Mohammad Salahuddin, mentor to many national cricketers including Shakib Al Hasan and also a top grade coach of the country, said that he would not encourage prospects to take up coaching as a profession due to the low payscale in the fraternity.
Salahuddin is also the head coach of the Gazi Group Chattogram in the ongoing Bangabandhu T20 Cup. The coach, who took the team to the final, is a permanent employee of the Gazi Group and hence he is not taking any extra fee for his services in this tournament.
But the experienced local coach expressed his disappointment regarding the remuneration of the coaching staff involved in this tournament. There are four Grade A players playing in the tournament, each receiving remuneration of Taka 15 lac. The lowest grade players — Grade D — are receiving Taka 4 lac each. On the contrary, the head coaches of each side are receiving less than half of what the lowest grade players are getting. Assistant coaches are getting around Taka 1-1.5 lac while trainers and other coaching staff are receiving much less.
“I am not taking any fees right now [for this tournament]. I work at Gazi Group. I am very ashamed of the coaches’ remuneration. I have always wanted coaches to come to Bangladesh and more players to come to the coaching career. I always hoped that they will be able to live with a good status. It seems to me that I will never tell anyone to take up coaching as a profession for such a fee,” said Salahuddin today after his side Chattogram’s practice session ahead of their clash with Gemcon Khulna in the tournament final tomorrow.
“I don’t know how the evaluation works here in this country. We belong in the ‘E’ category as our fee does not even match to that of the ‘D’ grade players. Then why should I say another person to take coaching up as a profession? We coaches are ‘E’ grade people and assistant coaches may belong to the ‘F’ grade. Trainers are maybe ‘G’ or ‘H’ grade employees,” said Salahuddin.
“If we [coaches] are not being valued that only means we do not have any impact in a game. We are just here for the sake of just being a part to help run the tournament or a match. We have nothing else to do,” concluded a frustrated Salahuddin.
