There are a lot of arguments for and against this statement. I find this topic very interesting because I love watching and playing football, so I would look at it in particular. One argument against this statement is that the financial rewards are ridiculously high. After all, they are only playing ninety minutes a week and further more some players barely compete, they just stand around and only run when it is absolutely necessary. On the other hand most players play their heart out because how else would a player get so good.
Top class players like Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho always without fail play their best every game. Top class players like these two deserve all the credit and rewards as they have trained from they were very young. This brings me to my next point, which is that they have to endure tough training schedules, often from an early age. Most players have trained from very young and that is why they are so good today. They end up being very fit and very fast. Further more, this is proved to us in matches by the level of commitment and dedication shown.
However , some players don’t start till late on in their lives. Like Ryan McMenimum from Tyrone who plays corner-back on the Tyrone senior team. He never played Minor or U-21 level and yet he was an all-star last year. Also, anytime you see soccer teams training on the news they are always doing something really light and never anything that will challenge them, although this mightn’t be a true reflection of their training. Further more, for other sports like Gaelic you need a greater degree of fitness and endurance because it is a much faster game.
My next point is that, some players are more interested in advertising gear than playing a game. Like, David Beckham who advertises Adidas gear. Some people would say that they just want the fame, but I disagree. When an opportunity like advertising gear comes along they should take it, because they have the right to make as much money as they can now when they have the chance. After all sports stars have a very brief career and the money that they earn now has to do them the rest of their lives; the money that they earn doesn’t stay around forever no matter how much they earn.
On the other hand, they’re only at the peak of their career for a short time so they don’t want to waste that time advertising gear. Besides, if the player had the passion they would be more interested in improving their game and if they got better they would earn more, far more than they would earn advertising gear. For instance, Thierry Henry earns 100,000 a week at Arsenal. Barcelona offered him 120,000. Although he refused it he could have earned 20,000 a week more.
He earns 10,000 for an advert and that opportunity comes along once every few years if you’re a top class footballer. My last point is that, professional sportsmen and sportswomen have only a brief career. Some players get serious injuries that put them out for a long time depending on the injury and when they recover they have to get back to full fitness which would take up another month or much longer e. g. Ole Gunner Solskjaer. So they’re missing about three months because of an injury.
Most players quit in their early thirties so on average players play for about thirteen years and if they get injured that could only be eleven or twelve years. Some players keep playing until their late thirties, like Alan Shearer, but this is unusual. In conclusion, I don’t think that most modern sports stars are just spoiled brats, some are, but most aren’t. I think they should make the most of their brief career by advertising sports gear and making as much money as possible; after all they have had to endure tough training even if they start late.