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Shane Smeltz in action against Bahrain - Source: Photosport
New Zealand players began negotiating more than five years ago how the $NZ13.8 million up for grabs in Saturday night's World Cup soccer playoff would be divided, the players' union says.
New Zealand Football chief executive Michael Glading said a win against Bahrain would generate between $US8m ($NZ11.1m) and $US10m, but would not say how the pot would be split.
However, Andrew Scott-Howman, a solicitor for the New Zealand Professional Footballers Association (NZPFA), said the players were happy with the cut they would receive.
"The share that they're getting is, in relative terms, not dissimilar to some other countries of similar size," Scott-Howman said.
"It's not out of proportion on the world scale for players sharing in prizemoney, and that's basically what we're operating on."
Scott-Howman said the money-sharing for the World Cup campaign was agreed in 2004.
"This isn't something that has involved bitter dispute or argument between the two sides. It was agreed sufficiently far in advance that each knew where it stood."
Amicable
This year's amicable situation differs markedly from the first time New Zealand made the World Cup finals in 1982, when coach John Adshead threatened to resign over the money split.
Adshead said the original negotiations for that campaign were done in 1980, but that there was a renegotiation of the contract in February 1982, following the team's qualification for the finals.
"I asked the World Cup committee of the New Zealand Football association if we could renegotiate the payment for the players," Adshead said.
"I asked their marketing people how much money the NZFA was likely to make from then until we actually went to Spain. They couldn't give me an exact figure, but said it was substantial.
"We had captured the attention of the country. We were making records `singing', doing advertisements and so on, and everything was going into the `NZFA' World Cup coffers."
The renegotiation was done on an individual basis so players who had not played in as many qualifying games, but travelled to the finals in Spain, did not get the same amount as those who had played most games.
Level-playing field
The coaches, he and Kevin Fallon, were on the level of the most senior players, Adshead said.
"Then just three or four weeks before the actual World Cup, they tried to renegotiate. They wanted to go back on our agreement. They wanted to change the rules.
"It was a surprise and I made a threat that if the team did not get what it deserved, then I would not continue with the campaign, that I would resign."
Adshead said the total money available for qualifying for the World Cup was $1.2 million.
"Our players were amateurs and had given their lives to this campaign for 18 months, so they needed something back," he said.
"However, most of the money went to the NZFA and considering the state of New Zealand football at the time, with the need for restructuring and redevelopment, I would say that was possibly the right thing to do."
