LTA Official’s Salary Is Becoming A Big Deal

Written by: on 20th December 2012
LTA Official’s Salary Is Becoming A Big Deal  |

Roger Draper, the Lawn Tennis Association’s chief executive, has been a more contentious character than even Andy Murray in the British tennis scene since his appointment in April 2006. However the revelation that Draper’s bonus linked salary for 2012 is a massive £640,000 (more than $1 million) has prompted an outcry.

 

Criticisms like “obscene” and “worse than the most excessive payments to bankers” have been widespread in Britain. Now in the light of Sport England’s announcement that three years of funding from the LTA for grassroots tennis will be withheld until participation figures improve, the chairman of the British government’s All Party Tennis Group, has joined the debate calling Draper’s pay “unthinkable.”

 

Baroness Angela Billingham, a long-standing Labour peer in the the House of Lords and committed tennis fan is a frequent critic of Draper and the LTA’s excessive spending. After hearing the LTA will only receive £7.1 million over the next year from Sport England, with £10.3 million being put on hold to see whether they can come up with a viable plan to grow the game at grass-roots, she became apoplectic.

 

Earlier this week the LTA released their accounts which showed one salary, obviously Draper’s, to a basic £394,000, plus a bonus of £201,000 and a pension contribution of £45,000. This showed a £42,000 increase on Draper’s 2011 package of £598,000.

 

By way of contrast British Prime Minister David Cameron earns £142,500 a year and Baroness Billingham said: “It’s unthinkable that someone earning four times more than the Prime Minister has not got ideas for the shake-up of the sport. You don’t give bonuses for failure, surely, and a priority has to be placed on grassroots sport.”

 

Baroness Billingham’s anger was fuelled by the Sport England report that showed the number of people playing tennis once a week for half an hour has fallen from 487,500 in 2008 to 445,100 in 2012.

 

She said: “This report from Sport England means what the LTA is doing, or failing to do, is absolutely unacceptable. The people who can hire and fire are the board of the LTA, but I see no sign whatsoever that they are moving to even chastise Roger Draper.”

 

This week Baroness Billingham, who was asked to produce a report on the LTA’s role in British tennis in the summer of 2010 by then Minister of Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe, made a speech in Parliament and said: “The LTA are a total shambles, tottering from one broken pledge to another, the British press and the world’s press aghast at the huge cost and pathetic results of six years of mismanagement. It is pitiful.

 

“I call on Hugh Robertson, the Minister for Sport, to set up an urgent review and inquiry into British tennis. He must insist on transparency of all expenditure and salaries, especially given the LTA receives public money – taxpayers’ money.”

 

LTA president Peter Bretherton responded: “We have a rigorous process in place around determining the remuneration of all employees. All pay and reward decisions are taken by the remuneration committee that engages independent consultants to benchmark payments.”

 

Meanwhile, the LTA have appointed a new independent chairman, businessman David Gregson. He was a member London Legacy Development Corporation overseeing the Olympic Stadium’s future.

©Daily tennis news wire

Topics: , , , ,








10sBalls Top Stories

In Case You Missed It

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA thumbnail

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA

Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Eugenie Bouchard is the winner of the 2018 Excellence Awards in the Female Player of the Year and Singles Player of the Year categories.
TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE thumbnail

TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE

Time to get tickets to watch! Surly you have heard about The Largest Open Tennis Event in America!
TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER thumbnail

TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER

According to Uncle Toni, Rafael Nadal was supposed to be back at practice on either Dec. 4 or 5. Well, better late than never!
Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife thumbnail

Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife

Española y checa ya trabajaron juntas durante el pasado Open de Estados Unidos
ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS thumbnail

ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia hits a forehand to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during her second round match at the Nature Valley International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, Great Britain, on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.