22 October 2023 , 12:54
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Premier League players and other sports stars have been told the demands on them are close to the limit.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk expressed his concerns during the international break over the current schedule in England. He warned: "The players are getting paid well but it should never come at the cost of our health.
"“We keep having to play more and more games. We as players should start saying something about it, contribute to a solution”. Van Dijk then dismissed the question over whether he would be willing to give up a pay cut to play fewer matches.
It is not just football that has been under the spotlight with the Rugby World Cup having run for 51 days by the time next weekend's final takes place, putting increased challenges on players.
The Cricket World Cup is only marginally shorter and England star Ben Stokes previously described the current schedule as 'unsustainable'.
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There are concerns that governing bodies are not protecting the players as they bid to grow their respective sports, with stars warned they may need to pick and choose the matches they play in.
Simon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Players Federation, the national organisation for player associations in the UK, said: "I don’t think player welfare is currently given as much priority as it should be within the international game.
“Sports need to work with their player associations to get the balance right and look after players. For a variety of reasons, mostly commercial, they look to exploit players and keep asking more and more of them. Yes, they get paid good money, but all the money in the world doesn’t make any difference if you have to retire from your sport at 28.
“Players are not stupid, players know their bodies and what they’re capable of doing. Sports are laying themselves open to failing in their duty of care. I feel we are perilously close to going over the limits of what is sustainable.
“If you’re not (finding that balance) the players will eventually say ‘enough is enough’ and they’ll either vote with their feet by withdrawing from international matches or we will start to see lower-quality games, which will eventually lose their commercial appeal. We know that greed kills the golden goose.."