AAP Internet Bulletin 1730 Friday Dec 25, 1998

AAP General News (Australia)
12-25-1998
AAP Internet Bulletin 1730 Friday Dec 25, 1998





[I][WORLD CHRISTMAS]

Christians celebrate around the world

Yasser Arafat's helicopter landed in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve - delayed by a manhunt for
a Palestinian fugitive but still in time for celebrations in the town of Jesus' birth.

Troubles intruded on holiday celebrations elsewhere in the world, too, with refugees of
Hurricane Mitch finding Christmas spirit hard to come by and Christians in Indonesia shaken by
attacks on churches.

Still, the sacred business of celebration took precedence for many Christians.

At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II celebrated this Christmas with his mind on the next one,
looking ahead eagerly to the opening of the jubilee year that will launch Christianity's third
millennium.

"My thoughts already turn to Christmas next year, when, God willing, the church shall
inaugurate the great jubilee with the opening of the holy door," John Paul said in a midnight
Mass at St Peter's Basilica televised in about 40 countries.

The phrase was a slight change in wording from his prepared text. In the original, the pope
said he himself would inaugurate the jubilee.

Even the dragnet in the town of Jesus' birth could not dampen festivities. Boy Scout
bagpipe bands marched throughout the day, and crowds of well-wishers - along with mounted
Palestinian police - greeted the Latin patriarch, Michel Sabbah.

As soon as darkness fell, the snap and sparkle of firecrackers filled Manger Square -
despite pleas by Mayor Hanna Nasser, who says such displays are inappropriate at Christmas.

Bethlehem was handed from Israeli to Palestinian rule just before Christmas 1995, and the
fireworks were a celebration of independence.

Decorum came later in the evening with Midnight Mass in the Church of St. Katherine, next
to the fourth-century Church of the Nativity that was built on the traditional birthplace of
Jesus. A large television screen was set up for the overflow.

Sabbah fanned incense over the altar, and led a service that included prayers in Arabic,
English and Latin.

He delivered a sharply political sermon, alluding to Israel as the "oppressor" and praying
for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Sabbah also prayed for the "people
of Iraq," days after a US-British bombardment of that country.

The nationalist tone of previous Christmases in a Bethlehem under Palestinian authority has
been played down: Instead of the 2-story-high portrait Arafat of earlier years, smaller
depictions of the Palestinian leader were hanging from streamers over Manger Square.

A manhunt for Jamil Jadala, a Bethlehem native accused of involvement in the October
killings of two Israelis, was still under way when Arafat arrived in Bethlehem early Thursday
evening. Arafat is under pressure from Israel to contain political violence, and Jadala's
escape from a Nablus jail earlier this week has embarrassed him.

Istanbul's largest Roman Catholic Church called off Christmas Eve midnight Mass, citing
security concerns due to strong anti-Italian sentiment over Italy's harbouring of a Kurdish
rebel.

In the Persian Gulf, some 72 planes, including 46 fighter jets, were chained down as a
giant US aircraft carrier dropped anchor to prepare for Christmas celebrations.

In the Kuwaiti desert, 1,000 US marines in the region to meet any Iraqi threat, tried to
make the best of Christmas Eve in the desert. Corporal Robert Katz of New Rochelle, New York,
said Christmas was about being with the people dearest to your heart, and "we're all friends
and family here."

On the others side of the Kuwait-Iraq border, President Saddam Hussein delivered a
Christmas message, saying recent US and British airstrikes on Iraq violated the teachings of
Jesus. He called on all believers to "face up to these criminals."

It was business as usual for most Japanese on Christmas, which is a secular, largely
commercial event and not a national holiday. About 1 per cent of Japan's 125 million people
are Christians.

In Singapore, the main shopping district, Orchard Road, was jammed with hundreds of
thousands of people and bumper-to-bumper cars late Christmas Eve. Less than 13 per cent of
Singapore's 3.1 million people are Christian. But the city-state emphasises tolerance.
Christmas Day is a holiday and people call out Merry Christmas to each other under the palm
trees.

In Jakarta, Indonesia's Christian leaders appealed for racial and religious harmony
following recent attacks by Muslim mobs on Christian churches. Rising social and religious
tension has rocked a nation struggling through its worst economic crisis in three decades.

