(Toronto) For the second day in a row, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats canceled their practice session Monday because of the strike called by the players of the Canadian Football League.
Posted at 9:15 p.m.
Talks between the CFL and the Players Association broke down on Saturday, hours before the collective agreement expired.
Players from seven of the nine clubs on the Ambrosie circuit walked off the job as of 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
Only the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Elks started camp as scheduled on Sunday.
Their players will be able to legally strike later this week, in accordance with Alberta labor laws.
Sunday evening, the Montreal Alouettes announced that all training sessions scheduled for their camp were postponed “until further notice”.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders followed suit on Monday.
The league and the AJLCF have still not returned to the negotiating table.
The AJLCF also announced Monday evening that the Tiger-Cats players will stand together outside of Tim Hortons Field. Fans are asked to show elbow room “to show solidarity and to ask the CFL to return to the bargaining table,” the union said in a statement.
The main point of contention between the two parties concerns the ratio of Canadian players.
The CFL proposes that an American player who has played in the league for at least four years or who has played for the same team for at least three years be counted as a Canadian player.
Each club will nevertheless have to field at least seven “local” players, including six Canadians. The seventh could be American, but counted as Canadian under the new rules the league is trying to implement, or Canadian.
The previous collective agreement, which expired at midnight Saturday, required 21 Canadian players to be on the active roster, including at least seven starters.
Preseason games are scheduled to begin May 23 in the CFL, with a duel between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Roughriders.