Sport 22-11-2000 England Rugby Team On Strike who: England Rugby Team what: On strike over pay deal when: Today snippet: "England`s rugby union players went on strike for the first time in the sport`s history yesterday," reports David Hands in The Times, "as a nine-month pay dispute with the Rugby Football Union boiled over." After a unanimous decision by secret ballot, the team announced that they would not attend training at 11am this morning and coach Clive Woodward expects his team will not attend the fixture against Argentina at Twickenham this weekend, for which 60,000 tickets have been sold. "The players have been campaigning for a better deal for more than a year now," says The Mirror, noting that there is no sign of reconciliation from either side. "RFU chiefs, too preoccupied with their own navels, have not grasped the nettle." "At the heart of the dispute is a disagreement over the complicated formula determining the balance between fixed match fees and win bonuses," explains The Guardian`s Richard Williams. "The players, perhaps mindful of the painful experience of watching a Grand Slam win bonus go down the drain against Scotland in the final match of last season, want to raise the proportion represented by the guaranteed match fee." [... more]

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