BATONS WILL GET A SUMMER BREAK

From the Torygraph

The more the Italians reflected on the failure of their bid to host Euro 2012 yesterday, the more they began to fear that the televised images of Rome's riot police battering Manchester United supporters broadcast a terrible image of their country. "We go to stadiums with helmets on,'' lamented the great Gigi Riva, a member of the Italian delegation in Cardiff.

After losing out to Poland and Ukraine by eight votes to four, Riva's colleague, the Italian bid leader, Luca Pancalli, said: "I think the problems we have had with violence has been decisive in this vote. It is not just one incident - there was the tragedy in Sicily in February when a policeman was killed and then the problems in Roma for the Manchester United match. These things have been a big obstacle for us.''

The Italians had been confident that the former Juventus midfielder, Michel Platini, the new president of Uefa, would encourage his executive committee to favour them. Yesterday's La Gazzetta dello Sport even carried a banner headline, predicting 'Platini will give us Euro 2012'.

The Frenchman had other plans. As well as appreciating the widespread horror over the carabinieri's heavy-handedness, Platini was determined to embrace those smaller nations who had not hosted events, and who had also supported him in his campaign to succeed Lennart Johansson as Uefa president. "It's a decision to enlarge the European football family,'' remarked Italy's sports minister, Giovanna Melandri.

The dancing in the streets of Kiev and Warsaw yesterday was caused by ambitious presidents, as well as over-zealous policemen. Platini's vision of dismantling European football's Upstairs Downstairs culture was enthusiastically endorsed by the presidents of Ukraine and Poland, who both travelled to Cardiff on Tuesday to assist their joint bid's final presentation. This impressed Uefa, unlike Italy's final presentation which some officials felt to be over-confident.

The issue now for Poland and Ukraine is to work swiftly on improving transport and accommodation. "Within five years we will build a new country,'' said Gregori Surkis, the driving force behind the Ukraine campaign. Both nations must also address the issue of security as the threat of hooliganism is substantial.