WITH the headlines screaming about drunken yobs; pictures showing half-naked mobs hurling bottles at police and UEFA threatening to kick England out of the Euros, you might have searched hard for any good news from the world of sport over the weekend.

I promise you, it was there if you looked long enough.

England’s rugby union team had a rare win in Australia; Wales got off to a flying start in the Euros by defeating Slovakia; and Lewis Hamilton won a motor race in Canada.

That’s enough good news for starters.

The madness in Marseille dragged football back into the Dark Ages but why was anybody surprised after fans had spent hours boozing in the hot sun?

If they expect the threat of expulsion from the championships to have a calming effect on the mobs ,whether Russian or English, then it is clear that the officials of UEFA also believe in fairies.

Their best hope is that Gareth Bale and his Welsh mates do the job for them by winning in Lens on Thursday.

ENGLAND rugby union coach Eddie Jones has been smiling a lot lately. And with good reason.

The 39-28 victory over the Wallabies in the first Test in Brisbane was enough to cheer up any rugby fan, although Jones might not find the league brotherhood in such a friendly frame of mind.

Branding the 13-man game as a sport without skill but designed to hurt people would not have won him any new friends in the rival code which, he knows only too well, is rather big on the east coast of his homeland.

Now he has turned his attention to his fellow Aussies, accusing them of being “disgusting, demeaning and disrespectful” in their advertising build-up to the second Test.

As an Australian, he must know all about slagging off the Poms at every chance they get, whatever the sport. It’s second nature to the men from Down Under and almost as popular as their own private pastime, Aussie Rules Football.

EVERYBODY loves an underdog, so Ireland’s win in South Africa was a high spot of the weekend – except for one thing.

The view of the Irish commentator on the dismissal of their South African-born forward CJ Stander for his so-called tackle on Pat Lambie.

It was high, it was late and it was dangerous. It was impossible to see what it was designed to do other than injure an opponent. (Eddie Jones, please note).

“I’m not sure that was worthy of a red card,” said the commentator after Stander was dismissed and Lambie was carried off on a stretcher and wearing a neck brace.

Not worthy of a red card? And this in a sport that sends a player to the sin-bin for the crime of wandering offside.

THE search for good news would not include the report from London, where Barrow Raiders suffered their first ever league defeat at the hands of the Skolars.

With three games left – including Craven Park dates with Hemel Stags and Oxford – Raiders are in a strong position to get the points they need for a place in the top eight and a chance to earn a play-off spot (top five), but there’s no escaping the fact that Barrow leaking 42 points and giving away 13 penalties is real cause for concern for coach Paul Crarey.

Still, as I said earlier, if you are looking for good news, there is always the Canadian Grand Prix result.

PETER WILSON