It was fitting that the Premiership dropped into the United States last weekend in a month when high‑profile players have added their support to calls for strike action as a last resort should proposals to expand the season by a month from 2019-20 go ahead.
Professional sport in the US has a history of strikes. The 1994-95 dispute in baseball was the longest, lasting 232 days and making 1994 the first year without a World Series for 90 years. American football, basketball, ice hockey and even football have all been hit by walkouts, with salary caps and owners’ demands to be compensated for the loss of players as free agents usually at the centre of a dispute.
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