In some Central American towns, Hurricane Mitch wiped out the holiday entirely. "What
Christmas?" asked Gregorio Sanchez, who lives with his wife and five children in a dirt-floor
shelter of plastic in Posoltega, Nicaragua, alongside hundreds of other refugees.

In Havana, however, Cubans crowded markets to buy pork roasts and other traditional foods
for a Christmas made especially festive by the recent reinstatement of December 25 as a
permanent holiday.





[A][XMAS MESSAGES]

Aussie church leaders thank God

Church leaders today reminded us that Christmas is a time of peace and caring for others,
and called for an end to war and consumerism.

Melbourne's Anglican archbishop Keith Raynor said this year we celebrate Christmas at a
particularly messy time.

The bombs have hardly stoped dropping on Iraq, the world's greatest power, the United
States, is sick at heart and paralysed politically and our northern neighbours are
economically uncertain and in many cases politically unstable, he said.

"In Australia, thank God, we have been spared the worst of these things," he said.

"Yet many are unemployed, families are broken, children grow up in poverty, homeless people
wander the streets. Surely this is not as God intended things to be."

God has a better way for us, and Jesus came to show us the way and give hope on that first
Christmas Day, he said.

Baptist Church minister Jim Barr said that the message of peace on earth remains tenuous as
bombs drop in the middle east and families celebrate with gift giving that drives retail
spending to new heights.

"This contrast between the rhetoric of goodwill associated with Christmas and the
persistent human realities of war and greed can lead to deep ambivalence about this season,"
Mr Barr said.

For many Christmas was an empty and overblown celebration associated with shallow
sentimentalism and naive faith, he said.

The Christmas message was as timely as ever in a society which was still debating who are
really Australians and had not yet reconciled with the first inhabitants of this land.

"It needs to be though about, and acted on and taken into the whole of the year ahead, not
just reversed for a few short days of feel-good feasting," he said.

Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne George Pell said Christmas reminded us that the two most
powerful Christian symbols of God among us, a baby in a stable and a young man dying on a
cross are economically unproductive.

The baby has contributed nothing, the young man dying is a has-been. In God's eyes both are
precious, supremely so.

"Everyone is important to God, and those of us with time and energy are called to help the
suffering and the battlers," Archbishop Pell said.

"The number of those volunteers who help is diminishing in our society. This is a bad sign.

"May the message of Christmas reverse this trend and encourage more and more of us to help
construct a better Australia."

Uniting Church moderator Pam Kerr said throughout the busyness of preparing for Christmas,
the present-buying and the end-of-year tiredness, the message of Christmas must not be
forgotten.

"The message of Christmas tells us that we are not alone," she said.

"God loves the world enough to have sent Jesus to share our human life with us."

We find glimmers of love sneaking under our door, like the light of the Christmas star
shining through the stable door, she said.

"I hope that you will catch a glimpse of God's love in those who brighten your lives," she
said.

"And I hope that you might become the human face of God's love for some of your
neighbours."

In Sydney, Archbishop Edward Clancy said Christmas was a time to look deep within our
hearts.

"And be assured that Jesus knows each and every one of us personally.

"Nothing is hidden from his eyes."

Sydney's Anglican Archbishop Harry Goodhew said Christmas was a time to help people around
us.

"How can we help people with their spiritual, physical and emotional needs?"





[A][TOLL NATIONAL]

Holiday season road toll soars to 34

Thirty-four people have been killed in accidents on Australia's roads over the national
Christmas-New Year holiday period.

Two have died so far on Christmas Day.

A man in his twenties died when his motorcycle hit a steel light pole in Melbourne's
south-east this morning.

Also in Victoria, a 27-year-old man died when hit by a car while lying on a road at coastal
Ocean Grove, south-west of Melbourne, about 1.45 am.

New South Wales has recorded the most fatalities since last Friday, with nine deaths on the
state's roads.

Queensland and Victoria have had seven deaths, Western Australia four, and South Australia
and Tasmania each have three road deaths.

There has also been one death in the ACT.

Only the Northern Territory remains fatality-free.



[A][LIGHTNING][VIC]

Lightning strike death mars birthday

Alyce Rivalland turns four years old today, Christmas Day. But it won't be a day of
celebration because her mother won't be there.

Dawn Rivalland, 32, was struck and killed by lightning at a south-eastern Victorian beach
yesterday.

