It seems a bit strange to be celebrating two European nations choosing not to launch glass bottles at each other’s faces.
But given the all-too-frequent ugly scenes at Euro 2016 – many of which have involved England fans – it is quite uplifting to see people getting along.
As reports throughout the tournament so far have been informing us, a lot of England supporters have been finding themselves in violent situations that they didn’t go looking for, but the negative headlines won’t go away.
That’s why it’s important we remind ourselves that the vast majority of fans have no interest in pointless street fighting, and are just there for a good time.
A video uploaded to Twitter by sports photographer Tom Jenkins last night showed a large group of England fans mixing harmoniously with the French fans, who were celebrating their 2-0 victory over Albania.
Singing #England fans in #Lille mixing happily with celebrating French fans after their win tonight. pic.twitter.com/Mbo6lduWiY
— Tom Jenkins (@TomJenkinspix) June 15, 2016
Unfortunately it wasn’t all good news coming out of Lille overnight. French police arrested 36 people after more clashes between rival football fans.
#Euro2016 2 russians arrested after new clashes w/ british fans tonight at #Lille Video pic.twitter.com/9yEm1q5PDU via @edim_sport #France
— José Miguel Sardo (@jmsardo) June 15, 2016
The trouble began after Russia’s Group B match with Slovakia and continued late into the night. However, according to The Independent, British police said at midnight that none of the arrests made on Wednesday evening had been of English fans. There is still no confirmation as to who exactly the police apprehended after that point.
