Player strike looms over Premiership

English football took a decisive step towards its first strike on Friday when players voted overwhelmingly in support of industrial action in a dispute over television money.

Over 99 percent of the union's 2,312 members who voted backed the use of strike action, the head of the players' union (PFA) Gordon Taylor told a news conference.

"As you can imagine, we're extremely pleased, to say the least, at such unprecedented support from our members to pursue industrial action in order to secure a fair share of television income," said Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association.

"I'm absolutely delighted with the result which indicates the strength and solidarity of the players through all the divisions and confirms our belief that maintaining a five percent share of television income is fair and equitable."

The ballot result means the game now faces its biggest dispute in 40 years.

It gives the PFA a powerful weapon in their dispute with the Premier League over their share of the new television rights deal which is worth 1.65 billion pounds ($2.39 billion) over the next three years.

The Premier League has contacted the PFA, Taylor said, to arrange a meeting on Monday.

The union, which runs welfare schemes for disadvantaged players and former players, is demanding 25 million pounds per year but the league has offered only about 10 million.

The Premier League said it would be issuing a statement in response to the ballot result later on Friday.

The PFA now has one month in which to decide whether to call a strike which would wipe out all televised professional soccer.

Currently cameras are present at every game in the premier league, first, second and third divisions.

The Premier League, though, could seek a court injunction to prevent any strike going ahead.

It is expected to argue that industrial action in English law can only take place when there is a dispute between employers and employees -- in this case the clubs, not the union, and the players.

BOOM PERIOD

Several high-profile players, including England captain David Beckham, have said they would support any decision made by the PFA, although Arsenal manager Arsenal Wenger said last month that a strike would make English soccer look silly.

Earlier on Friday, England coach Sven Goran Eriksson said he hoped the players would not go ahead with the strike which might damage the image of the game at home and abroad.

"It's very bad if it's going to be a strike, bad for English football," the Swede said.

"English football will not gain by that, not in England, not in the rest of Europe or the rest of the world," he said.

English soccer has been through a boom period since the mid-1990s with huge television money coming into the game, allowing the clubs to attract major international players.

The new 1.65 billion pound deal is three times the size of the previous one and the PFA says it has always received five percent of the total in the past, which this time would amount to about 25 million pounds a year.

The Premier League, and most club chairmen, argue the players already benefit from the increased television revenue through the huge salary increases they have enjoyed in recent years.

The game now appears to be heading towards the biggest industrial conflict since former PFA chairman Jimmy Hill successfully led the players to force the clubs to abandon the maximum wage in the 1960s.

That was the closest the national game has come to a strike. In 1992 and 1996, the PFA held ballots and received more than 90 percent support from its members and won its arguments with the game's authorities.