At one point my team Pwllheli Rugby Club were paying me some '
boot money' to cut grass and mark the lines just to give me something."
Some of the players just get peanuts, a couple of quid
boot money that barely covers their petrol or the cash they lose taking time off work.
Campese compared the astronomical wages on offer in some areas of the game now to the
boot money he and his team-mates used to receive in the amateur era.
Rugby did not become fully professional until 1995 by which time the game's authorities believed it was the only way to stop the exodus to rugby league and end the "shamateurism" that saw many players receive
boot money payments.
There had always been
boot money, of course, but the sport is now an industry and to keep sponsors and attract crowds it needs more than cheap bars and plentiful beer - it needs to entertain and to excite.
Marginson used to be a milkman, reliant on
boot money from the likes of Salford City and Bacup Borough.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked him, knowing he would only be earning, at best, pounds 10-a-week
boot money.
Sainsburys milk chocolate egg with a football
boot money bank.
Under 10s players also received hand-painted individually designed
boot money boxes, painted by Peter Smith of Stoke-on-Trent.
Chances are it was seen back in the distant past when Moseley were plying their trade at The Reddings but even then it is unlikely the hat-trick hero was earning his
boot money in the front row.
They might be a collection of office and manual workers, playing for little more than
boot money.
Campese compared th Eastronomical wages on offer in some areas of the game today to the
boot money he and his team-mates used to receive in the amateur era.