Rant has nothing to do with Ben playing for Cashmere (and of course it's great for the league as I mentioned a few pages back in this thread); how did people make that leap FFS?
And I'd wager anything that Ben is not getting paid, is doing it because he wants to, and as a favour for a mate.
They've probably promised to buy hundreds of books.
Tech can use him to encourage more young players to the club, have a few black tie evenings or club fundraisers with Ben fronting it. If he is getting $$ abd the right marketing behind it, it'll go close to paying for itself. Win/Win