IF you are looking for an escape route from football’s European Championships you are in the wrong place.

Unlike Jamie Vardy’s Leicester City contract there is no get-out clause. Non-football fans will have to look the other way.

For the next month or more the exploits of Rooney, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic and dozens of others you may never have heard of will fill the pages of the papers and TV screens.

You will read and hear of diamond formations, wide men, off-the-ball running and a hundred-and-one reasons (after the event) why something or other should never have happened.

It will even come as a relief to actually watch some football being played.

Because for the next month you will be locked inside the world of the pundit.

Ex-managers, some successful others not, former players, columnists and fans will be offering their advice to Roy Hodgson, Chris Coleman and the O’Neills, Michael and Martin, on their team selections and tactics.

One-time England boss Glenn Hoddle used his Sunday paper column to suggest to the present manager that the diamond can be England’s best friend as long as he cuts out the confusion.

Alongside that, World Cup winner Geoff Hurst suggests that there is no need to fret if the system doesn’t work. Alf Ramsey’s 1966 legends learned as they went along.

Despite all the advice, nobody among the experts appears to give England much of a chance of extending their stay in France beyond the quarter-finals.

The other three teams getting most of our attention have already hit new heights by qualifying for France so nobody will come down too harshly if Wales, relying heavily on their trump card Gareth Bale or Northern Ireland, managed by Michael O’Neill who has already reached legendary status for reaching the Euros, come home early.

The same cannot be said about the Republic of Ireland. They certainly won’t go quietly, not with Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane in charge. Keane has already said he felt like killing some of his players for their failure in a friendly against Belarus.

Goodness knows what he has planned for them if they don’t turn it on when the real action starts against Belgium, Italy and Sweden, although a single win in such company would be an achievement.

England, who the bookies make third favourites at 9-1 behind France and Germany, kick off their bid against Russia in Marseilles on Saturday night. But if you are looking for a Leicester City like clean-up you won’t find anybody offering 5,000-1.

In fact, Northern Ireland at 500-1 are the rank outsiders, Wales are 80-1, and the Republic 150-1. So, settle back, enjoy the football – and don’t take too much notice of the pundits.

WHILE Roy Hodgson and his players are trying to conquer Europe, the country’s rugby union team have bigger fish in their sights.

They are out in Australia for a three-Test series against the Wallabies and, according to their coach, Australian Eddie Jones, there are no plans to make it a hands-across-the-sea goodwill trip.

He has called upon a England to show a Bodyline Tour mentality – and those with love of cricket history will know how that almost led to a breakdown in relations between the two countries in the thirties when England’s bowlers tried to batter the Aussies – and especially Don Bradman – into submission.

So, expect cages to be rattled, blood to be spilled and bones to be broken. But they’ll all have a pint together afterwards, so that’s all right, then.

IT may have passed almost unnoticed but England did pick up a world title over the weekend.

Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis teamed up to lift the Darts World Cup when they beat Holland’s Raymond van Barneveld and Michael van Gerwen in the final in Germany.

It may not rank alongside international success in football or rugby but it is a start. And it was England’s fourth World Cup win.