Rugby Union Salaries

astonaidan

Just wondering does anyone know where i could find out how much rugby players are payed, Ive done a search on google but the likes of ROG & BOD vary from 300 grand to 1 million, trying to build my dream team just need to see how much itll cost me :pac:

Roomic Cube

If someone comes up with good stats, I wouldnt mind making an infographic outta the info

danthefan

No Irish player is on a contract anywhere near €1m salary as far as I know. They might get near that with endorsements, etc, I don't know.

CatFromHue

A yearly salary of 1m no, maybe 1m over a few years though.

GiftofGab

100k for a non-international magnets league players, 300-400k for internationals......well that was a few years ago. I heard sexton is on about 700k

thomond2006

GiftofGab wrote: »

100k for a non-international magnets league players, 300-400k for internationals......well that was a few years ago. I heard sexton is on about 700k

Really?! That seems enormous for someone who isn't guaranteed a place in the Ireland starting lineup (albeit he likely will be a guaranteed starter in 1/2 seasons).

Mister Dread

GiftofGab wrote: »

100k for a non-international magnets league players, 300-400k for internationals......well that was a few years ago. I heard sexton is on about 700k

I don't think that is accurate.

astonaidan

Like I presumed the likes of ROG, Sexton, BOD, POC would be the top payed players in Ireland, I was just wondering where they compared worldwide, Like Chabal is supposedly on 1.3 million, I presume the likes of Carter, McCaw, Wilkinson would be on good wages but it doesnt really give an accurate account as to how much

thomond2006

astonaidan wrote: »

Like I presumed the likes of ROG, Sexton, BOD, POC would be the top payed players in Ireland, I was just wondering where they compared worldwide, Like Chabal is supposedly on 1.3 million, I presume the likes of Carter, McCaw, Wilkinson would be on good wages but it doesnt really give an accurate account as to how much

Chabal carries huge marketing potential, his image rights would be worth bucketloads. His salary doesn't reflect his playing ability, which is average.

CatFromHue

Chabal is one of the highest paid players around and he also plays for a club bank rolled by a very rich man. What he gets paid would not be of any relevance to Irish clubs.

I really doubt Sexton is on 700,000. 3 years ago he wasn't getting his game for Leinster and is still fighting for the starting spot for Ireland.

Mister Dread

I was under the impression that most of the Irish squad were on 200-300K and then whatever else they made on top of that themselves.

I heard a couple of years ago that the salary was approx 100K and players got an international cap bonus of around 5K and a win bonus of 8K

I'm not 100% on that now..

GerM

GiftofGab wrote: »

100k for a non-international magnets league players, 300-400k for internationals......well that was a few years ago. I heard sexton is on about 700k

You heard wrong. No Irish player is on that or near it. Sexton wouldn't be in the top few Irish earners. He turned down more money abroad to stay with Leinster.

GerM

astonaidan wrote: »

Like I presumed the likes of ROG, Sexton, BOD, POC would be the top payed players in Ireland, I was just wondering where they compared worldwide, Like Chabal is supposedly on 1.3 million, I presume the likes of Carter, McCaw, Wilkinson would be on good wages but it doesnt really give an accurate account as to how much

The Kiwis are on good money but not as much as there isn't as much money floating around NZ. But Carter and McCaw make that up in some fairly hefty endorsements which they wouldn't get in Europe. For lesser NZ players, the move to Europe is a healthy boost in income. Sexton wouldn't be in the same bracket as the others in terms of salary but Heaslip is and Hayes was as far as I'm aware.

irishh_bob

GerM wrote: »

The Kiwis are on good money but not as much as there isn't as much money floating around NZ. But Carter and McCaw make that up in some fairly hefty endorsements which they wouldn't get in Europe. For lesser NZ players, the move to Europe is a healthy boost in income. Sexton wouldn't be in the same bracket as the others in terms of salary but Heaslip is and Hayes was as far as I'm aware.

+1 , the likes of johny wilkinson ( in his prime ) was probabley on double what the highest earning all black took home including endorsements for advertising everything from steinlager to massey fergusons , new zealand is not a particulary wealthy country

Conas

BOD is probaly the most payed player in this country.

