ENGLAND'S highly paid footballers are to share a fine after the disgraceful scenes on board a Cathay Pacific jumbo jet bringing them home from Hong Kong.

Like a classroom of naughty schoolboys they are taking collective responsibility for smashing up two television sets and a table, valued at £5,000.

The "fine" will be split between the 22-strong party, most of whom are paid at least £500,000 a year and even more for promoting everything from sports gear to soft drinks.

It would appear there is one law for international footballers and another for the rest of us.

Had the damage been caused by soccer FANS rather than soccer PLAYERS, there would have been a swift radio message ahead to Heathrow and a battalion of police waiting to arrest the culprits as they tottered off the aircraft.

Cathay Pacific chose not to report the incident until the following day.

This in itself has to be condemned when we consider that the behaviour of some members of the England party put the aircraft, its passengers and crew at risk. The rules covering drunken behaviour in flight are understandably strict. Passengers are frequently refused admission to flights because they have had too much to drink.

And what sort of an example is this to the football hooligans who threaten to ruin Euro 96? They will see it as a green light to perform like morons.

The player or players responsible for this crass behaviour should have been rooted out, heavily fined and thrown out of Euro 96.

And manager Terry Venables should have been immediately summoned to FA headquarters wherever he was in the world to sort out the mess, rather than let the matter drag on for nearly a week.

The disgraceful incident, followed by the FA's pathetic handling of the situation has left a big black cloud over the most important sporting occasion hosted by England in 30 years.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.