Peter Psaltis Sports Blog

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Robyn on The Equal Pay Debate For mine, it's not about the length of time on the court, it's about the quality of the product. Overall women's tennis is ... more
Mick on The Equal Pay Debate PeteOne way to possibly avoid sexist accusations may be to pay a bonus to those in the quarter, semi and Final who play 4 or ... more
Glenn Logan on The Equal Pay Debate If women want equal pay then they need too play the same number of sets. Its an absolute joke women are being payed more per ... more
Saz on The Equal Pay Debate Women should get equal pay for the final IF they bring in the same ratings and same crowds - which they don't. Even the ... more
horseracingtips on Horse Racing - The rules have to change i think it is not fair to the horse owner or to the trainer.the best way for that is all of them will coordinate with each ... more
manny goldenberg on Why the Queensland Cup is great Well I've been watching the redcliffe dolphins at either the showground or dolphin oval for over 35 years and i yearn for ... more
ella on Pub and Club trading Hours they should go along with this an it be safer for everyone else to. i agree with it an they should make the trading hours ... more
cherie alexander on Video blog - Melbourne Storm Peter The Storm didn't just break the salary cap theblew it apart.To all those who have continued to saythat they were ... more
cherie alexander on Never a dead rubber Great game..for a DeadRubber.The Blues reallytoook it to the"goodguys",but Qld won as Qld often do...in the last 4mins.So ... more
Chris on Never a dead rubber Yeah, Peter!They should also play the NRL Grand Final outside of Sydney. If there's new management coming into the game, ... more
cherie alexander on Never a dead rubber Hear hear Peter...it's nota dead rubber but a chancefor the"good guys to get awhite wash or The Blues toget one back.I can't ... more
Robbie on What if we had City v Country? Looks good! And let's face it, the more rugby league we have, the better. But I agree with ando, let's help keep rugby ... more
Darren khan on Why the Queensland Cup is great I'd love to see a station like 4BC cover the QLD Cup. Local stations in Perth and Adelaide cover the local Aussie Rules ... more
cherie alexander on NRL Predicitions Hi Peter,I wonder how Dean Ritchie and Anthony Whatmough feel today about the"old" N0.6 who Captains The Maroons. The scarey ... more
Terry on Why the Queensland Cup is great Peter I would go but my team the mighty Wests Panthers don't exist anymore however I am a regular watcher on the ABC. I am ... more
Brian on Why the Queensland Cup is great Great article Peter, the QRL is the life blood of the NRL so it should be promoted as that. Go along to any intrust game on ... more
stu on Why the Queensland Cup is great sad to see that 4BC are totally focused on the NRL. a fleeting mention is made from time to time on other codes but the ... more
Trevor Kelso on Why the Queensland Cup is great That is the best article I have read in a long while regarding the Greatest Game of All. I love my local footy, but because ... more
Dave Heras on Why the Queensland Cup is great Great blog there Peter. I will never forgive myself for drifting away from the BRL comp in the early 90's and supporting the ... more
Matt on Why the Queensland Cup is great Here here Peter. I have been going along to most Souths Logan home games for the last couple of years and it is great, I can ... more

The Equal Pay Debate

Posted by: Peter Psaltis | Peter Psaltis 30 January, 2012 - 5:07 PM

Australian Open Finals – The Equal Pay Debate!

What an amazing weekend of tennis it was to wrap up the Australian Open.

The men’s singles final last night was extremely special and will be spoken about for generations to come.

One of the big topics to come out of the Open is the issue of equal prize money.

Going into the weekend I was against the women earning equal money in grand slams for a number of issues the main one being reward for effort. If you want the same money then spend the same amount of time out on court.

Then on Saturday night when Victoria Azarenka defeated Maria Sharapova I sat back and had a think about things. I thought these girls work bloody hard, they make heaps money for sponsors and the rise to the top is a difficult and challenging one. The women’s game is very competitive and can be extremely entertaining. I said “bugger it, pay them the same.”

One of the things I love about sport is being able to form opinions and then change your mind when you see faults in your argument. I think we are all well within our right to do that!

I sat on the couch this morning at 12:15am as the Men’s Final was well into a 5th set and thought to myself the runner-up tonight will earn the same amount of money as Maria Sharapova did in losing the women’s singles final on Saturday night and for mine that isn’t right.

I do however think that women in the early rounds deserve equal pay because the prize money available on the WTA tour is overall less than the cash that is on offer on the men’s tour throughout the year. The slams are the best way for those ranked around 50 to 100 in the world to earn some cash.

If you are talking about bang for your buck then the men get it hands down.

I might be labelled sexist for having these views and I realise it is a difficult argument but can someone mount me a case that supports Maria Sharapova being paid the same as Raphael Nadal from this years Australian Open?

Like I said earlier; I changed my mind a couple of times in regard to this debate and I don’t want to take anything away from female tennis players but I leave you with this. The women’s final has already been largely forgotten by the general sports fan whereas what Nadal and Djokovic produced in the men’s final will echo through the ages.

I appreciate your feedback on this on going and in my mind very difficult debate

Watch sport in school?

Posted by: Peter Psaltis | Peter Psaltis 23 January, 2012 - 12:39 PM

Should kids should be able to watch sport in school?

In my opinion the answer to that question is easy…..YES!

Sport can teach our kids so many lessons in so many different ways I feel it is important our kids be able to watch top level sport in school. Sport in so many ways help teach kids about lessons in life. It teaches children how to triumph over adversity and overcome the odds. Sport can teach us to be gracious in victory as well as defeat.

Allowing the kids to watch sport in the classroom will also motivate them to get off the couch or away from the desk and get out to do some exercise. The amount of ways sport can motivate our kids are endless.

I posed this question on Facebook over the weekend and this response from Paula who is a mother of 4 year old twin boys –

Nick & Alex would love it! They already watch some at home but not for long as they don't have the attention span at the moment. I say bring it on Would inspire them to do some more sports perhaps and yes lots of stories too!

And I had this comment from Danny –

I think watching sport is much better than making them sit infront of the computer all day..might motivate them to become for active outdoors!!

What do you think?

I’m not saying let them sit and watch for hours on end. But in my opinion you could learn more from watching 10 minutes of sport than you could spending 10 weeks doing algebra!

People who don’t like sport will instantly disagree with what I’ve proposed, I feel sorry for these people who don’t have sport in their lives. Athletes and teams can inspire both kids and adults in a way no other group of people can.

Sport is so much more than entertainment. At a deep level it teaches us many lessons we can take into day to day life, let our kids watch the tennis and cricket this week and watch them learn and be inspired!