MLC61

I remember reading somewhere reputable that BOD was on 450,000 plus endorsements. I will try to dig up the source. I also seem to remember that the figure quoted for endorsements was significantly less than you would think - certainly wasn't bringing him anywhere near the million mark.

This was a couple of years ago however. I am sure that the O2 deal etc was not factored into this.

GerM

Conas wrote: »

BOD is probaly the most payed player in this country.

Hard to say. The top lads all took pay cuts when signing their new contracts this season. If I was to hazard a guess as to who is on the biggest money directly through his contract right now, I think Heaslip would be the one. The older lads have their tax refund to think about and they won't want to walk away now. Heaslip was in a stronger bargaining position than anyone.

durkadurka

Jackman said he was on 150k At his peak. He was pretty much second choice for Ireland for a year or two.

astonaidan

I wasnt talking bout an irish only thing, I was trying to find out who would be the top payed players in the world, If I was to guess id say ROG and BOD would be the top 2 payed Irish players since they are faces of the provinces, Supposedly the new zealand players arent payed that much at all and McCaw and Carter get most of their money from adidas and if they left NZ they would lose money because they werent playing for the AllBlacks

MLC61

While O’Driscoll was always likely to stay, the longer negotiations dragged on between the union and Fintan Drury, agent to both Sexton and Heaslip, the more it was feared one or the other, especially Heaslip, might leave.

In the end, the negotiations culminated in both staying put, despite a reported €1.1 million, two-year deal from Stade Francais for Sexton, though Michael Cheika, the ex-Leinster and now Stade coach, said last night: “There is absolutely no way we could be paying that kind of money to any player.”

Racing Metro 92 were one of a number of clubs, not all French, which had expressed an interest in Heaslip, with Racing believed to have offered even bigger sums.

The reasons why the trio have decided to stay are probably fourfold, to varying degrees. First, the IRFU must have come up with a financial package that came closer to matching their current valuation. This is especially so on the French market where wealthy private benefactors, such as Racing president Jacky Lorenzetti, who heads giant real estate company Foncia, and Toulon benefactor Mourad Boudjellal, who made his fortune in the comic strip business, can operate without the restrictive salary cap that exists in England.

Given the money on offer, it is likely Heaslip has signed an improved deal in the ballpark of €400,000-€500,000 per year with incentives (such as his number of Test appearances per season), with Sexton perhaps in the region of €350,000-€400,000 including incentives.

O’Driscoll, who turned 32 a fortnight ago, most likely accepted a reduction in his basic package to remain with Leinster until the end of the 2012-13 season, by which stage he will be 34.

Article by Gerry Thornley in Irish Times in February.

CatFromHue

Remember with the Kiwi's that £250,000 GBP is equal to nearly $500,000 NZ Dollars. It used to be a hell of a lot more too. So if you're on a good wage in New Zealand you can still go to England and pretty much double it.

tolosenc

IIRC Sexton was being offered in the region of 700,000 by Toulouse, but took lower pay to stay at Leinster. That's probably the origin of that figure. I'd be surprised if he;s on any more than half of that.

irishh_bob

astonaidan wrote: »

I wasnt talking bout an irish only thing, I was trying to find out who would be the top payed players in the world, If I was to guess id say ROG and BOD would be the top 2 payed Irish players since they are faces of the provinces, Supposedly the new zealand players arent payed that much at all and McCaw and Carter get most of their money from adidas and if they left NZ they would lose money because they werent playing for the AllBlacks

they ( mc caw and carter ) are household celebritys in new zealand , they couldnt sell shampoo or sunglasses in the uk or europe so would be completley reliant on rugby for earnings

danthefan

tolosenc wrote: »

IIRC Sexton was being offered in the region of 700,000 by Toulouse, but took lower pay to stay at Leinster. That's probably the origin of that figure. I'd be surprised if he;s on any more than half of that.

Wow. If that's true then imo he was nuts not to take it for a season or two.

astonaidan

irishh_bob wrote: »

they ( mc caw and carter ) are household celebritys in new zealand , they couldnt sell shampoo or sunglasses in the uk or europe so would be completley reliant on rugby for earnings

Thats what i was saying they lose endorsements so theyd have to be relying on rugby contracts, Im nealry sure they have something like 200grand contracts with the allblacks which is nothing compared to their endorsment contracts

longhalloween

I read that Rob Kearney gets about 250k for playing, I'd say that's fairly standard across the board.

robd

longhalloween wrote: »

I read that Rob Kearney gets about 250k for playing, I'd say that's fairly standard across the board.

