LoveBroker
Years ago

ABPA and NBL set up Players' Hardship Fund.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/basketball/unhappy-nbl-players-to-seek-legal-advice-over-hardship-fund/news-story/0e48e043dd938c76e832c75e95233651

The ABPA and NBL have formed a hardship fund to provide assistance to players during this period of reduced salaries, and also to those that do not have a contract next season furthermore their current contract ends 30th April.

The fund has $350k, the max one can draw is $4k, thats 87 players over 9 teams.
That seems a low amount per player and I doubt there are 87 players that need coverage.

Three players announced to receive payments so far are:
- Adam Gibson.
- Clint Steindl.
- Mitch McCarron.

Mitch McCarron needs emergency hardship funding?????? WTF.

Gibbo and Steindl will be on less coin however this means their salary cut was less (per the table previously outlined), but these 2 are understandable.

McCarron is getting this money is a complete joke, there's obviously no due diligence as to the player's financial situation.

I am also unsure of why players who have contracts up until 30th April but are still playing this season until June (if playoffs eligible) are being covered by the fund?

Shouldn't they and the team they play for be negotiating a small 2 month extension for getting paid for the work they are actually putting in??

Topic #48403 | Report this topic


Anonymous  
Years ago

Does that mean we won't have to hear him called "Money" Mitch McCarron anymore?

Reply #844244 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Most clubs extend their players contracts to end June, they took a pay cut over 10 months and now had it extended to 12. If McCarron could get it every player deserves their cut.

Reply #844246 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Loverbroker you have no idea of McCarron's contract or financial situation. As always you're just talking rubbish

Reply #844247 | Report this post


Bolt  
Years ago

Socialism!

In fairness, McCarrons deplorable agent did yell it from the mountain that Macca was one of the highest paid players in the league when he signed with MU.

Reply #844254 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

And then he signed NBL1 @ Geelong. Can't be on too much coin if you need to run around in a second tier league

Reply #844255 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

One of the higher paid Aussie NBL players applying for the hardship fund is deplorable

Reply #844257 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I would have thought that the NBL saying that 1/3 of the league should play for free from April 30 to June 06 (plus playoffs) is the deplorable thing here. And that the NBLPA AGREED to that suggestion, while saying that those players can apply for $4k to get them through. What a joke.

Reply #844260 | Report this post


Zodiac  
Years ago

Gibbo is a little bit ordinary too he was supposedly highly paid during his time with the 36ers and then with the Bullets after that. Monkey Makin' Mitch McCarron is taking the piss though.

Steindl is understandable his partner signed with the WNBL team in Perth so he wouldn't have had a leg to stand on negotiation wise if he wanted to remain in the same state with his wife.

Reply #844262 | Report this post


KET  
Years ago

What's the minimum salary for a non DP?

Reply #844263 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Maccaron should be ashamed of himself

Reply #844265 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

This whole idea that they're going unpaid for a month and a half/two months makes little sense to me.

How many of them earn any sort of coin outside of their NBL gigs? This is costing a handful of players some NBL1 money, but what else really? Everyone knew from the get-go that the season was going to run through June, everyone knew what their pay was going to be, and they were on JobKeeper while the league was out of action. The fact that all their money for the year came in by April even though they had to keep playing until June shouldn't really change that, should it? It's not like they've been cut off by surprise or anything, they knew this was coming and had the opportunity to plan for it.

Reply #844267 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I assume every negative poster here would also turn down an additional $4k if it was offerred wouldn't you. Sheesh - the players union doing something good for the players and the players accepting is bad?

Reply #844279 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

KR is correct. No different to someone who sub contracts. It's called budgeting. Zero sympathy here.

Reply #844281 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

This isnt the issue, the hardship fund is for lower tier players who would be in hardship.
Hence the name.

This is not Money making Mitch.

Reply #844282 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Nobodies business having opinions on who does and doesn't need money. Good thing the fund is set up, that’s it.

Reply #844284 | Report this post


Zodiac  
Years ago

I assume every negative poster here would also turn down an additional $4k if it was offerred wouldn't you. Sheesh - the players union doing something good for the players and the players accepting is bad?


It's not 'turning down' they're applying for that $4k knowing there is SFA in the kitty and that should be for the players on low incomes not guys who are on pretty good money (McCarron) or were being paid superstar money for years during their career (Gibson).

Reply #844286 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

If they are entitled to it and they meet the criteria I do not see an issue

Reply #844287 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

Money Spendin' Mitch McCarron.

Reply #844288 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Surely it should be limited to the lower tier guys, say less than 60k for example. Some guys are making sfa in the big scheme of things. And yes, if you think NBL guys are ALL highly paid then you'd be incorrect.

Reply #844290 | Report this post


LoveBroker  
Years ago

Loverbroker you have no idea of McCarron's contract or financial situation.


I have been very honest about the fact that I am one of the few people here that don't know what everyone is getting paid.

But it is reasonable to guess that MM moving from Cairns to Melbourne would have resulted in a substantial jump in salary.

My guess that he would be in the top 10 local players in salary, with only the below amongst his peers.

Landale
Humphries
Goulding
Sobey
C Web
T Web
DJ
Creek
Broekhoff (but partial year)

Reply #844292 | Report this post


LoveBroker  
Years ago

The fact that all their money for the year came in by April even though they had to keep playing until June shouldn't really change that, should it? It's not like they've been cut off by surprise or anything, they knew this was coming and had the opportunity to plan for it.


