The behaviour of England fans shows that even beautiful things can have an ugly side

In pursuit of ‘the beautiful game’, Leicester Square got utterly trashed by a mob hours before the match had even begun, writes Jenny Eclair

‘We’ve witnessed football being given some kind of golden ticket to do whatever it likes in a pandemic’ (EPA)

Many things have confused me this week, including the decision by some schools to let children go in late the morning after the England vs Italy match on Sunday night. I really tussled with this one – I just couldn’t understand why.

I get that big England matches can be a source of national pride (nearly) and “it’s history, innit”, but the overwhelming message seems to be that a single male-dominated sport transcends everything else. If pupils are going to traipse in late after the footie, then why not after the Eurovision Song Contest?

Surely if kids stay up past their usual bedtimes, most of them will wear their exhaustion as a badge of honour: “Yeah mate, me too, tough night”.