Police said Alyce, her one-year-old sister, her father and two other relatives were with
Mrs Rivalland at the water's edge on a beach at Cleeland Bight, Cape Woolamai on Phillip
Island, when the tragedy occurred about 6pm.

Mrs Rivalland died almost immediately.

Her name was released by police today. They also revealed it was Alyce's fourth birthday.

Other family members escaped serious injury and were taken to hospital but later released,
police said.

The family returned to their home in Upwey, eastern Melbourne today. They had been
holidaying on Phillip Island when the accident happened.

Mrs Rivalland was the second person to die from a lightning strike in a fortnight after a
young Perth jockey was killed by a bolt of lightning while doing trackwork on December 15.





[A][BUSHFIRES VIC SECOND ][VIC]

Victorian firemen fight two bushfires

Country Fire Authority firefighters in Victoria are battling two potentially serious
bushfires, one of which has so far destroyed 150 hectares of grassland.

A CFA spokesman said 10 CFA fire trucks, two Department of Natural Resources fire trucks,
three aircraft and several slip-ons - water tanks fitted to the back of trucks and utilities -
were battling the 150-hectare grass fire south of St Arnaud, in west-central Victoria.

He said the fire was burning in stubble and was not currently a threat to homes.

A second fire had just been reported in grassland and bush near Romsey, north of Melbourne.

No evacuations were yet required.

However, 17 fire trucks had been requested to be sent to the area so it was believed to be
serious, the spokesman said.

About 150 firefighters were on standby around the state with temperatures in the high 30s
causing concern.





[A][BLAST][SA]

Adelaide house destroyed in blast

An Adelaide family returned from an interstate trip today to find their house reduced to
rubble after an explosion caused by arsonists.

Only one wall of the house, in the southern suburb of Marino, was left standing following
the early morning blast which shattered the windows of neighbouring homes.

Police spokesman Mick Symons said nobody was injured in the explosion, although the house
was so wrecked that it was some time before fire crews and police could determine that the
house was empty at the time of the explosion.

"They were returning from an interstate trip apparently," Senior Sergeant Symons said.

"They came home this morning to find it destroyed."

Metropolitan Fire Service spokesman Bill Dwyer said fire investigators had found that the
house had been broken into and a large amount of flammable liquid had been spread around the
home and lit shortly before 3.40am.

"Fortunately nobody was home because the devastation of that is unbelievable," Mr Dwyer
said.

"Fortunately it was a very large block, well set back off the road. Debris was thrown 50m
from the house into neighbouring properties."

Police have appealed for public assistance in their investigations, particularly in
relation to a small car, possibly red in colour, seen leaving the property shortly before the
explosion.

"We are asking if anyone does know anyone who has been injured as a result of this, either
with slight burn marks or burns to themselves," Snr Sgt Symons said.





[A][TELSTRA ACCC]

ACCC launches action against Telstra

Telecommunication giant Telstra Ltd could face fines of around $50 million, following court
action by Australia's competition watchdog, which alleged anti-competitive behaviour.

In what would be a David and Goliath battle, the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission (ACCC) initiated proceedings in the Federal Court late yesterday.

The ACCC alleged Telstra transferred customers to other service providers such as Optus and
AAPT in an anti-competitive way, ACCC chairman Alan Fels told AAP.

Earlier this year, the ACCC used new powers to issue a competition notice to Telstra over
the way it transfered customers.

Professor Fels said he had taken the court action because Telstra had ignored a notice to
stop its alleged anti-competitive behaviour by December 9.

"What's required in the industry is competition, what's required is that consumers get
choice in telephone services," he said.

"They won't get it if anti-competitive behaviour by Telstra occurs."

Telstra would be fined $10 million for each charge and $1 million a day for every day it
disobeyed the ACCC's orders if the ACCC won the court action, amounting to at least $50
million, he said.

Telstra spokesman Steve Wright said the company would fight the charges.

The company, which posted a record corporate profit of $3 billion in 1996/97, will be
drawing on far greater resources than that of the ACCC.





[A][ASYLUM][FED]

Govt under fire for moving detainees

The immigration department has come under fire over a decision to send asylum seeks
arriving in Sydney to the remote Port Hedland detention centre in Western Australia.

A department spokeswoman said the decision to transfer protected visa applicants to WA's
far north Kimberley region had been made following a 60 per cent increase in unauthorised
arrivals at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport.

