Pay to play

The Guardian pulled off a little coup this week, by having bought exclusive extracts from Martin Johnson's autobiography. It's pretty much your standard sports star autobiography, clearly done by a ghostwriter, but there are some interesting bits in it, like today where he explains why players won't play for their country for free nowadays:

The whole issue of paying players in the first place is, in some ways, a tricky subject. Lots of people say things like, "I'd walk over broken glass to represent my country" and "I'd play for England for nothing". I understand these sentiments, but people forget that many of us, including me, have played for England for nothing. We virtually have walked over broken glass, too.

The fact is we would go through all the pain for nothing again if we had to. But if you want us to do it for nothing, don't charge £50 a ticket at Test matches, don't demand millions in TV revenue and don't look for massive sponsorship using us. Just cover your costs and stage the games.