With the Rugby World Cup still fresh in everyone’s memory and part of some South African’s lives, everyone knows hard work pays off. Same goes for the Bokke. They’ve worked hard to earn the Web-Ellis Cup for South Africa and they are definitely rewarded for their hard work. Each of the 31 Springboks received approx. R1 292 250 after they won the World Cup. This amount is only for the quarter-final, semi-final and final games played and won. This excludes all the games played before the quarter-final. This amount depends on the funds available in the budget of the South African Rugby Union – mainly funded from sponsors.
Rugby players get paid for every game they play. If they win the game they get a bonus pay-out as well. The RWC is a bonus that comes around every 4 years. What happens the rest of the time? For a professional rugby player, playing rugby is their job, and you need to get paid for your work every month. Of course, it is everyone’s dream to play a sport as a career or practising a hobby every day. Some of us just aren’t that lucky to have all the skills and talent to be a professional in sport.
What do South African Rugby Players earn?
The amount they get paid per month all depends on the Rugby Unions that they play for. Based on information conducted in the beginning of 2019 this is what your monthly salary could be if you want to be a professional rugby player.
Everyone has to start at the bottom of the career ladder and work their way up. If a school pupil is lucky enough to get into a Rugby Union after school their monthly salary can start from R15 000 per month which is less than the average salary in South Africa.
If you practise and play exceptionally well and are promoted to play for a Super Rugby Union, like the Sharks Rugby Union, you can play for a monthly salary of R48 700. If you are playing for the inland Unions you can play for the Lions, paying R47 000 per month, or the Blue Bulls paying R37 500 per month. Or maybe you want to have a view of Table Mountain and play for the Western Province Rugby Union, with them you can earn a monthly salary of R50 700.
If you are aiming for the big stars and want to play for the Springboks this will definitely motivate you. In 2018, Tendai Mtawarira (Beast) earned R3.74 million for the season. This amounts to about R311 600 per month and excludes any winning bonuses.
You can even spread your wings further and play for rugby clubs in countries like Engeland, Scotland, France, Japan, Wales and Ireland, like Bryan Habana, Duane Vermeulen and Bismark du Plessis.
But what if rugby is not your game?
Maybe you are the supporter of the year, but not the player. If you look at the list of the richest sport stars in South Africa, you might wonder if rugby is really the answer to your luxurious pension. The top 10 list consists of 4 golf players (net worth between R457 million and R1.3 billion), 3 cricket players (net worth between R265 million and R980 million), 1 football player with a net worth of R523 million and only 2 rugby players with a net worth between R286 million and R614 million.
If you are still young and talented and you are driven by external motivation, which means being motivated by money or a reward, you might have to make a list of your talents to decide what sport career you want to approach. If you are at the bottom of the talent list don’t give up just yet. Some of the biggest SA lottery winners will give the richest sport stars a run for their money. In 2019 there was a SA PowerBall winner who won R232 million, if you calculate it over 25 years it can work out to a monthly salary of about R770 000. In 2018 another SA PowerBall winner received R110 million. If it is calculated over 25 years, it comes to a shameless amount of about R360 000 per month. Don’t doubt yourself, you might not be great at catching, kicking or hitting a ball, but maybe you are excellent at choosing the balls with the correct numbers.
