Are footballers paid too much?

 

​Are footballers paid too much?

I believe that footballers get paid too much and here's why. Firstly, people believe that footballers are entertainers and that these sportsmen risk their health to enthral us. They are, of course, entertainers but there is no risk in running around on a carpet of grass kicking a round ball towards a net. If you want a risky job then think about being a firefighter. They risk their lives to stop people from dying and losing their worldly goods. Workers should get paid based on how risky their job is, on what they do for society, not how well they run around a pitch following a ball like a child. Workers who benefit society are those who should get paid millions. Policemen and policewomen go on twelve hour shifts each day to ensure that you are safe at all times. Teachers help you begin your life on the right foot ensuring that you are able to work at the best of your abilities. In essence, they are in charge of raising the next generation around the world and making sure that it will become a better place for everyone. Doctors help everybody improve both their physical health and their mental health, which is vital in today's world because of the pressures we receive from society and social media. When someone breaks their leg, I don't see Cristiano Ronaldo thinking of stepping out of his Lamborghini to help you fix the fissure, yet somehow he is able to kick a football around, evade taxes and still manage to get paid in a week over six times more than a doctor in the United States earns in a year. We don't need professional football, but we do need people doing necessary jobs to ensure that everyone in this room, for example, is safe, healthy and ready to move on in society.

Secondly, people argue that footballers work very hard to make a living out of this sport. Honestly, I can't believe this argument for a second. Kicking and running? The kids in Year Two have just spent the past hour doing exactly that! If you believe that football is a tough job then compare the lifestyle of a player to the one of a certain history teacher in the school. Believe me when I say that only one deserves to be a millionaire when you compare the work hours of these two jobs. You cannot compare a sixteen hour work day to a three hour one, especially when the latter involves running around, tax evasion and bragging about the goals you scored to strangers.

Finally, my friends in the opposition may argue about what teams are going to do with all the money that that they earn. Well, instead of spending their yearly budget of billions of euros on football players they can spend the cash on helping others. The unemployed, for example, could benefit massively if a quarter of the money was spent on them. It is unbelievable that a fifth of the country we live in right now is jobless and are almost unable to make ends meet, whilst on the other end of the scale, people who earn two million euros a week are selfish enough to evade tax and have the nerve to use the incredible public services that ensure that we are all safe and healthy, wherever and whoever we are. 
​
You might be thinking that if Real Madrid help the unemployed then they will be wasting their money, losing out. But in my view it is a win-win situation. If a football team began helping society, then any person in their right mind would begin to be a fan of the club, meaning that more people would want to buy their merchandise and try and get tickets to see their team play in the stadium, and as I'm sure that we all understand that positive advertising will increase demand, which will increase the price of the team's merchandise and tickets for matches, which will raise the clubs profits and, of course, profit is what everyone searches for especially in such a competitive market.
In conclusion, I urge you to vote against the motion: footballers get paid way too much to kick a ball around. 

​Patrick B, Year 13