The department had consulted with the commonwealth ombudsman to ensure detainees were not
disadvantaged by the move.

"The department has been determined to ensure that detainees are not disadvantaged through
the relocations and we're working to maintain timeliness benchmarks for processing of
applications," the spokeswoman told AAP.

"The department is also ensuring that access to lawyers and legal officers is facilitated
when required by the detainee."

She could not say how many detainees had been transferred since the policy came into force
this month.

The move has outraged Amnesty International and refugee lawyers who say detainees will be
disadvantaged by Port Hedland's distance from major centres and its lack of adequate legal
facilities.

Law Council of Australia president Fabian Dixon told The Canberra Times the move made it
"virtually impossible" for lawyers to thoroughly peruse their clients' cases.

Amnesty International national refugee coordinator Des Hogan echoed Mr Dixon's concerns,
saying many asylum seekers arrived disoriented and traumatised by their experiences.

Transfer to Port Hedland would only increase their sense of confusion and disorientation,
making them less able to deal with the complex bureaucratic hurdles of the refugee process, Mr
Hogan told the newspaper.





[A][WIK WUTHATHI BLACK][QLD]

One Nation native title referendum call

A One Nation parliamentarian has called for a referendum on native title following reports
a claim was lodged on a non-existent island in the Torres Strait.

The Queensland Land Tribunal has found an island near Cape York claimed by the Wuthathi
people as a site of "past occupation" did not exist and that it was mistakenly gazetted as
available under the state's Native Title Act 1991.

One Nation member for Whitsunday, Harry Black, said: "These claims are just going through.
We've got to have a referendum to let people say what they really think of the situation."

Mr Black told ABC radio a royal commission should also be held into the "land rights
industry".

The non-existent island, identified as Lot 1 on ABL 26, was included in a claim the
Wuthathi people lodged over a group of ten islands listed as available under native title
legislation.

Queensland Land Commissioner Graeme Neate said the land tribunal had searched for the
island by boat but could not find it.

"We have no doubt at the time of the hearing (of the native title claim) there was no
island at or in the immediate vicinity of the location," he said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Minister Senator John Herron has refused to
comment on the issue, saying it was not his responsibility.

Meanwhile, the Wuthathi people's legal representative said the absence of the island did
not affect the overall claim.

Cape York Land Council solicitor Louise Goodchild said under state law, native title claims
had to be based on land deemed claimable and gazetted by the Queensland government.





[A][YACHT ALONE][FED]

French solo yachtswoman still at sea

French solo sailor Isabelle Autissier's arrival at Tasmania for emergency repairs to her
yacht has been delayed another day after an overnight buffetting by 30 knot winds.

Around Alone race director Mark Schrader said the 42-year-old yachtswoman was still 200
nautical miles south-west of Tasmania this morning and had no hope of reaching Adventure Bay,
south of Hobart, before Boxing Day.

"Conditions have moderated substantially since last night. She's going along reasonably
well," Mr Shrader said.

"The wind is right down from the 30 knots last night."

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has monitored Ms Autissier's progress since her
mainsail was damaged last week and readied for a possible second rescue in four years of the
around-the-world sailor from the Southern Ocean.

Ms Autissier yesterday had expected to reach Tasmania by this afternoon.

In a message to her shore crew, she revealed that her mainsail has been further damaged on
Tuesday.

"The repair may take longer than the three hours first predicted because another piece of
(sail) track broke off the day before yesterday," she told her crew.

"Also we don't have certain fittings that have been specially machined for the track so
we'll have to improvise."

While 290 nautical miles out yesterday, Ms Autissier had expected 10-to-15 knots winds
until she reached land "which will help in manoeuvring but not in speed".





[I][YUGOSLAVIA KOSOVO]

Opponents vow to fight on in Kosovo

Following a Serb offensive against a Kosovo rebel stronghold, both sides are vowing to keep
fighting, dealing a new setback to an already shaky US-brokered cease-fire agreement.

The attack by Serb troops and tanks against six villages north of Pristina was continuing
today, sending hundreds fleeing into snow-covered hills. An Associated Press Television News
crew saw the body of one man killed by an artillery shell in the village of Glavnik and ethnic
Albanians say several others were injured.

The attack began after US and NATO officials warned both sides against violence, which
could threaten the fragile October 12 agreement. The deal ended most of the fighting between
government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels seeking independence from Yugoslavia's main
republic, Serbia.

