Poverty In England, Richer Footballers

Read this Guardian article about the poverty issue in England. Though not as extreme as places like Mumbai or parts of Africa, it is still dire for the people living below the breadline.

Poverty for children in Britain now is more likely to mean not having a winter coat, never having enough money to go on holiday or on school trips, not having the spare pound needed to join subsidised after-school clubs, not being able to afford to go swimming. It isn't about going hungry, but it is likely to involve eating irregularly, cheaply and badly.


The government solution to the poverty problem is primarily through providing job opportunities for the poor. However with many of them hardly able to read or write, it is difficult to match them to jobs.

"The biggest problem is breaking the cycle of lack of educational attainment that leads to poverty. If they could read and write then we could get them into work. As it is, there are real problems with their understanding of things and their retention. It's not something we can help with overnight."-Guardian(here)

Comaparing the plight of the poor in England and the lifestyle of a premier league footballer, it left me wondering if more could be done.

If money could be distributed more evenly, the vicious cycle could be broken.
I suddenly have this thought. Goverment could impose a special tax on these top footballers' salary and distribute it to the poor people. (Robin Hood style).

Futebol Finance published an article on the 20 highest paid footballer published in 2009.
Name Total Annual Wage (Wage+advertising+sponsor)
1 David Beckham € 32,400,000
2 Lionel Messi € 28,600,000
3 Ronaldinho Ronaldinho € 19,600,000
4 Cristiano Ronaldo € 18,300,000
5 Thierry Henry € 17,000,000
6 Kaká € 15,100,000
7 Zlatan Ibrahimovic € 14,000,000
8 Wayne Rooney € 13,500,000
9 Frank Lampard € 13,000,000
10 John Terry € 11,700,000
11 Fabio Cannavaro € 11,500,000
12 Robinho € 11,400,000
13 Michael Ballack € 11,300,000
14 Steven Gerrard € 11,300,000
15 Didier Drogba € 10,700,000
16 Gianluigi Buffon € 10,500,000
17 Alessandro Del Piero € 10,400,000
18 Iker Casillas € 10,200,000
19 Cesc Fabregas € 10,000,000
20 Francesco Totti € 9,900,000

The sum of their wages is €249,900,000. It is almost close to €250 million . They are very young and very rich. I am not saying this because I am jobless and living off my savings at this point. Just feel that more can be done to help the poor and the 'soccer heroes' can and should do more, especially now.