The £4m Guinness Premiership salary cap is being blamed for the failure of an English club to reach a European final this season and Leicester are pushing for a re-think, Paul Rees writes in The Guardian.
"Apart from 1996, when English clubs did not take part in the first Heineken Cup, and 1999, when the clubs imposed a boycott for political reasons, England have always been represented in at least one European final. This season, Toulouse will play Biarritz in the Heineken Cup final at Stade de France on 22 May and the following day Toulon will play Cardiff Blues in the Amlin Challenge Cup.
"The Premiership is split on the issue of the salary cap. While clubs like Leicester and Northampton, who average five-figure crowds, have long advocated that the cap be either raised or abolished others, such as Sale and Wasps, who struggle to attract 10,000 spectators to their football grounds, fear that such a move would lead to a wealthy few dominating the Premiership and hogging England's places in the Heineken Cup."
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