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| You run 16 routes and whaddya get? Another day older... |
Labor day is a cruel joke for many of the nations football
workers who find themselves returning to the fields each year at this time. The
Seattle Seahawks are feeling particularly exploited this year as they have been
singled out to report to work on September 3rd (earlier than any of
their peers) to do a job with the Green Bay Packers. Unlike the Packers
however, Seattle had an unusually long work season last year.
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| Not an OSHA approved lift. |
“As seasonal workers we have very little control over when
and how long we work” reports long time runningbacker Marshawn Lynch. “Last
year just seemed to go on and on.”
Multiple sources confirm that the Seahawks were forced to
work well into February last year while many other football crews were
released as early as December, raising concerns about discrimination and
caprice among football management.
“It’s been really hard to plan any sort of vacation. Often
you don’t know when you’ll get time off until the very day they let you go” says
a veteran New England crew chief named Thomas Brady. Football workers like
Brady and Lynch have limited job skills and it seems that certain powerful
individuals have exploited this to dictate work hours and labor conditions.
Brady reports that his friend Antonio Romo hasn’t even had Thanksgiving off
since he started working in 2003.
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| Not good enough son. |
A typical footballer can spend hours pushing back and forth
over the same few acres of ground without a lot to show for his efforts. There
are some who see this kind of labor as degrading, especially when compared with
farmers or ranchers who generally own the land they work on and can dictate
their own work hours. Especially frustrating is the micromanagement reported by
many footballers. “There are men in black and white uniforms watching your
every move,” reports Brady. “They are constantly blowing their whistles and
telling us to start working or stop working or move somewhere else. It’s like
they’re training dolphins or something, except that they never seem happy with
our work and they rarely give us treats.”
Injuries are frequent and fights are common in the fields.
Because of the stress of their jobs many footballers turn to drugs for comfort
and to help them survive in a fiercely competitive work environment.
Roger Goodell, a privileged Senator’s son who seems to be pulling
the strings in this industry, could not be reached for comment.
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| O Lord, how long shall I call for help, and you will not hear? |
Money is also a concern for football workers. Goodell’s organization maintains
strict control over how much money can be doled out to a football crew, yet negotiations over pay can be difficult and result in wildly divergent earnings between workers. Because of this, some have
to work well into their thirties and are still expected to maintain the same
grueling schedule. One elderly man, who only gave his name as Peyton, is still
working in the football industry though he claims to be 38 years old. “It would
be nice to retire but the bills just keep piling up. It’s hard to afford much
more than a modest 4,000 square foot house. I probably should have been a
doctor or a lawyer, but my dad was a football worker so it was really the only
thing I knew.” For some, footballing appears to be a generational cycle that is
hard to break out of.
