(awaiting cross-Pond/Antipodean comment, clarification, correction)

Anna, I believe you're right. There is a strong tendency in the UK to refer to collective nouns in the plural. "The team were beaten...", "The Board have reached an agreement..." and so on. Anglophone and anglophile though I am, it is one tendency that jars on me. I prefer to use the singular where possible. (At my last job I ruthlessly eradicated any references to the company in the plural - at least from all our marketing literature. I couldn't stand the "XYZ are a recruitment agency..." are a???? Arrrgggghhhh.)