AN hour or so after England’s victory over Wales last Thursday, and the main street in Lens had the potential to be a battleground.

Hundreds of England supporters, euphoric after Daniel Sturridge’s stoppage-time winner, were refuelling with pints of beer and embarking on a high-spirited game of trying to kick a football over the shops on the opposite side of the road.

They were joined by hundreds more supporters from Wales, dejected after their hopes of claiming at least a point had disappeared in the final minutes of the game.

The police, with their tear gas and pepper spray at the ready, seemed to be twitching at the side of the street. Would this be the next instalment of the disorder that has blighted the opening week-and-a-half of Euro 2016?

Not quite. Songs were exchanged, backs were slapped, and the Wales supporters conjured up their own football in an attempt to beat the English at their own game.

With England fans descending on St Etienne ahead of tomorrow’s final group game with Slovakia, writing anything about fan behaviour has the potential to backfire. By the time you’re reading this, goodness knows what might have happened in the early hours of morning.

But if Lens felt like something of a turning point in England’s tournament on the field, the same is true of what happened away from the Stade Bollaert-Delelis. Finally, the lunatic fringe seemed to have disappeared, with the match-day crowd much more representative of the supporters I have encountered while covering the away games in the most recent qualifying campaign.

The England supporters with tickets for the matches tend to be drawn from a much wider demographic than the pocket of young, drunken males who contributed to the trouble that raged through Marseille and Lille last week.

There are more women, family groups and older fans for a start, and you only need the briefest of conversations to learn that they are as sick and tired of the trouble that flared last week as anyone.

It hasn’t always been easy to be an English football fan in France in the last fortnight. The minute you start speaking in a bar, you feel the locals around you flinch. “Je suis Anglais”. “Ah, oui – the hooligans.” It’s generally said with a smile, but the inference is clear. ‘Please don’t cause any trouble here’.

That’s sad, but understandable. The French reaction to last week’s events has been mixed. There has been outrage and anger, although to be fair it has been balanced against an acknowledgement that Russian hooligans were responsible for the most violent incidents in Marseille, and an acceptance that France has its own share of what my Parisian taxi driver described as “undesirable elements”. England isn’t alone on that score.

Yet it felt like something was needed to redress the balance, and hopefully the peaceful scenes in Lens last week are the start of a process that will see England’s fans begin to repair their reputation over the course of the rest of the tournament.

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WHILE I visited Lille and Lens last week to cover the two Group B games, I didn’t stay in either city. Instead, I spent two nights in Amiens – Darlington’s twin town. It was a good decision for three reasons.

First, because it meant I was able to watch France’s game with Albania in a bar packed to the rafters with local French fans and supporters from England and Wales. That’s what attending a major tournament should be about. The atmosphere was incredible, with the passionate singing of La Marseillaise a real highlight. The high standard of the local French beer probably helped too.

Second, because Amiens stands on the River Somme, and the area surrounding the city witnessed some of the most ferocious fighting in the Battle of the Somme during the First World War.

More than a million men were killed or wounded during the battle, and of the 15,000 members of the Durham Light Infantry that fought at the Somme, over half were killed, wounded or reported missing.

Thousands of North-East soldiers are buried in the fields surrounding Amiens, and it is a profoundly moving experience to drive past the huge graveyards containing wooden crosses.

July 1 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme, and Amiens is readying itself for a massive commemoration. It will be quite some event.

And speaking of events, Amiens’ stunning cathedral is one of France’s leading spots for their ‘Son Et Lumiere’ light shows, which were the inspiration for Durham’s Lumiere festival.

Both nights I was in Amiens, I was able to stand transfixed as the cathedral was spectacularly lit to reveal the intricate carvings and sculptures in its façade. Who says football fans aren’t cultured?

SINCE leaving Amiens, I’ve spent a couple of days in Paris, and that has been quite an experience too.

Paris is such a big city that it’s easy to be in districts away from the stadiums where you could be forgiven for wondering if France is hosting a major football tournament at all. But then you head to the Eiffel Tower and witness the giant fan park – which was a riot of colour and noise as France won their opening game – at its foot and you realise that this is a city relishing its moment in the spotlight.

In truth, it probably needs it. Paris is still coming to terms with last November’s terrorist atrocities, and while the sight of armed police on the streets is reassuring in terms of guaranteeing safety and security at Euro 2016, it provides a daily reminder of the threats that Paris still faces.

This is also a city trying to soldier on in the face of almost daily public-sector strikes. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve turned up a station, only to learn that the trains are not running, and last week, more than a million demonstrators took to the streets in a march that turned violent.

It is also a city that is getting soaked. It has rained every day I have been to Paris in the last fortnight – with regular thunderstorms ensuring everyone gets drenched – and while the risk of large-scale has flooding has receded somewhat, it is still staggering the see the height of the River Seine as it flows beneath Paris’ bridges.

Parisians need a bit of light relief, and having won their opening two matches, France’s football team are providing it. Aside from England, they’ll be the side I’ll be cheering on in the next three weeks.