Professional sports like football are risky due to injuries and what then? I knew someone who was on 30% pay due to a knee injury and he never recovered fully to play again. You have to make so much money and have insurances in place to remove the risk issues. The fear of injury is what stopped myself from turning pro due to my age being 27 at the time with a maximum of 5 years possibly as a career. If I was 21 then it would have been different, but rugby only went pro after the 1995 world cup. The crazy thing is I was becoming a pro ref and 3 years away on the fast track program when my back gave in so even that was not guaranteed.