Hector Bellerin and a host of other Premier League stars have joined forces to launch the #FootballUnited initiative, which aims to raise cash to support elderly and vulnerable people during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
The players are promoting the campaign on social media and will be making personal donations as it looks to raise at least £100,000 for the National Emergencies Trust Coronavirus Appeal.
A joint statement by Unique Sports Management on behalf of the players who have launched the campaign said: “Football has such a big role to play in communities and our clubs are a huge part of people’s lives.
“Without football, we want to put our rivalries aside and show togetherness at such a critical moment for the country. These are uncertain times for communities, but as players we want to show some recognition for the incredible work that is being done for the most vulnerable.
“There are so many people at home who are afraid, alone and without full-time care. With the nation’s help, we can show our support to the many volunteers and organisations who need funds to make sure vital food and medicine supplies will continue to be delivered during the crisis.
“As players we would love nothing more than to be out there playing in front of packed stadiums again, but that can wait – the most important thing right now is the future of the country and #FootballUnited is our way of showing some community spirit.”
Earlier this week, Arsenal confirmed a donation of £100,000 to local charities and organisations that are supporting those most in need during the crisis.
The £100,000 target set by #FootballUnited doesn’t seem that big, but it’s a start. No doubt they’ll top that amount.
In the last few days, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski and Man City manager Pep Guardiola have raised the stakes by each donating €1 million to fight coronavirus.
To learn more about the campaign, click here.
Perhaps once this is all over, we might collectively re-evaluate whether paying such extraordinary salaries to young sportsmen is what we really want to do – or whether, perhaps, doctors nurses care workers are more important and valuable to society. I miss football a lot, I’ve been front row begging to spend some effing money – but tell me that a global pandemic and lockdown doesn’t make you question your social priorities.
Didn’t meant to sound naysaying. Any charity appeal is obviously a good thing. Just, you know.
Some of our players will smash the 45% tax barrier within a week, the rest certainly within a month. There’s no such thing as government money, there’s just tax payers revenue, that’s then redistributed into public services like the NHS. The idea that if you just paid footballers less? That you would somehow have more money to pay health workers, is deeply flawed…. Unless you want to do away with a free market economy? bring in 100% state control? And go the route of basket case countries like Venezuela, China, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea ect…. The government should never be… Read more »
And if free trade, individual liberty and all our freedoms didn’t exist, we could live in a world just like that. The only problem is, it doesn’t usually end well.
If you don’t like it, I’ll stick the youth team on and you can bring your fackin dinner.
That’s the injustices of the world I’m afraid, things like science, medicine, education, housing, etc should be prioirity in any society, instead we pay a lot of money for a lot of things that, at the end of the day, end up being banal. While people like singers, sportman, etc. Earn a sht ton of money, a lot of times we have teachers, doctors, and any kind of and professions that can make society better, earning just a small part of what they should earn, and that’s more evident in third world countries like mine. Maybe, if something good can… Read more »
Let’s not forget that footballers contribute more through taxes in a year than we will in a lifetime. Taxes which pay nurses and teachers. We need really rich people. Otherwise society doesn’t work.
Excellent point. I assume that every Premier League footballer is in the 45% tax bracket which equates to millions of pounds in footballers tax every week paying towards the medical professionals on the front line.
But isnt it true as well if said teachers and co were paid nearly as well as the entetainers they would as well pay said taxes above.
Ok, let’s pay our 500,000 teachers 100,000 a week. My phone calculator doesn’t go up that high unfortunately. Look teachers go into the job knowing how much they get paid. It’s not some sort of deceit. They choose to teach because they feel passionately about it. I’m from a family of teachers. My brother has been doing it for about 10 years and is on mid forties. That’s not bad with 14 weeks holiday and a healthy pension. The one thing I do know about teachers, and all my friends, families and girlfriend who teaches are the same. They are… Read more »
That’s the point Dave was making, we value football more than medicines, the the tax paid by football goes to fund the NHS! There is more money spent by people on entertainment than on essentials!