Yugoslav army soldiers backed by tanks and artillery struck at rebel-infested villages near
Podujevo, 30 kilometres north of the provincial capital Pristina, purportedly searching for
gunmen who killed a Serb policeman three days before.

Hysni Fazliu, a spokesman for the party of leading ethnic Albanian politician Ibrahim
Rugova, said rebels resisted the attack in a "fierce battle."

"Both sides have been looking for trouble and found it," said William Walker, the American
head of the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe's verification force monitoring
the October accord. He expressed frustration at the apparent lack of will for a peaceful
settlement.

The OSCE reported heavy gunfire in the Podujevo area.

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana told BBC television that the Serb offensive was in
"clear violation of the commitments" undertaken in October by Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic to end eight months of fighting and avoid NATO airstrikes.

"We remain fully vigilant and ready to act," Solana said.





[F][JAPAN UNEMPLOYMENT]

Japanese jobless rate at record high

Japan's unemployment rate hit a record high of 4.4 per cent in November as companies
struggling in the country's worst recession in decades trimmed their work forces and suffered
from a wave of bankruptcies, the government said today.

The total number of workers shrank by 480,000 from a year ago to 64.81 million, marking the
10th consecutive month of on-year declines, said the statistics bureau of the Management and
Coordination Agency. The total number of jobless stood at 2.91 million.

The November rate tops the previous record of 4.3 per cent, set in recent months. Worst hit
were workers at medium-sized companies, where employment fell by 1.4 per cent from levels a
year earlier.

The jobless rate - the highest since the government started measuring it in the 1950s -
also set another record: it was the first time Japan's unemployment rate equaled that of the
United States, where the jobless rate also stood at 4.4 per cent in November, an agency
official said.

The new unemployment figure comes as Japan is grappling with its deepest recession since
the end of World War II. Bankruptcy debts have hit record highs, domestic consumption is
stagnant and the financial system is weighed down by massive bad debts.

The government does not expect a quick recovery. Taichi Sakaiya, the head of the Economic
Planning Agency, said today that the employment situation would probably worsen before it gets
better.

"There's strong pressure for the jobless rate to rise," he said.

The Labor Ministry said today that the ratio of job offers to job seekers, an indicator of
demand for labour, fell to a new record low of 0.47 in November, indicating that there were
only 47 jobs being offered for every 100 workers seeking employment.

The new job offers ratio showed there were 85 new jobs for every 100 people newly seeking
work. A year ago, the ratio stood at 1.16.





[I][CHINA DISSIDENTS]

Chinese dissident faces death penalty

A dissident charged with endangering state security could face a death sentence for
allegedly telling US government-funded Radio Free Asia about farmers' protests.

Zhang Shanguang, who earlier spent seven years in jail for labour rights campaigning, will
go on trial on Sunday in Huaihua city in the southern province of Hunan, an official of the
court confirmed today.

The official refused to detail the charges or give his name. But Human Rights in China, a
New York-based group, said today that Zhang was accused of "illegally providing intelligence
to overseas enemy organisations and people."

According to China's criminal code, conviction generally is punished with a jail term but
the court can apply the death penalty if it deems that national interests were seriously
endangered.

Human Rights in China said the charge was related to interviews Zhang allegedly gave to
Radio Free Asia, which has irked Chinese officials with reports on human rights abuses and
other issues.

The group said Zhang had told the network about a demonstration by 70 to 80 farmers in
Hunan province's Xupu county and about another protest by farmers angered by excessive taxes
that turned violent and resulted in deaths.

Human Rights in China said it got its information from "reliable sources" but its claim
about Radio Free Asia could not immediately be verified.

The Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China, a Hong Kong-based
group which also reported Zhang's impending trial, said the 45-year-old told overseas media
and human rights groups about protests by unemployed workers. But the group did not mention
Radio Free Asia.

Zhang's wife, Hou Xuezhu, could not immediately be reached for comment and his lawyer, Chen
Hanwen, refused to answer questions.





[T][CRICKET ENGLAND][CRIK]

Taylor plans no mercy for England XI

Australian cricket captain Mark Taylor wants to crush any remaining English pride before
the masses on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne tomorrow.

Although boasting a two-nil advantage and with the Ashes secure, Taylor is wary of an
underperforming and indecisive England outfit.

