Steve Borthwick\u2019s England team should spare a thought for Martin Johnson and the most celebrated players to wear the Rose when they play Argentina at Twickenham on Sunday.<\/p>\n
25 years ago almost to the day this fixture was threatened with cancellation after Johnson\u2019s squad went on strike over pay in response to an RFU proposal to reduce the guaranteed match fee and increase the bonus for winning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a point of principle at stake,\u201d Johnson said at the time. \u201cIt is our livelihood. None of us, when we finish, will be in the position that a lot of footballers are where we never have to work again.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so they walked. A group of players that three years later would deliver the World Cup for their country downed tools and left the team hotel en masse, accusing their employers of being \u2018old fashioned, patronising and arrogant\u2019.<\/p>\n
Woodward warning<\/p>\n
Clive Woodward, England<\/a>\u2018s head coach, labelled it \u201cthe saddest day in the history of English rugby\u201d. He warned that if the players did not return to training he would pick another side to face Argentina.<\/p>\n Fast forward a quarter of a century and the current generation of England players are either recipients of a \u00a3160,000 enhanced player contract or paid by the match, assured of a \u00a323,000 fee regardless of the result.<\/p>\n That guaranteed income was hard-fought and the battlefield was the team hotel, still used to this day, back in the autumn of 2000.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery player who has worn the England shirt since has benefited from the stand we took that week,\u201d World Cup winner Neil Back tells Planet Rugby today.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to go on strike but we did it for the greater good of the team and future England players.\u201d<\/p>\n In November 2000, Back spent 48 hours in hospital attached to an intravenous drip following the win over the Wallabies. He rejoined the squad just in time to turn on his heels.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issue had been dragging on for too long, it was time we made a stand,\u201d he explained at the time. \u201cLet me illustrate why. We defeated the Wallabies with the last touch of the game after the ball fell kindly for Dan Luger.<\/p>\n \u201cHad the bounce of the ball gone the other way I would have found myself in a position as a professional sportsman of actually losing out financially by playing for England.<\/p>\n \u201cI would have received more playing for a winning Leicester side against Wasps.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s only right we should get our fair share of the huge amount or revenue generated by every international<\/a>. We don\u2019t think we are being greedy.\u201d<\/p>\n