Agreed.

This means they have already been prepaid their season's wages by 30th April.

I would support additional payments though if they said it was because we played 8 extra games in the NBL Cup not originally planned.

Reply #844301 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Players who play in the nbl1 or nznbl have lost good back up money two years in a row. Last year canceled and this year over lapping. Over the two seasons that can be between 20g to even 60g for some, it's nothing to be sneezed at. Ware and McCarron of this world even head to Europe to earn extra.
Of course it affects players.

Reply #844302 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

Mitch McCarron needs emergency hardship funding?????? WTF.

In fairness, McCarrons deplorable agent did yell it from the mountain that Macca was one of the highest paid players in the league when he signed with MU.

The thing is hardship can be felt by income earners of any level. For example McCarron may have been under mortgage stress even before COVID hit so the reduced salary has effected him more than others, after the loan deferral program freezing repayments ended in March. Or he's blown all his money on hookers and coke, while the lowest earners have been living frugally. We simply don't know but a lot of these financial issues are due to outflows being more than inflows, even if said inflows are high.

Reply #844304 | Report this post


LoveBroker  
Years ago

For example McCarron may have been under mortgage stress even before COVID hit so the reduced salary has effected him more than others,


If he is under mortgage stress before the pandemic, this he put himself at a horrible financial state when he is in his earning prime (say 10 years of it), when the mortgage is 25 years.

Reply #844306 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

McCarron's business.
We are very judgemental pricks here on hoops.

Reply #844310 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

Agreed, he (and the others who have applied) could have put themselves into the financial situation they are in today through poor decision making, but the hardship fund eligibility doesn't take this into account and isn't means-tested as it is based on the present needs of the player. Is that fair? Not necessarily but it's been put in place to tide players over.

Reply #844311 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Another thing to note that players over certain $$$ lost 50% of earnings whereas those under that lost less with the lower paid players only losing 20%.
So a player on $200k is only getting $100k but a player on $100k is now on $80k.
Obviously the player on $200k originally would be noticing the drop in income more significantly, especially if they have a family/children and are the main breadwinner.

Reply #844314 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I think its a bit cruel to the players on single year deals.

$2000 a month for what is realistically a full time job for a NBL player. Brutal.

Its not a hard yards league like nznbl or nbl1 the players on nbl contracts (non dp) make a living from the game.

Even if Mitch McCarron is making bank, it seems stupid that he would have to play for free. Especially on a team you know is loaded.

I also worry about imports and guys who have come back from overseas on one year deals seeing this as a reason to head back overseas.

Reply #844316 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

Good point #844314. The way I see it is some in the most extreme of examples could have potentially lost 50% of their NBL salary and 100% of whatever a state/overseas gig pays. Plus you could have a player, as per the example above, who is based in Melbourne have a spouse who also lost their job. That is a huge loss of income. There are a lot of moving parts.

Reply #844318 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Gibbo spend all his Brisbane & Gold Coast coin on the Ladies of Insta

Reply #844321 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Lmao wow

Reply #844322 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

True, Gibson did have at least one WAG money churner girlfriend while playing for SE Queensland clubs. I remember they were featured as a couple in a media article and I was thinking "uh oh".

Reply #844324 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

at least one WAG
You can't have one WAG. The "A" stands for "and", and you can't exactly be both. Not to the same person, at least.

The singular should be WOG. Although I doubt that'll take off.

Reply #844330 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

I should have written gold digger instead.

Reply #844334 | Report this post


KET  
Years ago

English is a funny descriptive language. Rules don't really apply as strictly to slang/media driven terms:

Wiki says this:

" WAGs (or Wags) is an acronym used to refer to wives and girlfriends of high-profile sportspersons. The term may also be used in the singular form, WAG, to refer to a specific female partner or life partner who is in a relationship with a sportsperson."

Reply #844337 | Report this post


Senator11  
Years ago

McCarron did have a baby recently, they are money black holes. Either way, next time he's at the jungle he'll be referred to as "Welfare Money" Mitch McCarron. :P

Reply #844349 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Photogenic Instagram Girlfriends? (PIG's for short)

Reply #844360 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Mcaron would have every dollar he has ever earned tucked away

Reply #844364 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Gibson's ex is a high profile lawyer. She definitely isn’t a gold digger.

Reply #844436 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Whoa, whoa, whoa, KET. You're brave correcting koberulz, take it easy!

Reply #844446 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

They should be paying the fans for the hardship we have to go thru to watch the product thats currently being put out on the floor!

Reply #844541 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

A key part of the agreement of both the timeline to then end of the season, and the agreement in the payment cuts was the that the players were not stood down, like so many other industries around the country and world, between April and Jan when the season started.

Clubs and owners made a commitment to keep paying them, regardless of the uncertainty being face around the season. Yeah, it was and is a horrible and tough time. Ask the sole traders and hospitality industry how things went for them back in that period.

The players would have been on jobkeeper for months and months if this deal hasn't been struck. Add to that all clubs are still currently struggling financially.... I’d suggest the players have gotten off pretty lucky.

Reply #844910 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

If you lose two years out of a 10 year at best playing career I'm not certain that’s very lucky.

Reply #844921 | Report this post




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