It is the hooligans who bring football into disrepute, not Cantona : LE TTERS

From Mr M. S. Christodoulou Sir: As a Greek Cypriot residing in England for the past 16 years, and as a keen football supporter, I have always placed the overall sportsmanship within the English football scene as second to none. No other country in the world may proudly claim such high levels of sportsmanship and excellent organisation which stems from the behaviour of footballers, managers, coaches, referees, etc.

It will be a terrible shame if incidents such as yesterday's are left unpunished. And the most severe punishment of all I believe is deserved by Eric Cantona. Paul Ince's behaviour was equally appalling. Eric's excuse at least is that he was personally provoked and, after all, he was angry to have received a red card. Ince, on the other hand, being Manchester United's captain, had the responsibility of calming things down, if anything.

If Cantona is punished and Ince gets away with it, in my eyes at least, the FA will be positively discriminating. If kicking and punching a fan when one has been shown a red card and sworn upon is an offence worthy of punishment, so should be the subsequent provocation of fans by another.

Let us hope that justice will be done, that both players will receive adequate punishments, and that English soccer will resume in its usual no-nonsense fashion.

Yours faithfully, M. S. CHRISTODOULOU Manchester