Footballer's wage: one pizza a week

• the Bear

  2 Feb 05, 13:05

  A pizza a week
  A Norwegian soccer player has been tempted to continue his career after a local club promised him a rather unusual salary.
  
  Striker Bård Erik Olsen, 32, has eight years experience with Norwegian second division club Sprint-Jeløy, and a stint with former top division club Moss, but had decided it was time to phase out sport and spend more time with his daughter.
  
  But fifth division club Tronvik was looking for a power striker, and thought they might tempt Olsen to beef up and delay retirement, newspaper Moss Avis reports.
  
  It started as a joke, but in the end the promise of a pizza a week convinced the striker to say yes.
  
  "I can't just completely cut out football all of a sudden, so I am glad that Tronvik want me," Olsen told Moss Avis.
  
  "For a few years we've tempted BÃ¥rd Erik to Tronvik and said he could eat as much pizza as he wanted. Now that we have a chance we'll keep our word," said club member Kjetil Jensen.
  
  Norway's lower division teams have made headlines for odd contracts before, with one high-profile transfer involving a player being sold for his weight in prawns.
  
  (source: Aftenposten - News from Norway)
• the Bear

  2 Feb 05, 13:08

  Connected story:
  
  Soccer player worth his weight in prawns
  Two third division Norwegian soccer teams have agreed one of the oddest transfer deals ever. Vindbjart will sell striker Kenneth Kristensen to rivals Flekkerøy for his weight in fresh prawns.
  
  The lower divisions of Norway's soccer system don't hum with high finance, but some kind of compensation for a top player was needed, newspaper Faedrelandsvennen reports. A board meeting decided that Kristensen would be weighed and turned over in return for an equal weight of crustaceans.
  
  "Kenneth was in top form when he left us in the winter but he has had a relaxed summer eating seafood on Flekkerøy. I think this will be a good deal for us," Vindbjart club foreman Vidar Ulstein told Faedrelandsvennen.
  
  Vindbjart will be taking their own scales when the two teams meet on Saturday. Flekkerøy boss Rolf Guttormsen said the team has plenty of shellfish ready.
  
  "I had no idea if it was a joke or deadly serious. When I called the Vindbjart chairman he said that it was a bit of both but they wanted the prawns. So we had no choice," Guttormsen said.
  
  (source: Aftenposten - News from Norway)
• shining_force

  22 Feb 05, 15:36

  Originally posted by the Bear:
  [b]A pizza a week
  A Norwegian soccer player has been tempted to continue his career after a local club promised him a rather unusual salary.
  
  Striker Bård Erik Olsen, 32, has eight years experience with Norwegian second division club Sprint-Jeløy, and a stint with former top division club Moss, but had decided it was time to phase out sport and spend more time with his daughter.
  
  But fifth division club Tronvik was looking for a power striker, and thought they might tempt Olsen to beef up and delay retirement, newspaper Moss Avis reports.
  
  It started as a joke, but in the end the promise of a pizza a week convinced the striker to say yes.
  
  "I can't just completely cut out football all of a sudden, so I am glad that Tronvik want me," Olsen told Moss Avis.
  
  "For a few years we've tempted BÃ¥rd Erik to Tronvik and said he could eat as much pizza as he wanted. Now that we have a chance we'll keep our word," said club member Kjetil Jensen.
  
  Norway's lower division teams have made headlines for odd contracts before, with one high-profile transfer involving a player being sold for his weight in prawns.
  
  (source: Aftenposten - News from Norway)[/b]

  For love of the game.
  Try tit for tat with any one of the s-legue players. Most likely worth only a prata though.