³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Yet there was none of the bleating about discrimination we get from English football fans before a game overseas.

In Paris, I met hundreds of English rugby fans who happily accepted that they did not have tickets.

They had and had only decided to come to Paris after the .

While they were still hopeful of getting a ticket, they were keener still to savour the atmosphere.

Maybe this is because English football fans go to tournaments with unrealistic hopes of what their team will do.

In contrast, English rugby fans did not have any great expectations prior to this World Cup and were grateful their team gave them an extra two weeks of thrills and memories.

Then there was the contrast in the drinking habits of the fans.

It has always amused me that the problem of football hooliganism is often ascribed to drinking. Drinking may be an excuse for bad behaviour but it has never been the cause.

In rugby, the sport is kept in sensible proportions.

For example, I wandered around the Stade de France about four hours before kick-off and saw the English and South Africans drinking and joshing with each other without the slightest hint they would come to blows.

Football may have done much to rid itself of the terrible atmosphere it had in the 70s and 80s, but an England match can still carry an air of menace.

But perhaps the most vivid contrast between the two World Cups came in their respective finals.

In Berlin in July 2006, the decisive moment was the .

I was in the crowd and we had no explanation as to why he had been sent off.

One moment a French attack had been cleared, then, after gesticulation from Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, Zidane was suddenly shown the red card.

Those back home watching the television replays knew , but this was unknown to the vast majority of the spectators inside the ground.

A group sitting next to me formed the view that Buffon had played a dirty trick to get rid of the Frenchman and got very angry, shouting "Death to Buffon".

The atmosphere got very heated and so dangerous that I feared a riot.

That, fortunately, did not materialise, but Italy were booed when - the first time the world champions have been treated in this fashion.

Contrast the dismissal of Zidane with .

The giant screens in the Stade de France endlessly replayed the moment Cueto crossed the line.

Around me, full and frank discussions took place between non-segregated English and South Africans, but I did not hear anyone question the referee's parentage, let alone threaten him.

Rugby is mature enough to tell its fans what is happening on the field of play. Football, alas, is not.

Indeed, this lack of maturity is not only accepted by football officials but given as the reason why football cannot have rugby-style video replays.

today explained why, in his view, replays would not work in football.

"While in rugby the decision was treated with respect, can you imagine the chaos in football?" asked the former referee.

And can you imagine an England footballer ever reacting like Martin Corry did?

When asked if the try was legal or not, the England forward responded: "It's not on the scoreboard, so it wasn't a try."

But then rugby players also seem to know more about their sport and its history.

I had a vivid illustration of this the day before the final when I interviewed .

As we talked, he gave me a piece of rugby history I was not aware of.

"Do you know," he asked, "why a try is called a try? The name came about because it meant that when you had touched the ball down you could then try and score a goal - there were no points for tries then."

Can you imagine an English football captain imparting such nuggets of football history?

But much as we might praise rugby, the game should realise that it will never overtake football in popularity.

Although this was billed as the World Cup, the world that rugby reaches out to is still very small.

Yes, this tournament saw minnows like Argentina announce themselves as major powers, but this is still essentially a game played by white men.

Of the 30 players who started the game for England and South Africa, only four were non-whites.

Large parts of the world, the continent of Asia for instance, have still to be claimed by rugby.

The rugby authorities may yet come to regret that their next World Cup is not in Japan but New Zealand, which has no need for rugby missionaries.