Panasonic Wild Knights chasing SBW - with £930,000 a season on the table

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Japanese club side Panasonic have made a record offer for Sonny Bill Williams - reportedly offering $US 1.5million a season. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/6901998/Sonny-Bill-offered-bank-busting-Japan-money

Panasonic paid Jacque Fourie $1.1m last season, which really illustrates the cash washing around in the Japanese club competition.

I can't really see Money Bill turning this one down, and in fairness it's hard to blame him.

Look, it makes me angry for a moment to think international rugby loses quality players like that for these big money deals.

But then it is the way of professional sport these days.

Maybe we should protest by not buying Japanese?

It may send us back to the dark ages, but hell what a trip that would be.

Wow. Some money that.

Money Bill

biltongbek wrote:Look, it makes me angry for a moment to think international rugby loses quality players like that for these big money deals.

They don't have to not play International rugby, it's the Unions' who ban players who play outside their home country from playing International rugby that spoil it...

Nuts money. Sad that it could deprive international rugby of some of its brightest stars. But for everyone that leaves a new, equally bright star will rise. The quality of the league is poor and bringing in big-name players on insane money won't change it.

Getting paid- and very well paid!- to go and experience a totally different culture and way of living is a pretty sweet deal. I know several people who have gone to live in Asia for a year out of their own pocket just for the experience. Getting an offer like that is, frankly, a no-brainer. I would love to live in Japan for a year for a basic living wage just to experience life over there.

Yun44 wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Look, it makes me angry for a moment to think international rugby loses quality players like that for these big money deals.

They don't have to not play International rugby, it's the Unions' who ban players who play outside their home country from playing International rugby that spoil it...

It's a tough leap in intensity going from Japanese club rugby to internatonal - all of the players who came from Japan into Super Rugby this season took at least a few weeks to get on the pace. The same has tended to happen to guys coming back from Europe.

There are wendyball players who make that much in a month. It's all relative.

Kiwireddevil wrote:

Yun44 wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Look, it makes me angry for a moment to think international rugby loses quality players like that for these big money deals.

They don't have to not play International rugby, it's the Unions' who ban players who play outside their home country from playing International rugby that spoil it...

It's a tough leap in intensity going from Japanese club rugby to internatonal - all of the players who came from Japan into Super Rugby this season took at least a few weeks to get on the pace. The same has tended to happen to guys coming back from Europe.

For very different reasons though.

Actually Ellison got off the plane and got stuck into it straight away for the Highlanders and has been great for them

Good God, that his a hell of a lot of money, how long will it take the Japanese to become big hitters in the rugby world with that type of money flaoting around their game ?

There is a player in the Ulster side who turned down a salary double of what he gets at Ulster bacause he would rather play her in European rugby.
He wasn't impressed by the overall standard of Japanese rugby and felt playing there would take him of the pace when he returned.

Money will not motivate everyone.

Thats serious silly money there, could not blame the man for taking it to be honest.

geoff998rugby wrote:There is a player in the Ulster side who turned down a salary double of what he gets at Ulster bacause he would rather play her in European rugby.
He wasn't impressed by the overall standard of Japanese rugby and felt playing there would take him of the pace when he returned.

Money will not motivate everyone.

Who's the she he'd rather play with?

Kiwireddevil wrote:

Yun44 wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Look, it makes me angry for a moment to think international rugby loses quality players like that for these big money deals.

They don't have to not play International rugby, it's the Unions' who ban players who play outside their home country from playing International rugby that spoil it...

It's a tough leap in intensity going from Japanese club rugby to internatonal - all of the players who came from Japan into Super Rugby this season took at least a few weeks to get on the pace. The same has tended to happen to guys coming back from Europe.

Really? most of the super rugby pundits have said that they've come back looking refreshed because of the excellent conditioning programs the Japanese clubs use

It probably depends on the individual, when you look at Peter grant , every year he comes back from Japan to play for the Stormers and he looks in good nick.

