Leagues Seek Injunction
England’s soccer leagues sued players Thursday, asking for an injunction to stop what would be the first strike in the country’s soccer history.
With the walkout scheduled for Dec. 1, the Premier League and Football League served notice on the Professional Footballers Assn. on Thursday. A High Court hearing will be held next week.
PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor resumed talks with the Premier League and there was still “plenty of time” to avert a walkout.
Taylor is seeking a $39 million annual share of TV income, while the league of offering $24.2 million.
Reports in British newspapers Thursday suggested that players, who voted nearly unanimously for a walkout, wanted a second ballot.
One Premier League player, Leicester defender Gary Rowett, came out publicly Thursday in favor of a second ballot on grounds that the league had improved its offer since the first vote.
“What do we need a second ballot for?” Taylor said. “We had more than 99% support in the first one. It’s up to the Premier League now.”
West Ham goalkeeper David James revealed that he was one of the 22 players who voted against a strike.
“I just hope it doesn’t go ahead,” he said. “The problem from day one was that the players had not had a full outline of the facts.”
The first match that could be called off would be the Dec. 1 game between defending champion Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford.
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Security concerns are heightening tension surrounding the World Cup soccer qualifier between Australia and Uruguay at Montevideo after the Socceroos were spit on and abused by local fans after arriving in South America.
Australia beat Uruguay, 1-0, Tuesday in Melbourne in the first leg of a home-and-home series for the last spot in next year’s World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
Australian authorities reacted angrily to the violent reception their national team received on landing in the Uruguayan capital to prepare for Sunday’s return match.
The government ordered its ambassador to Argentina to travel to Uruguay with an Australian Federal Police officer to advise the squad on security.
Soccer Australia said it would demand a switch of venues if security wasn’t significantly bolstered and it also considered sending its own chef to Montevideo to ensure none of its players fell victim to food poisoning.
Soccer Australia chairman Ian Knop, who was flying to Uruguay, said he’d subsequently received assurances from Uruguayan soccer and government officials that security would be enhanced.
“We understand and respect the Uruguayan passion for the game. We do not respect behavior such as that [at the airport], nor will we tolerate it,” he said.
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Brescia’s newly-signed Spanish midfielder Josep Guardiola tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone after an Italian league match, the Italian Olympic Committee said.
The former Barcelona star, who joined Brescia in October, was suspended by the disciplinary commission of the Italian soccer league pending a mandatory B-test.
Gardiola was tested after the Piacenza-Brescia match on Oct. 21, a week after making his debut in Serie A. Traces of two substances that indicate the use of nandrolone were found in a urine sample taken from the player.
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Ipswich Town, next to last in England’s Premier League, beat visiting Internazionale of Milan, 1-0, in the first leg of the third round of the UEFA Cup on a leaping header by Alun Armstrong in the 80th minute.
AC Milan, meanwhile, defeated Sporting Lisbon, 2-0, at San Siro as Andriy Shevchenko and Filippo Inzaghi scored.
The big name clubs that dropped from the European Champions League into the UEFA Cup largely failed to impress against their smaller rivals in Europe’s second-tier club competition.
Leeds rallied to beat Grasshoppers, 2-1, in Zurich, two-time Champions League runner-up Valencia defeated Glasgow Celtic, 1-0, Parma tied Brondby, 1-1, in Italy, Glasgow Rangers played to a scoreless tie against visiting Paris-St. Germain and Club Brugge humbled Lyon, 4-1, in Belgium.
