County Cricketers’ And Their Benefit YearsPart 1:Luke Wright’s Benefit Year during 2015 once more highlights this somewhat contentious practice within county cricket where club
stalwarts are handsomely paid for their loyalty and success via supporters donations, sponsorship drives and often a procession
of charity events which covers everything from posh dinners and auctions to golfing days. Contentious because the tax man under
ruling EIM68400 states:-
The following amounts (tax) are not chargeable: proceeds of a benefit match received by a player not under the terms of his agreement
but on compassionate grounds, for example, as compensation for permanent injuries
proceeds of a public subscription or of a collection
made at a benefit match unless it is clear that the player has an entitlement or expectancy so that such collections form part of the terms
or conditions of his employment. Agreements between players and clubs are normally made yearly. In cases of difficulty you should ask
to see the relevant documents. See also, in this connection, Reed v Seymour (11TC625).
Therefore, the player does not have to pay any tax on the derived income.
These fortunate county players owe a huge debt of gratitude to a former Kent cricketer James Seymour who in 1927 was taken to court
by the Inland Revenue after his refusal to pay tax on the sum of £937 gained from a Benefit match against Hampshire. After an exhaustive
case which ended up at the High Court, Seymour won but his appeal was overturned, only to be restored by cricket lovers in the 'House of
Lords'.
Seymour died 3 years later but
Reed v Seymour remains to this day the legal foundation on which rests the whole system of benefits and
testimonials in sport.
Since this fateful ruling the Revenue, if privately seething, have stayed clear of any further embarrassment, only occasionally for the salt to
be rubbed when a high profile cricketer earns a large Benefit sum.
Examples include Cyril Washbrook who gained £14,000 in 1948 when previous earnings had been in their ££hundreds and later Lancashire’s
Jack Simmons raised the bar by attracting £128,000 in 1980 - considered then to be a huge sum. Compare this with Ian Botham’s Benefit
year four years later which ‘only’ accrued £90,822.
Raised the Benefit Bar 
In the past, it was the done thing for a county to trumpet the players’ earnings. A way of praising the loyal Benefit team who put in long hours
of charitable work for their county player.
Meanwhile, charity events grew alongside Benefit matches because of heroic failures on the pitch. For where once it was a single match, which
could go wrong (Middlesex Albert Trott bowling himself, so he said, into the poorhouse by taking four in four and then a hat-trick to finish his game
early), while Somerset Bertie Buse's three day match against Lancashire at Bath in 1953 lasted just one day, a financial disaster for which the
county generously compensated.
Therefore, county boundaries began to be breached and then eventually things went international and astronomical.The dawn of this new Benefit
collossos began with Andrew Flintoff. His Lancashire earnings in 2006 remain a secret to this day, although rumours abound of many ££millions
of pounds which included several charitable functions in Australia. For, why incite the tax man or even team-mate jealousy today by going public with
the actual sum?
Flintoff's Benefit Year Included Several Dinner Events in Australia
For example, does anyone know what Michael Yardy pocketed last year? His excellent Benefit team organised a plethora of events which must have
netted a large six figure sum. Yet, sadly, due to this secrecy, the organisers gain little praise for their hard work.
Former Middlesex cricketer, Mike Selvey, described his Benefit Year as: “An embarrassing, humiliating, demeaning experience, tantamount to the begging
bowl, and incredibly time-consuming, I am sure to the detriment of my game.” Adding, “Certainly the way in which the system has been turned into an
industry needs reassessing.”
Selvey makes an interesting point.
The original purpose was to offer a measure of gratitude to county stalwarts who were otherwise not well-remunerated. Yet, today, those who need it least
due to annual £1m England central contracts where county appearances are rare, are the ones able to proffer the most.
So large are some of the sums declared that percentages are now donated to charity as a means of distracting the taxman's attention. Clearly against
the rules, too, has been the use of Benefits as an inducement to a high profile player to remain at the Club. There was a further impact, with cricketers past
their prime clinging on to careers in order to reach a Benefit, or in some cases a second one, in the process clogging up the system through which younger
players were trying to make their way. Some critics even advocate a complete rethink of the system which is about as likely as...
Deserves all the Benefit Money Coming to Him
When compared to football, basketball or American football, top cricketers are still paid a pittance. And for someone like Luke Wright who personifies the very
best of the Sussex CCC ‘family ethos’, he deserves all the money gained, so he can build that resplendent indoor heated swimming pool in the grounds of his
Newick home.