Why not, go over for a year or 2, back in time for RWC2015 considerably richer...

bathmad wrote:Why not, go over for a year or 2, back in time for RWC2015 considerably richer...

Not sure if the Allblacks would consider him to be honest. Loyalty seems to be very important to them, unless you're Dan Carter or Richie McCaw of course :tongue in cheek:. It'd be better than playing rugby light (league) though.

bathmad wrote:Why not, go over for a year or 2, back in time for RWC2015 considerably richer...

Nah, I am completely against that, if a player decides like Jaque Fourie to make himself unavailable whilst playing in Japan, then that's it.

The coach must move on and find another player to rely on, if fourie as an example comes back, what message do you send out to the rest of the players who have aspirations to be a springbok if you now put fourie back in the springbok squad.

He decides to play for the most money he can get, then fine do that, but you can't butter your bread on both sides, unless of course you are making ham, cheese and tomato Jaffles.

Actually I dont think its that bad a thing at all,sure if SBW plays outside of New Zealand then he cant be considered for All Black selection,but on the other hand if the going price for rugby keeps going up with sums like this then,it must give youngsters an incentive to stay/play the game and play to a high standard as the rewards are there.

No doubt a company like Panasonic would be looking at using him not only for playing in their rugby team but also for promotional purposes,this sum might go a lot higher yet.

NZ has that policy because if we did have selection for players playing club rugby overseas we would have nobody in NZ to nurture the young talent and we would become the Brazil and Argentina of rugby.

I wonder if Panasonic pays that money for rugby posters. Sign me Panasonic. I'm good value at 500 K and I´ll always write nice things about you.

Depends if Money-bags Williams wants a Super 15 medal and tri-nations medal. He's already rich from his Bulldogs and Toulon deals so I think it would be wise to wait around and play in NZ. How are the Japs so rich? Is club rugby big over there nowadays?

Morgannwg wrote:Depends if Money-bags Williams wants a Super 15 medal and tri-nations medal. He's already rich from his Bulldogs and Toulon deals so I think it would be wise to wait around and play in NZ. How are the Japs so rich? Is club rugby big over there nowadays?

The Japanese clubs are all owned by big manufacturing companies - Panasonic, Toyota, Honda etc. There's a lot of corporate pride involved in winning. Back before professionalism those teams were filled with company employees - factory workers and the like (which explains why the likes of Graeme Bachop held highly paid jobs in marketing departments )

Sounds like these Japanese clubs are a cross between French clubs and SA franchises.

Morgannwg wrote:Sounds like these Japanese clubs are a cross between French clubs and SA franchises.

ASM ("Michelin") Clermont is a pretty close analogue. The Japanese clubs represent companies more than they do geographic areas.

Teams (from wiki) are Team Region
Coca Cola West Red Sparks Fukuoka, Kyushu
Fukuoka Sanix Blues Fukuoka, Kyushu
Kintetsu Liners Osaka, Kansai
Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Hyogo, Kansai
NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes , Osaka
NEC Green Rockets Chiba, Kanto
NTT Shining Arcs Chiba, Chiba
Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo, Kanto
Sanyo Wild Knights Gunma, Kanto
Suntory Sungoliath Tokyo, Kanto
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, Kanto
Toyota Verblitz Aichi, Tokai
Honda Heat Suzuka, Mie
Yamaha Jubilo Shizuoka, Tokai

When Phil kingsley Jones was managing Jonah in his prime, he was telling Jonah that he had an offer from Suntory whisky,they would pay him a phenominal amount of money to play in Japan,and over and above the contract price they would pay Jonah $1million a year to be the face of Suntory, by doing Tv,billboard and magazine photo advertising.PKJ wasnt too keen on the idea ,but Jonah was real Kean.
Conversation went something like:
PKJ: "But jonah you would have to drink whiskey"
JL: "whats wrong with that?"
PKJ: "But you dont even know how to drink whiskey".
JL: " I could learn".