Mr Kearney isn't doing to bad at all given the 269 sqm house he's currently having knocked up for himself in Ranelagh.

As far as I read a few years back most of the players will play for one of the provinces for less money than they can earn abroad because they get to play much less games and get a batter crack at trophies etc. Playing less games prolongs their careers.

Thud

How much you reckon ROG is getting from Newbridge?

davegrohl48

But there is also the fact that they would get very few sponsorship opportunities abroad. Rob Kearney has earned significant cash to be filmed eating a Nutri grain bar.

magotch07

from what was reported in the last round of contract negoiations i.e. Heaslip and Sexton

Heaslip is the best paid irish player on approx 500k
Sexton is on 400k i think his contract was for 2 years and worth 1 million including bonus
BOD took a paycut to about 300k

in contrast in france i was dating a good friend of Sonny B and he was offered 2 million a season to stay at toulan but chose the NZ and i think is on 700k NZD a year but is allowed to continue boxing

ISAW

magotch07 wrote: »

from what was reported in the last round of contract negoiations i.e. Heaslip and Sexton

Heaslip is the best paid irish player on approx 500k
Sexton is on 400k i think his contract was for 2 years and worth 1 million including bonus
BOD took a paycut to about 300k

in contrast in france i was dating a good friend of Sonny B and he was offered 2 million a season to stay at toulan but chose the NZ and i think is on 700k NZD a year but is allowed to continue boxing

Toulon seem flush with money and are an exception like Chelsea or Man city in soccer.
You also have to consider

1. You are picking less than ten names who all play at top international level and not the 200 or so who play at proverince or professional club level.

2. They have to retire in their mid thirties aty best and ~ find a job! Only a very few top known publically guys ( who have a flair for talking or writing) will find a media job.

3. suppose you have to pay a full pension into a fund in fifteen years of work instead of 40 years. the contributions would be HUGE!

4. On the plus side they get tax writeoffs for pensions and for income tax.

i would recon the average ( take a figure above which 50% of prefessionals do not get paid) is about 40 to 50k which is an average industrial wage.

.ak

danthefan wrote: »

Wow. If that's true then imo he was nuts not to take it for a season or two.

Maybe playing for Leinster/Ireland means much more?

Thud

is there a sports tax exemption like the artists exemption?

cython

Thud wrote: »

is there a sports tax exemption like the artists exemption?

I don't think so, but there is some clause whereby if the likes of BOD or ROG finish their career in Ireland, then they get a certain amount of tax refunded. So that way it is in their interest to stay in Ireland for a lower salary than they might get abroad, as they would need to earn significantly more there to match it in the long run. I can't remember the exact details to quantify it though, I'm afraid.

prospect

Certain sports person are entitled to tax retirement relief on certain income they have earned whilst playing sports professionally.

Sportsperson’s are entitled to relief on 40% of there income earned from the sport.
They can pick out the best 10 years of earnings derived from sports.
The relief can be offset against Total Income earned in the 10 years of assessment.
You can back-date to 1990/91

Conditions:
Sportsperson must be permanently retired from the Sport concerned.
If the person resumes the sporting activity the relief will be withdrawn by making an assessment for Income Tax under Case IV of Schedule D for the year of assessment.
Income from Sponsorship or Image rights cannot be counted.


* Source - http://www.gerardkiernan.ie/Sportsperson_Relief.html

JustinDee

magotch07 wrote: »

from what was reported in the last round of contract negoiations i.e. Heaslip and Sexton

Heaslip is the best paid irish player on approx 500k
Sexton is on 400k i think his contract was for 2 years and worth 1 million including bonus
BOD took a paycut to about 300k

Figures have not been made public. Any amounts read are just speculation. Players' salaries, quite rightly, are private matters.

magotch07 wrote: »

in contrast in france i was dating a good friend of Sonny B and he was offered 2 million a season to stay at toulan but chose the NZ and i think is on 700k NZD a year but is allowed to continue boxing

Toulon is a privately-owned organisation. Monsieur Eccentrique can throw any amount of cash he wants at a player. Hence Toulon's comparitive lack of contribution to the French national team.

