DEVASTATING -- and even unfair -- though it would be for England to be kicked out of Euro 2000 because of the bloodshed of hooligan fans, UEFA's expulsion threat might just be the thunderbolt jolt the thugs need.

For, unmistakably, the message now is: Enough!

Even the most moronic among the louts who are shaming England's name must understand that this is a final warning -- and that England's hopes for both Euro 2000 and staging the World Cup in 2006 stand to be shattered by just one more bout of trouble. For whatever may the rights and wrongs of UEFA's banishment threat, the fact is that a huge international event that is meant to be a celebration of football is being ruined by the hooligans -- and that cannot be tolerated.

It is particularly grim that England's hopes and those of millions of supporters should now be on the brink of being dashed when they have been raised so much by Saturday's victory over Germany.

And it would be cruel in the extreme for them to be dashed completely by an ignominious exit brought about by more mad and shameful violence by the thugs who calls themselves fans and patriots -- when they betray their team, their nation and their fellow countrymen. But, faced with continuing havoc and devastation at Euro 2000, one can understand UEFA's patience reaching this limit.

It may be that the riots owe much to the combustible combination of sun and alcohol that can trigger the belligerence of the English oaf abroad. And that the zero tolerance stance of the Belgian police may have provoked an aggressive response.

There is likely to be equal substance in the plea of both the FA and an embarrassed British government, that virtually all those arrested could not have been prevented from travelling because they did not have previous football-related convictions .

But, whatever the reasons, confronted with the awful effects of the streets brawls in Brussels and Charleroi and the prospect of more to come, UEFA cannot be blamed for deciding on drastic action.

What more can be done? That is a question that has been asked again and again. And there is always more that can be done -- as we see when Home Secretary Jack Straw now promises urgent changes to the law to prevent hooligan fans travelling abroad, as Germany has done.

But if this severe step by UEFA brings swift sanity to the minds of the morons and allows Euro 2000 to become the soccer celebration that the rest of us want to enjoy, England will be grateful.