Stuart Broad, currently in Australia with England team preparing for next month’s World Cup Cricket wrote in Twitter: ” I have heard if you earn minimum wage in England you are one of the top 10 per cent earners in the world. #stay # humble”. On Tuesday evening the comment had already been retweeted 663 times. The 28 year old cricketer reportedly earns £650,000 per year, triggered a public outcry and outraged backlash on social media, incited wrath of fans, sport journalists, sponsors and charities for his “hypocritical” and “arrogant” comments, several accusing of him being ignorant and out of touch. Piers Morgan wrote on twitter ” Great Irony of Stuart Broad’s comment is that he has never stayed humble in his life”. Eddy Hogg tweeted: “It’s a pretty daft thing to say. Poverty is relative, after all, and something Oakham boy Stuart Broad has never experienced.”
It is neither cricket nor sledging, and his critics are already saying it is a bit rich coming from Stuart Broad, the England fast bowler educated at Oakham high School where fees for boarders are up to £ 30,000 a year. In 2011 in an article headlined “My first million” Broad told the Financial Times: “I never look at things from a financial point of view but if you play well the money looks after itself. Half my earnings are from the England contract and win bonuses and half from sponsors such as Adidas, who make my cricket bats.” He said in the same piece: “I was probably worth £1m two or three years ago, when I was 23,” and added, “like every member of the squad I get to drive a Jaguar XKR free of charge because Jaguar is our sponsor.
“I do have a weakness for watches, which I tend to buy after a special achievement. When we won the Ashes in 2009, I bought a Franck Muller watch and to celebrate No1 Test status I treated myself to a gold Jean Mairet & Gillman watch.
“I invest in wine, which I buy from a wine specialist. I’ve probably spent about £10,000 on various cases of wine in the past year.”
I’ve heard if you earn minimum wage in England you're in the top 10% earners in the World. #stay #humble
— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) January 27, 2015
UK minimum wage full-time employee working 40 hours a week earns £6.50 an hour and would have £13000 annual income.
Stuart Broad, since apologised on twitter, and insisted his message was meant for him and was not an instruction to public nor has he meant to offend UK minimum wage population of 5.3m people earn less than the living wage of £7.85 per hour. But Stuart Broad is one of the 16 England cricketers on a lucrative contract awarded by the England and Wales Cricket Board. In addition to his basic salary he get a four figure sum for each appearance.
Stuart Broad wrote :” Clarifying my earlier tweet, I merely wanted to emphasise my amazement at just how big the world is. No offence meant and sorry if any taken. The hash-tag was aimed at myself”.