not be enough to live the "dream life" but is more than many ever see. And that is League One. I'm sure it is tough for Rhys Weston, but it is a lot tougher for a lot of other people.
posted by Fence at 02:20 PM on June 08, 2007
I knew it was a risk the comments would go down this avenue when I posted the story, but I thought the all or nothing aspect of the life of the non-glamour footballers made for a good read compared to sportspages crammed with details of which first class cabin Beckham will be using to fly from Los Angeles to Wembley. The average wage listed for a League One footballer is certainly more than I'll make too, but then the nothing Weston is earning now is a lot less than I'm making and my employment isn't quite so arbitrary. Perhaps I could have worded the FPP differently, because it certainly wasn't my intent to offer the story up as "look at the poor professional sportman." I'm sure Weston's step-child isn't hurting for bread and shoelaces and I didn't mean to represent it as such, I just found the story interesting. Weston didn't suddenly become a bad player and he didn't suddenly lose the experience he'd gained, but a change of managers or a bad 45 minutes could end his career and at the time, he wouldn't even know and this happens to hundreds of footballers every summer, in England alone.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 05:00 PM on June 08, 2007
I knew it was a risk the comments would go down this avenue when I posted the story... I thought the post was a good read, and quite informative as well. After I read it, I thought about the fringe players in other sports in the USA. Think of all the triple-A hangers on who keep coming back with the hope of catching a break and making it to the major leagues. For that matter, you can see it in the independent basball leagues. It is common for former major leaguers or those from the minors to play in these leagues, hoping that the scouts might come around someday. Curtis Pride and Brendan Donnelly both played here in Nashua, NH, and there are many others. I thought also of a lot of American Hockey League players who hold on hoping for the call to the NHL. For most, it is a vain hope.
posted by Howard_T at 09:48 PM on June 08, 2007
I thought this was a great read too, Mr Bismarck. Sadly, I think a lot of young players get into bad habits when times are good, often with the connivance of agents, chasing the best buck without much loyalty or a long-term plan, rather than looking at their overall career. I always find it refreshing to read about counter-examples to that trend, or about retiring players who'd had the sense to learn another trade while the football money was coming in, like Weston is planning to study for his MBA.
posted by Abiezer at 12:16 AM on June 09, 2007
The thing that makes sports careers different than most other careers is that if your job is to make widgets (or run a factory making widgets) you can probably get a job making thingamajigs (or running a factory making thingamajigs). On the other hand if your job is playing soccer (or running a soccer team) you probably can't get a job playing cricket (or running a cricket team). I've seen lots on the big contracts some players get, but this is the first I've seen on the financial instability on the bottom. Thanks.
posted by oxocerite at 01:15 AM on June 09, 2007
I just found the story interesting. So did I, and I think that more sports sections/magazines should run articles on the lower levels. But at the same time I thought the article, rather than your post, seemed a bit "poor footballers" for my taste. Although I did like the fact that Weston pointed out that he has no fallback at the moment and will be doing a management course (iirc) which is something that more young sports people should consider.
posted by Fence at 09:26 AM on June 09, 2007
Perhaps I was a little terse in my original response. Articles like this one about the side of football most fans are unaware of are always welcome. However, I don't think I'm alone in finding it difficult to have much sympathy for those who have been fortunate enough to play professional football for some part of their working lives, but now find themselves unable to find a team for whatever reason. I guess I'd have more sympathy for a player whose career was cut short by serious injury, as to an extent in the situations of players such as Weston there's always an uncertainty as to whether their lack of a club is down to their own attitude or lack of application.
posted by squealy at 10:20 AM on June 09, 2007
Related article about ex-Boston United player Brad Maylett.
posted by squealy at 05:55 AM on June 11, 2007
It's a hard life, but one the rest of us mortals have to get used to. In other news poor ickle David Bentley is too over-tired to represent his country. Bless the brave little soldier.