England’s Premier League footballers, facing pressure to accept wage cuts during the coronavirus outbreak, have launched a fund.
The fund is to raise money for charities associated with the country’s National Health Service (NHS), and this is to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak.
With the 2019/2020 Premier League at a standstill, the players have been criticised in the British media over the last week.
They were criticised for resisting calls from the clubs to accept wage deferrals and cuts to reduce wage bills.
The players union, however, questioned the call for a 30 percent player wage reduction, saying it would reduce tax revenue for Britain’s NHS.
READ ALSO: COVID-19: Premier League Players To Negotiate Proposed Wage Cuts On Club-by-club Basis
The union said the players wanted to ensure their contributions supported the clubs they play for, non-playing staff, lower league clubs and the NHS.
Tottenham and England captain Harry Kane and Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson were among the players to tweet a statement on Wednesday with the hashtag #Playerstogether.
“We can confirm that after extensive conversations between a huge number of players from all Premier League clubs, we have created our own collective player initiative, #PlayersTogether,” said the statement.
It added that the fund would partner with NHS Charities Together (NHSCT), which represents over 140 NHS charities, to “assist them in generating and distributing funds quickly and efficiently to where they are needed most.”
The statement added: “#PlayersTogether is about we, as players, collaborating together to create a voluntary initiative, separate to any other club and league conversations, that can help get much-needed funds to those that need it right now.”
Reuters/NAN
