#360view: Sports stars are paying the price when retirement hits

Martyn Thomas 12:00 22/12/2014
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  • Falling down: Former England goalkeeper David James has had to come out of retirement in the ISL since filing for bankruptcy.

    It is impossible to think about Premier League football without pondering the vast sums of money that have poured into the English game over the last 20 years.

    Players at the top level have seen their earnings potential multiply at an inconceivable rate in that time, yet with great wealth comes great responsibility.

    Earlier this year former England, Liverpool and Portsmouth goalkeeper, David James, filed for bankruptcy despite amassing an estimated £20 million (Dh115.5m) during a 25-year career.

    Since admitting defeat in his battle with the creditors, the keeper, who won 53 international caps, has come out of retirement to take part in the Indian Super League and put a host of personal memorabilia and other possessions up for sale in an online auction.

    But while fans may struggle to get their heads around how such sums can be squandered, the fact is that retirement presents professional sportsmen and women with issues that many find difficult to deal with.

    “It’s very similar to anyone else who retires really but it’s the loss of your definition, of your identity,” says Simon Taylor, general secretary of the Professional Players’ Federation (PPF), the national organisation for players’ associations in the United Kingdom.

    “It’s just that with a lot of our members, they’ll retire at 35, right in the middle of what should be your peak time. 

    “Normally they’ll have a wife and children, mortgages and what have you and the biggest issue is whether you’re prepared for it. 

    “Many professionals are lucky enough to retire after a full career, a significant number are either released because they’re not quite good enough or they suffer injuries and finish their career before they think they’ve fulfilled their potential. 

    “One of the things we found with our research is you’re more likely to have a successful transition to a new career if you’re satisfied with your sporting career. 

    “And with bankruptcy it’s whether you’ve planned for it or not, and the financial advice that you’ve taken.”

    Research carried out by the PPF found that 90 per cent of athletes needed to work after hanging up their boots, taking on what were described as “normal” jobs. The study surveyed 1,199 former sportsmen and women from five sports and rather more worryingly discovered that 34 per cent of respondents did not feel in control of their lives two years after their careers ended.

    Moreover, almost a quarter admitted to physical, mental, financial or addiction problems.
    “I think it’s about encouraging people to recognise that they’ve got 10 years as a professional athlete if they’re lucky and another 40 years after that,” Taylor adds.

    “Do the maths. Ninety per cent of players are going to have to work again, and even if you don’t have to work quite frankly it’s not good for your mental health to sit there and count your money.” 

    Often too, in extremely high paid sports such as football or the NFL, the money doesn’t wait around to be counted. It can be difficult to convince 20-something athletes that the wealth they have become accustomed to will ever run out. 

    “As a young 20-year-old it’s really hard to take advice and to think that you’re ever going to reach the age of 35,” Taylor says. “At 20 you don’t think about being 35, but the important thing is for sport, which is starting to happen, to get a culture going where people prepare for a life after retirement.”

    A Sports Illustrated study in 2009 found that a massive 78 per cent of NFL players file for bankruptcy within two years of their careers ending. In the NBA the figure is around 60 per cent.

    Football in England has not got to that point yet, largely due to a difference in culture to American sports, but also thanks to the excellent work done by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).

    “We all know that eventually all players are going to have to transition into a new career and the sooner they start preparing for that by undertaking appropriate educational and vocational programmes, the better for them,” PFA director of education, Pat Lally, explains.

    “Too many of them think they are going to make a long and successful career, and earn a lot of money, that they can fall back on when their careers are over. 

    “But it’s part of our role to try and explain to them that that isn’t the case. And the average playing career is seven to eight years and they need to prepare for the end of that career.”

    A former player himself, Lally is extremely proud of the work done by the PFA to help footballers transition into new careers.
    The organisation works with players from the age of 16, offering enrichment courses that deal with the pitfalls of professional football, from finances to addiction, depression and the perils of social media. 

    Lally cites doctors, pilots, journalists, and even a professional ballet dancer as transitioning success stories.  

    Although, that does not always prove easy, as he admits: “Premier League players, with the amounts of money they are earning, are probably the most difficult people to convince that education is still important to them.  But irrespective of how much money you earn and how well you’ve looked after your money, who can sit on their backsides doing nothing for the rest of their lives?”

    Both Lally and Taylor are keen to stress the importance of education and exploring an alternative career while still in sport. Research carried out by the Australian Institute of Sport goes so far as to suggest that an outside career aids sporting performance and can lead to longevity as it removes the pressure and uncertainty of retirement.

    That was certainly a message taken on board by Wales international rugby union player, Bradley Davies, when he tore a hamstring while recovering from an ankle ligament injury last summer.

    “It’s something some players don’t think about until they have a couple of bad injuries, but I did a Level 2 plumbing course when I was in Wales,” the Wasps second row said. “I enjoyed it, but it’s probably not for me – I’m a bit too big to fit under sinks.”

    According to Angus Porter, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), the risk of bankruptcy is not as high for cricketers or rugby players as the drop off in earnings is not as much as at the top level of football or American sports.

    However, the level of support remains, with a team of six staff, each allocated three counties, to help players throughout their careers to ensure a smooth transition. 

    “One of the things we’ve tried to do with the centrally-contracted England cricketers is to make sure that what they’re paid includes maximum provision into pensions and things like that,” Porter says. “So, we’re at least giving them some support for the long life after they’ve finished.”

    As far as the overall state of affairs in professional sport is concerned, Taylor summed it up well. “If it goes well, if you’re sensible, if you plan properly, it’s one of the best opportunities in the whole world. At the same time, wisdom and young age do not always go hand in hand.”

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