Alex Cuthbert on £5000 a year!

I know he's an 'up 'n comer' but still, £5000 a year is awfully low, surely? I bet academy players in clubs in England are on much more than that. OK, he does get a boost from the 7s, but still...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/news-comment/grand-slam-winner-on-5000--and-thats-a-year-7576764.html

"Not since the amateur days has a Grand Slam match-winner boasted such a meagre salary. In a revelation which should stun all of football's young multi-millionaires, Alex Cuthbert, Wales's try-scorer, is on £5,000 with his club. That's £5,000 a year, not a week.

To supplement his earnings with the Blues, Cuthbert is guaranteed £14,000 a year direct from the Welsh Rugby Union because of a contract with the sevens side. The 21-year-old lives in student digs in the capital and drives around in a battered Renault Clio. Yet all this is about to change due to his extraordinary emergence in the Six Nations.

For starters, Cuthbert will pocket the £85,000 which comprises his appearance fees and Grand Slam bonus. Then he will enter contract negotiations with the Blues as they try to repel the interest from English clubs, two of whom have apparently already come calling. Cuthbert will soon be earning well in excess of £100,000 a year and looking back on five games which changed his life.

Cuthbert was born and raised in Gloucester, but qualifies through his Welsh mother, Caroline. Signed on a development contract, Cuthbert, a former striker with Gloucester City, did not expect to gain anything greater than experience this campaign. "It's crazy how much everything has changed in such a short time," he said. "I could never have thought I would be scoring the winning try in a Grand Slam game six months ago. I was just expecting to train with the Blues' seniors. In terms of money and contracts it is life-changing. I will have to pay off my student loan and maybe try to buy a house."

The car he receives so much stick for from the rest of the squad will stay and act as a reminder of how far he has travelled in such a short time. Cuthbert, who is on the shortlist for the Six Nations player of the tournament, believes this is only the start of the adventure.

"There is still a huge amount of development and learning to come from both the team and, of course, myself. Being in the Welsh environment has already upped my game, playing with world-class players like George [North]. I do look up to George – even though he is only 19. We are still so young, as are many of the boys. As the years go by, we can only get better."

We were talking about this at work yesterday. The bonus of 85k for the grandslam must feel like winning the lotery to Cuthbert. Most likely he will go from living in student digs to buying a house and having his student mates as lodgers to cover the morgage/bills.

But how on earth could the Blues get away with paying him so little? I posted on another thread the other day about Rhys Buckley ('Who'?! Exactly!) who has turned down a contract with the Dragons for £30,000 because he can earn more as an electrical engineer. But he's 4th choice hooker and not long our of college. So at what point did the Blues decide on £5000. Is that a development contract there or something???

Griff wrote:But how on earth could the Blues get away with paying him so little? I posted on another thread the other day about Rhys Buckley ('Who'?! Exactly!) who has turned down a contract with the Dragons for £30,000 because he can earn more as an electrical engineer. But he's 4th choice hooker and not long our of college. So at what point did the Blues decide on £5000. Is that a development contract there or something???

Griff what you need to remember is Cuthbert is young, and before the start of the season was pretty much unknown by the majority of the welsh public. So even though he has shown he is a star, he wold still be on the contract he signed before his raise to fame. I know that young players do tend to be on rather low wages, even in comparison to every day jobs. That is why the regions are all seeming to look to the youngsters right now, its lees to do with developing talent, and more to do with keeping the wage bills down.

I'd imagine the £5,000 is a development contract as he is only a part timer and a student. Obviously that is all changing this season with his break through but it is unusual to change contract terms mid season so he's had to wait until next season for new terms.

Interestingly I was chatting with a bloke I used to play with (proud man of Gwent) who had played with Cuthbert at a 7s tournament a few years ago and was somewhat shocked he had been capped as in his words "he wasn't Welsh at all".

Yeah well your Rhys Buckley knows he may very well not make it whereas Cuthbert had real ambitions of being a top pro even before his meteoric rise. He's probably studying part-time, thus eligible for a student loan. £5000 a year plus student loan isn't bad when you're literally just out of school or studying, especially when jobs for school leavers are so hard to come by.

I would suggest his next contract might be a wee bit juicier like!

formerly known as Sam wrote:I'd imagine the £5,000 is a development contract as he is only a part timer and a student. Obviously that is all changing this season with his break through but it is unusual to change contract terms mid season so he's had to wait until next season for new terms.

