At the outset let me firmly state

I'm all for paying "the going rate"

For what is done - no matter by whom,

But sport itself is a selective broom.

The Olympic female on a winter day

Who throws herself on a tin tea tray

To hurtle down a tube of ice

At speeds that make the sane blink twice

Is worth far more than what comes in pay

To others in the sporting fray.

There are other sports involving teams

That wallow in the stuff that gleams,

But does anyone believe that their course is

Decided by anything but market forces?

In their range the Williams sisters are top,

Yet who would pitch them against the crop

Of male champions and their power-driven wins

That people watch with high priced grins?

The boisterous demands for sporting equality

Are sometimes seen as unrealistic frivolity,

But with all that in mind I will gladly say:

Pay the going rate (and more!) to that girl on her tray!

.............................................................................. ..........