ENGLAND is still hopeful of landing the right to host World Cup 2006, despite efforts of the mob who brought violence to the streets of Marseille. The Football Association insisted that the bloody chaos would not be allowed to hamper the enjoyment hosting the World Cup would bring to millions in England in eight years time. Germany are the direct challengers for the 2006 championships, which will be announced in 2000.
Prime Minister Tony Blair is doing his best to limit the damage the hooligans wrought on his country. Some have called for England to withdraw its team if there is another incident, but the FA says that would mean hooligans were the winners.
For those who witnessed the bloody mess, it is not too difficult to back the demands that England go back home. But when you look at the supreme sportsmanship of the England squad, second thoughts persist. What is needed is some new method of stopping the generals of hate from being given access to England matches in future. Many of those brought before the courts were familiar faces to lawmen; repeated offenders who have no respect for anyone, let alone themselves.
The sheer hell on the streets will live with me forever. The sight of a man in England shirt falling to the kerb with a slit throat is not easy to forget. Neither is the terror on the faces of innocent passers-by, the atmosphere of danger that overtook Marseille's old port.
A few days after the England match, I went to Montpellier to see Italy v Cameroon. The atmosphere was so, so different. It was party time. Children strolled with their parents, bands played, rival fans swapped shirts and wore each other's colours.
If there is anything positive to come out of the shameful events, it is that the anti-hooligan operation run by Britain's National Criminal Intelligence Service will, thanks to the introduction of digital palm-size cameras, be knocking on doors over the next few months and taking the culprits off to jail. Now that is progress.
(The writer is on the staff of the 'Daily Express', London)