Interestingly I was chatting with a bloke I used to play with (proud man of Gwent) who had played with Cuthbert at a 7s tournament a few years ago and was somewhat shocked he had been capped as in his words "he wasn't Welsh at all".

Better call RubyGuby

I should point out that he wasn't at all fussed he had declared for Wales he just hadn't realised he was eligible.

He's 22. That's older than George North and Toby Faletau. I'd be very surprised if they were on £5000.

Look, I get what people are saying. He's just broken onto the scene, etc. However, even a development player I would expect to earn £20k or so. For £5k I don't think many could consider persuing a career in rugby, unless they had rich parents to bankroll their accomodation, etc. as they'd only be on £96 per week.

Working backwards, which is the way my brain likes to evaluate things!:

The top stars seem to get over £100k, so I'd expect the experienced but not exactly marquee players to get between £50k and £100k, other players like newly fulltime players graduating from development contracts to get maybe £30k to £50k, and then development players to get around £20k.

£5k just seems like slave labour to me when others in the team are earning maybe 30 times as much!

However, even a development player I would expect to earn £20k or so. For £5k I don't think many could consider persuing a career in rugby, unless they had rich parents to bankroll their accomodation, etc. as they'd only be on £96 per week.

Yeah but if he's a student then he's not likely to need a large amount of money and won't have expected to do more than gain some experience and aim for a better contract to sign for when he graduates. As it stands he's in for a very nice contract for when he graduates.

As said in the original post:

"Signed on a development contract, Cuthbert, a former striker with Gloucester City, did not expect to gain anything greater than experience this campaign."

Though I bet the Cardiff Blues provide him with his meals when he's training and pay out bonuses for appearences etc. He must have signed some sponsership endorsements by now as well (Cardiff players are all on the Kinetica supplement posters).

Also 14k from the Sevens circuit, thats not bad at all for a 21-year old. 19k and a good few larger contracts to come.

I think the clue was in the opening post.

He is contracted through the WRU for rugby7's, much like Pugh is at the Scarlets, so his main wage comes from them at £14K

Now I've no doubt Pugh is on a lot more than £5K extra himself, but remember Cuthbert was litereally bought in as short term cover during the rwc. I'd have expected really on top of the WRU wage for the Blues to be paying him 10K so an annual income of £24K in your first season of pro rugby isn't bad.

So yeah I think 5K is a bit low, but I can see why.

OK, fair enough. I'll get my cloak!

ha no Griff, it is shocking when you just look at the 5K figure! but guess when you look at everything that comes with it, it just isn't so bad

Yeah, the 5K is just the flat salary as well. He'll get appearance/try/win bonuses like everyone else.

He's said he's staying with the blues because of the loyalty the showed him, good times

gcBlues wrote:Yeah, the 5K is just the flat salary as well. He'll get appearance/try/win bonuses like everyone else.

He's said he's staying with the blues because of the loyalty the showed him, good times

Won't be getting many of those with the Blues then

I was speak to a lad in the pub on Saturday. He plays with someone that had a trial with Sale Sharks and was offered a contract for £12,000 + flat. But as the guy is 22 he's probably earning more than that now as an amateur (plus he apparently lives at home). He turned it down.

I know one of the lads at the Leeds academy a couple of years ago when they were in the Jeff, he was only paid expenses, and had to drop out when his dad lost his job.
Obviously you then get paid for making senior appearances, but in the Jeff theres a cap on how many of those youll get otherwise you get classed as a senior squad member and counted toward the full cap ( although that wouldnt be an issue for a club like Leeds whos total wage bill was under 2 million)


Rugby wages really arent that high, and competition to get the decent ones is intense. If you want to get them you have to go through the system. Cuthbert has benfitted massively from his time at Blues, and he will have earnt a hell of a lot more than that now ( his 14 grand sevens contract is a start, plus as we know from the England leaks international players get nice lumps of cash for being at places) plus put himself in a position to demand big money wages.
For every Cuthbert there will be a dozen Dilberts who dont make the grade. Its tough on them but if the clubs are going to pay for large numbers of players to get professional training and facilities they cant afford to pay them big money till they have proven they can justify that.

This is an extreme case, how many other players go to well established international within 5 years of taking up rugby?

I think that we're all ignoring the key question here.

How does a lump as big as Cuthbert fit into a Renault Clio?