Football World Cup: Small town may face rude awakening

Despite the poor reputation of English supporters, John Lichfield

reports from Paris that their hosts for the final World Cup group match next year are looking forward to their presence.

Lens, the venue of one of England's three first-stage matches, is the smallest town ever to stage a World Cup game.

The industrial town only 40 miles from the English Channel, says it is "delighted" to have drawn one of England's fixtures. Whether the pleasure will survive the night of 26 June, when England play Colombia in the last match in Group G is open to question.

The Felix-Bollaert stadium holds 41,275 people (6,000 more than the town) and under the ticketing rules, England should be allocated just over 4,000 seats, with a few hundred more available through accredited travel firms. Any tickets returned by Colombia will be sold to people with French addresses and French bank accounts.

With Lens being so accessible from England (30 minutes from Calais by autoroute), this may be a recipe for trouble, with hundreds of ticketless fans crossing the Channel. But officials in the town say they are pleased and honoured to have drawn their near-neighbours; they also hope the Jamaica- Croatia game on 14 June will in attract London-based West Indians.

"I have spoken to dozens of officials and politicians in the town, and no one is worried in the least bit," said Philippe Leclerq, head of the Lens office of the regional newspaper La Voix du Nord. "On the contrary, they think it is a great honour.

"They say they have been assured that supporters of the English national team are not like supporters of the big English clubs. They are much more calm and responsible."

If this is the level of research conducted by the town, Lens may be in for a rude awakening indeed. A spokesman at the Town Hall said senior officials would consider what extra precautions might be needed. At present, they were "delighted" with the outcome of the draw, which also gives them Germany versus Yugoslavia and Spain against Bulgaria.

The draw emphasis the inflexibility of the system for allocating matches next year: on the same night, in the same Group, Romania and Tunisia, will be playing the new 80,000 capacity Stade de France near Paris. The organisers could switch the games but, with a large Tunisian community in Paris, this is said to be extremely unlikely.

English supporters with tickets for the Colombia game should probably consider staying elsewhere (in Lille or on the Channel coast). Lens has only one hotel on the list recommended by the World Cup organising committee. By contrast, the venues for England's first phase matches, Toulouse and Marseilles, are among the largest cities in France.

The large North African community in Marseilles makes England's opening match on 15 June almost a home game for Tunisia. Officials in the cities also said yesterday that they had no reason to anticipate trouble with English fans after the generally good experience during the Tournoi de France last summer.

l Despite Scottish fears that their fans may be squeezed out of the World Cup's opening fixture, against Brazil, organisers were clear yesterday that the usual rules on ticket allocation will apply. Of the 80,000 tickets for the game at St Denis, the French allocation has already been sold or at least accounted for. Of the other 28 per cent, eight per cent will go to tour operators, while the other 20 per cent will be divided between the Brazilian and Scottish authorities - giving Scottish fans a minimum of 8,000 tickets.