When it comes to money or other so called inequalities, people often lose perspective and get all philosophical. I’ve seen many people make that point but I have a different take on it.. like all other humans, too much money and prestige will corrupt the doctors and teachers, will make them big headed. They might want to save or teach whoever can afford them. Essentials like education and medical needs to be accessible to all. Footballers are just really lucky to be on the right side of the technological advancement. TV and then internet, has made football economy bigger than… Read more »
Footballers aren’t lucky. They have a very specific skill that is worth a lot of money. Think how many of us wanted to be footballers growing up. And none of us made it. If we wanted to be nurses or teachers we could train for a few years and get a job easily enough. Footballers didn’t just get lucky. While we were all out drinking our arses off in our teens, they trained and practiced and sacrificed a lot. They have short careers and are done by 35 if they don’t get a horrible injury. Nurses and teachers have job… Read more »
I agree with you, Helder. I am also aware of the football economy and I am not going to complain about them being rich. They worked super hard for it and not everyone can make it to the top level. My question is – don’t you think their salaries have gotten a little out of hand? I don’t begrudge them but one guy earning 350k pounds a week is a little absurd, IMO. It is just way too much money. I am originally from India and my parents still live there. The other night, I was discussing with my dad… Read more »
It’s nuts, I agree. But if they got paid “too much“ then clubs would be going out of business. The club can afford to pay them that much and if they perform well, they are worth the money. There’s an argument for a wage cap. But say goodbye to the Premier League being the biggest and most attractive league in the world. The Middle Eastern and Chinese leagues would quickly take over. And say goodbye to Arsenal being a big club. If the financial field was levelled we wouldn’t have been able to outbid Napoli’s wages when signing Pepe for… Read more »
Apoligies if it wasn’t clear but the point I was trying to make was that, the value and wages of footballers has increased massively compared to that of doctors or teachers or police. TV money and the popularity because of it, has a lot to do with footballers today being a lot richer than footballers of 1950s and 1960s. I am not of course denying the hard work, dedication and sacrifice required to make it at PL level. Although there are other more comfortable levels like league 1 or 2, where you can still enjoy life, and play football for… Read more »
Sigh!
The sacrifices made by people to become a doctor and the stress of the job, when people die on their table, the number of suicides by health workers due to the job demands in the NHS. People value entertainment more, that’s why they get paid more. Ofcourse TV and the internet amplifies the impact, there are more than a 1000 broken dreams for every successful footballer!
Football is consumed by masses. That’s why there is so much money and when it gets divided up footballers get a huge chunk of it. Doctors are probably not visited by the same volume of people. Hence, they don’t make as much. Maybe we could tax sports more, but the argument that just because football is non-residential and it shouldn’t have all this money is impractical. Simply put, football makes more money, because there is more “product” and more consumers. I’m no expert, but this is where my thinking lead me.
Edit: *non-essential
In the uk there are 4000 professional footballers.
There’s 150,000 doctors.
I guess it’s a simple as that.
An exotic parrot costs more than a pigeon.
With the amount of money footballers earn, I think if they ALL donated 1 months wage to charity, this would be a huge amount of money for the charity appeal! Anyhow any donations are good enough at the moment!
1 week’s salary from all the EPL clubs would be enough, let alone one month. A good number of them earn more than the target of 100k on a weekly basis.
Which they pay 50% tax on. Every week for an entire career. They also have short careers which a bad injury could end in a heartbeat. Arsenal have a £100m wage bill and that’s just for players. £50m a year to hospitals and schools still isn’t enough though? Yeah. Let the rich bastards pay more.
If just Arsenal players commit a week’s salary, they can top that amount without even trying that hard. Personally, I don’t donate to such causes started by celebrities, because it is just a marketing tool for them (IMO). If you are considering donating, donate to something run by a local food pantry, or something that helps local hospitals. Probably make a bigger impact, IMO.
yes, we have been donating to a local charity that are providing food and shelter to all those that have lost their jobs or / and homes
You could also contribute the same part of your salary. Maybe not much but in proportion.
Very much aprecciated. I’m glad to see that they want to offer some help. But somany other people on this site already commented on how absurd this all sounds in these circumstances. We are talking about players who earn 100k a week(!!!), let that sink in. It’s such a high amount of money, that ordinary people can’t even grasp, how much that actually is. When I read the other day, that the Manchester clubs want to donate 100k each, it just got to me again, how uneven money is distributed. 100k for a club, that is giving some players 300k… Read more »
The biggest problems with socialism are, as soon as you start punishing socially rewarding behaviour, and rewarding unsocially rewarding behaviour? Society collapses… Because there’s no value in people trying harder at both ends of the spectrum, if you try harder? You’ll just pay for those that don’t try, and if you don’t try? You’ll be funded by those that do. The other mistake the left continue to make is thinking they can eradicate suffering, you can’t… because if you give money to people with problems and addictions? you just give them more problems and more addictions…. you don’t end up… Read more »
A football club is a business, not a charitable organisation. I don’t see you demanding money from McDonalds or Primark. If a club wants to give a donation then great. But they shouldn’t be shamed for it not being big enough for your arbitrary sense of benevolence.
Yes, you are absolutely right. I think I didn’t express my thoughts properly. I really approve of the fact that clubs and players are willing to help, and in comparison to myself for example their means are way more plentiful. I don’t blame the clubs in any way, they just operate within legal boundaries (most of the time I hope). But in general it’s sometimes discouraging to see where priorities in wealth distribution lie in our society as a whole. Again, I do not blame clubs and players, but sometimes I think one person shouldn’t be able to amass such… Read more »
The NHS is struggling because the Tories are cunts. We don’t need to look any deeper than that.