GerM

Thud wrote: »

How much you reckon ROG is getting from Newbridge?

30 pieces of silver sounds about right.

bamboozle

i'd say the magner's league lads earn between 60-100k per season.
lads on development around 30-40k.
Centrally contracted players 200-450k per season.
there'd then be match fees, win bonuses and endorsements, apparently Healy got 100k to endorse Berocca.

salaries aside a major factor for the professional rugby players is the tax rebate they receive upon retirement, 40% of tax back on the income tax earned from playing (not endorsements) for their 10 highest earning years in rugby.

so if player A was on an average of 225k a year over 10 years, lets say that equates to 900k in income tax paid over the 10 years, 40% rebate would be 360k

i'm sure there's a bit of hello money knocking about also for lads to open shops, pubs, nightclubs etc (well the pubs and nightclubs that Sean Og hasnt already got the gig for!)

bamboozle

prospect wrote: »

Certain sports person are entitled to tax retirement relief on certain income they have earned whilst playing sports professionally.

Sportsperson’s are entitled to relief on 40% of there income earned from the sport.
They can pick out the best 10 years of earnings derived from sports.
The relief can be offset against Total Income earned in the 10 years of assessment.
You can back-date to 1990/91

Conditions:
Sportsperson must be permanently retired from the Sport concerned.
If the person resumes the sporting activity the relief will be withdrawn by making an assessment for Income Tax under Case IV of Schedule D for the year of assessment.
Income from Sponsorship or Image rights cannot be counted.


* Source - http://www.gerardkiernan.ie/Sportsperson_Relief.html

I thought it was 40% relief on income tax paid during their highest 10 years of earning? could be wrong though

Great mini-documentary here about life as a professional rugby player. John Muldoon would be an excellent example of a typical Irish pro I'd imagine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDgKHySObFs

Muldoon @ 08:15

"Average non-international close to 100k
Top internationals 300-400k"

danthefan

bamboozle wrote: »

I thought it was 40% relief on income tax paid during their highest 10 years of earning? could be wrong though

Yeah this is correct, 40% of 10 years worth of income tax.

porterbelly

Glass ceiling in Connacht is about 100k. Probably being paid to likes of Muldoon, O'Connor, Duffy. Others would be below that. George Naoupu may be on a small bit more than 100k, marquee signing.

Thud

JustinDee wrote: »

Figures have not been made public. Any amounts read are just speculation. Players' salaries, quite rightly, are private matters.
.

but you could tell us if we were close with our guesses right??

bamboozle

heard recently about a 19 year old out of school being offered 350 match fee from an AIL club.

Also heard last season of an AIL player being on 180k over 3 seasons.

totallegend

bamboozle wrote: »

there'd then be match fees, win bonuses and endorsements, apparently Healy got 100k to endorse Berocca.

Sweet j*sus! Source?? That is a staggering amount of money!

JustinDee

totallegend wrote: »

Sweet j*sus! Source??

Bloke down the pub? His sister's husband's best mate's plumber was once on a bus at the same time as this fella who heard from another bloke down the pub who knew a barman that served someone from the same country as someone else who had once flown over Clontarf on a Ryanair flight that took off from a European city that Cian Healy had once taken a holiday in.

bamboozle

JustinDee wrote: »

Bloke down the pub? His sister's husband's best mate's plumber was once on a bus at the same time as this fella who heard from another bloke down the pub who knew a barman that served someone from the same country as someone else who had once flown over Clontarf on a Ryanair flight that took off from a European city that Cian Healy had once taken a holiday in.

do you ever get tired pontificating on here?

Luckycharm

bamboozle wrote: »

heard recently about a 19 year old out of school being offered 350 match fee from an AIL club.

Also heard last season of an AIL player being on 180k over 3 seasons.

Just to play AIL? that would surprise me given how most AIL clubs are just scrapping by and not exactly getting big crowds these days.

I think the Development contracts are very small closer to the €20k mark and you earn more through appearances and win bonuses.

JustinDee

bamboozle wrote: »

do you ever get tired pontificating on here?

Oh relax.
It was a joke. Hence the little smiling thingy at end of post.

But since you want to talk all serious etc, do elaborate as somebody else has asked where you heard that.

Denners.ie

Development contracts are €22,000.