MYSELF and Steve Ferres went to watch the England game on Sunday in the local.

We left the pub with about ten minutes to go and I said then that by the time I got home it would be 2-1 to France. Honest.

It's one of those things where you think it can only happen to us.

I was not just the defeat but the manner of the defeat, and it will be a big test for the England players now to pick themselves up for tomorrow's match against Switzerland. But they're playing well enough in my opinion to progress.

I'm not actually a big football fan.

I played for a year or so as a schoolboy and had kick-abouts in the street and while I keep abreast of what's happening, I can't say I watch too many games.

At times like these, it's more of a social event rather than going to solely watch the game.

I wouldn't want to predict a winner of Euro 2004, but it would be nice if France and England met again in the final for a repeat performance, but with a different ending, of course, and I think that could happen.

As for the Knights, we play London Skolars on Sunday. It's proving difficult for the game of rugby league to establish itself outside the traditional heartlands into places like London.

There are always difficult financial implications, particularly at the lower end of the game, and they will struggle for people coming through the gates and to raise the required revenue to put a competitive team together.

It has been difficult to expand the game over here into places like the capital. In Australia, the game is played in all the schools and there is therefore always a lot more people playing, whereas over here it's not played in too many schools, although development officers such as ours at the Knights are doing good jobs in promoting it.

This is the first time I personally will have come up against the Skolars. They had a difficult first season and they're doing it tough this year, but they've obviously got a lot of vision and hope to establish themselves as a club.

They started out in 1996 as a Conference team so they must have been doing something right for the Rugby Football League to allow them into the league, so good luck to them.

Updated: 11:24 Wednesday, June 16, 2004