The tourists today delayed naming a side for the fourth Test until match morning, confused
at the state of the MCG wicket.

England will wait and see whether a healthy green grass coverage on the pitch is shaved
down before deciding its team.

The grassy state of the MCG wicket for tomorrow's opening day could prompt Australia to
include rookie paceman Matthew Nicholson to partner Glenn McGrath and Damien Fleming.

McGrath today passed a fitness test after missing training yesterday with a virus.

Nicholson has played just seven first class games and Taylor said a decision on his
inclusion would be made as a predicted crowd of more than 70,000 get settled in their seats
tomorrow morning.

Versatile seamer-spinner Colin Miller is Australia's other option to carry the drinks
against an England side fighting for survival in the five match Ashes series.

Taylor wants to snuff any chance of an England fightback.

"The next two weeks for them is a chance to retain some pride and give us a bit of a run
for our money and try and shock us into a Test loss," Taylor said.

Tomorrow's teams:

Australia: Mark Taylor (capt), Steve Waugh (vice capt), Michael Slater, Justin Langer, Mark
Waugh, Darren Lehmann, Ian Healy, Damien Fleming, Matthew Nicholson, Stuart MacGill, Glenn
McGrath, Colin Miller (12th man to be named).

England: To be named tomorrow.





[T][YACHTING SYDHOB][YACHT]

Sayonara set to continue domination

Mighty American maxi Sayonara looks set to continue the recent overseas domination of line
honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, but a local boat seems likely to uphold Australian
honour in the battle for overall victory.

World maxi champion Sayonara has only been beaten once since it was launched in 1995 and is
a red hot favourite to take line honours for the second time in the 630 nautical mile event
starting tomorrow.

If the speedy 80-footer beats the local boats home it will be the fourth time this decade
and the third time in four years a foreign yacht has got to Hobart first.

New Zealand Endeavour trumped the locals in 1992, Sayonara triumphed in 1995 and German's
Morning Glory set a race record of two days, 14 hours, seven minutes and 10 seconds the
following year.

Sayonara apart, only last year's line honours victor and Sydney maxi Brindabella and new
Victorian maxi Wild Thing were given single figure odds by the bookmakers.

The tussle for overall handicap honours appears much more open with at least seven
Australian entries considered a chance.

While some respected yachting identities including Syd Fischer believe Sayonara could
become the sixth yacht to do the line honours and handicap double, most experts believe this
year's visitors will struggle to emulate the 1997 overall win of Hong Kong's Beau Geste.

The major local contenders include Australia's three 1998 Kenwood Cup representatives,
Ragamuffin, Quest and ABN AMRO Challenge.

Other Australian boats tipped to vie for overall honours include the new Sydney 40-footer
Sledgehammer, Victorian 36-footer Chutzpah, Sword Of Orion and 1996 handicap winner Ausmaid.

Sayonara's owner and skipper Larry Ellison was adamant unforeseen damage to his classy
craft was probably the major obstacle separating it from a line honours win.





[T][SOCCER BRITAIN FAN][SOC]

English fan takes players to court

An English soccer fan has attempted to set a precedent which might help the coaches who
tear their hair out when players fail to perform up to expectations.

West Bromwich Albion fan Bill Archer became so frustrated with his team's lacklustre
performances that he reported the players to officers of the Trading Standards Authority.

Archer complained to Trading Standards on the grounds that he wasn't getting his money's
worth at the games - Albion's loss to lowly rated Tranmere in a division one match on the
weekend was the final straw.

The leadup to the festive season hasn't brought too much good cheer for England's batch of
professional soccer players this week.

Rock legend Sir Elton John, chairman of division one team Watford, started the backlash
when he made national headlines on Wednesday by describing premier league players as lazy and
overpaid.

Then Archer demanded some legal recourse against the players who weren't producing the
goods on the field.

"They're playing for 5,000, 10,000 even 20,000 pounds per week ($A13,850 to $A55,380) -
surely they should perform on a Saturday. That's all the fans want," Archer told Sky News
today.

"(The solution) is simple. If (players) don't perform, they don't get paid."

West Bromwich is currently middle of the standings in division one and although manager
Dave Smith agrees the team "can improve 100 per cent", there are plenty of other teams doing
worse.

A little bit of good news for out-of-form players is that the Trading Standards authority
decided Archer had no case.

KEYWORD: NETNEWS 1730

1998 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.