Even going back to the Victorian era, prominent sportsmen and women have assumed iconic status with Dr. W.G.Grace being one of the the foremost examples. Even though Grace made a lot of money out of the game before the professional era was even in full swing, it was, by modern standards, a drop in the ocean.
The relentless rise of marketing and sponsorship has culminated in a new breed of sports men and women with an eye watering capacity to earn immoral sums of money. Earlier this week, athletics was rocked by the revelations that two of the fastest sprinters in the world had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. It is today widely reported that Wayne Rooney is confused and upset at being told that he will not be the number one striker at his football club. Being brutally honest, I would be a little confused if someone was paying me £200,000 per week to kick a football. How much of this is attributable to Rooney is open to conjecture. The cynic within tells me to look beneath the surface. Beneath the surface is his agent and a bevy of advisors and confidantes all seeking to squeeze every last penny out of their cash cow.
In many ways this is of limited relevance until we stop to consider the people who hold him in high regard - our children. Not so much that he is a talented football player but more for the fact that he earns such vast sums of money. So goes the logic, if they copy his every behaviour, they too might realise his achievements. I pray not!
When Andy Murray recently won Wimbledon, little coverage was given to his coach, Ivan Lendl. Coaches are the quiet people in the background who carry out the really important job but get little in the way of recognition. Granted, they are paid a lot more now than in yesteryear, but their profile remains low. Agents have a similar profile but earn considerably larger sums. These are the parasites of the modern age attaching themselves firmly to any marketable commodity with the intention of taking their cut in return for increased wages. Fair enough you might say but these players are idolised by the youth and are seen as the real role models in a world which has become overly competitive in its quest to earn that one dollar more than the next guy.
In a different era, someone like Rooney wouldn't have the option of seeking more money elsewhere. He would simply have to roll his sleeves up and dig a little deeper to fight for the right to be first choice. The advent of the professional era means that he no longer needs to do that. His agent ensured that he held his current club over a barrel last year in order to hike up his wages in time for a move elsewhere. And so it goes on. But my question is this: Where will it all end?
Marketing is very clever - no doubt about that. But money and wealth is also finite. No doubt about that either. So while the masses continue to struggle in their every day lives, this perverse, obscene display of wealth continues apace. Surely, the only people who can change this equilibrium are the people themselves by turning their back on the very marketing which does so much to line the pockets of these players. I'm not saying they don't deserve to make a good living but £200,000 per week? This is madness and it is being sustained by the masses. He is laughing all the way and will doubtless seek to continue his career for as long as humanly possible.
If the banks and MPs have attracted their share of public oprobrium in recent years, it is a mystery to me why the Murdoch driven Premier League hasn't had the same. Perhaps people delight in the escape from the stark reality of their own lives. Whatever the answer, I can't see how such levels of earnings can be sustained and pray for a return to a more common sense approach.
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