Forget louts lobbing chairs, this tournament can offer some real escapism

"Today to have zero risk doesn't exist, sadly, but we have to go forward and these Euros have to be a festival of football and a festival has to be as beautiful as possible."

Didier Deschamps, hardly the most eloquent of footballers, articulated the challenge ahead with a seamless fluency.

France remains in an official state of emergency following last November's terror attacks; 90,000 security personnel have been drafted in to shore up protection across the 10 host cities; outside TVs are only allowed in official fans zones; the French interior ministry have launched an app that provides terror-based alerts.

The cold, hard fact is that there is an unprecedented security risk.

Not for the first time, football has been lumbered with an unreasonable responsibility. A responsibility to reset expectations; to reassure; to unify. To assuage fear and restore calm.

Football remains a popular vehicle of escapism. However, that takes many forms for many different people. Alas, for some, it takes the form of violence. "Casual" fighting.

And, so, 18 years after England fans ran amok in Marseille ahead of their World Cup group stage match against Tunisia, reports emerged overnight that hooliganism had reared its head once more.

Supporters had squared up to police after throwing chairs in the Old Port area. Two arrests were made and some fans were heard chanting "ISIS, where are you?"

What sparked the fracas is open to debate. Some suggest local ultras charged at England fans with others suggesting visiting fans' over-exuberance descended into criminality.

Depressing. Worrying. Tiring. Pointless. Childish. Churlish. Boring. Plain dumb. No matter the circumstance, the idiocy of a few remains a constant.

Yet incongruously - and certainly ridiculously - the episode was almost reassuring. Almost. Fans, or more accurately, louts, going about their business - no matter how unedifying - unaffected by an undercurrent of uncertainty; untouched by the fear. Of course, this does not absolve the perpetrators of responsibility of their boorish, boring actions.

The hope remains that reasonable, well-behaved fans, many of whom were happily ingratiating around Marseille the following morning, can harness that lack of fear, drink it in and furnish the tournament with a more relaxed, open atmosphere.

The distraction of actual football after months of build-up should re-focus the mindsets of the bigoted few parading their unwanted wares on the streets of Marseille.

And amongst it all, amongst a backdrop of terrorism and hooliganism, the 15th edition of the Euros has the potential to offer Europe the respite it desperately needs.

The concept of an expanded 24-team tournament was met with widespread scepticism. Commercialism at its worst - a brazen attempt to disembowel the world’s most lucrative cash cow of another few million.

Perhaps the football authorities are guilty of the above.

However, the decision to expand has the potential to foster the festival of football that Didier Deschamps demands and Europe needs.

Capitalism conditions us to look upwards. To focus on the elite. But, it is beyond the status quo where the greatest vibrancy of this festival may reside.

There is an emerging European proletariat ready to unseat the bourgeois of Spain, Germany, France, Italy and England.

Poland have their most exciting team since the 1982 World Cup in which they finished third; Austria finished their qualifying group with a record of nine wins and one draw. Turkey are a side that marry technical excellence with industry. Portugal, a halfway house between the entitled and the upwardly mobile, have the Joao Moutinho-Cristiano Ronaldo axis. Croatia are blessed with a superlative midfield of Mateo Kovacic, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic. Belgium host a frightening pool of talent.

Elsewhere, the "minnows" are riding the crest of a serious wave of small man's syndrome.

Iceland, drawn from a population of 325,000 (Luxembourg has 540,000 inhabitants), have already shown in qualifying their disregard for reputation, condemning the Netherlands to a watching brief on their way to second spot in Group A.

Northern Ireland, the tournament’s form team, are on the back of a 12-game undefeated run. This is a side who finished the 2004 qualifying campaign having failed to score a goal or register a win.

A re-arrangement of the European football landscape may very well be upon us and the Euros may expedite it.

The hosts France remain favourites but are not without their deficiencies. There have been recriminations over selection, a sex tape scandal and injuries. The world champions Germany are the ultimate tournament team but have had a scattergun build-up. While Spain, who lost to Georgia a few days back, look short up front. England remain an enigma and Italy are in a downward spiral of transition.

Yet all remain capable of going all the way.

For fans of narratives, the Euros present an opus of contrasting stories. There are a myriad of possibilities - scope for a wealth of potential upsets.

It is unrealistic to expect football to cure the world's ills. The tournament will pass, the threat of terrorism will remain but Euro 2016 is perfectly set up to offer 30 days and 51 matches of pure mind-numbing escapism. And that is exactly the type of escapism Europe needs right now, not some mindless thug lobbing a chair.