IF any thoughts of peace and goodwill went through Roy Keane's head during the minute's silence at St James' Park on Saturday they had clearly evaporated 90 minutes later.

No doubt Alan Shearer was not entirely blameless in lighting Keane's notoriously short fuse, and it was not the most sensible thing to do shortly after his comeback from injury.

He could have been out for a good deal longer had David Beckham not intervened so impressively.

All the debate about whether sport should be taking place at the moment, and all the minute's silences, are obviously wasted on the likes of Keane and Leicester's Robbie Savage.

For the second successive week Savage secured a penalty with a theatrical dive, provoking mayhem in the tunnel after the match at Derby.

If they want to fight we all know where they can be usefully employed, rather than sullying our sports fields at such a sensitive time.

While reporting all the above in giving its usual amount of space to sport, one tabloid Sunday newspaper devoted a page to a piece headlined: Just for once, can't sport realise that it doesn't matter?

It observed: "Sport breeds banality, encourages men whose intellect is in inverse proportion to their sense of self-importance."

This may apply to Keane and Savage, but what about Michael Atherton or Sir Steven Redgrave on the anniversary of his fifth Olympic gold?

To say that sport breeds banality is at best a half-truth, at worst intellectual claptrap. The obsession with football gives it a grain of truth, but sport doesn't breed banality half as much as EastEnders, Big Brother, or anything involving Dale Winton or Jim Davison.

Why are there no cries for them to be suspended?It's because most humans soon get over the initial shock of a tragedy which does not directly involve them, and in any case the easiest way to seek solace is by grabbing at familiarity, not by changing your life.

I well remember in the immediate aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster, John Aldridge said he never wanted to play football again.

A little over a week later he was pictured taking the mickey out of an opponent.

At least he waited a week. Roy Keane could barely wait 90 minutes between a minute's silence and his venomous explosion.

A SKY Sports commentator on Tuesday night referred to a Division Two football match being "like the Alamo."

It's a phrase which has been trotted out by several managers down the years in their post-match comments, but in the current climate it should be top of the banned list.

George W Bush will not have time at the moment to recall the speech he made a year ago to the US team before the final day of the Ryder Cup.

He quoted from an Alamo veteran: "I shall never surrender or retreat. Victory or death."

There was more, and if Bush were to recall it now he would surely cringe.

Perhaps in a year's time, if things have settled down, he will be able to quote to the Ryder Cup team from Sir Henry Newbolt: "Play up, play up and play the game."

SO, it was Beckham to the rescue twice this week. From sinner to saint - the man's becoming an icon.

First he saved Keane from an assault charge, then he scored the last-minute winner to spare the Reds' blushes against Lille.

If it's the responsibility of the England captaincy which has brought about the change in Beckham we should all take our hats off to Peter Taylor, who initially appointed him.

But his stock has declined as Beckham's has risen, and after the defeat by Boro Taylor is back in hot water at Leicester. He, more than most, has cause to reflect on life's injustices.

IF Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski fail to avenge the humiliating Davis Cup defeat by Ecuador, they might reflect that tennis is one of the sports suffering from government penny-pinching.

Sport accounts for only five per cent of the current budget for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, who spend more than four times as much on the arts.

Treasury funding is set to almost double by 2004, so we may yet avoid competing with the likes of Mongolia and the Maldive Islands in the Davis Cup.

HAS Jack Charlton been scouting for the Irish rugby team? I see they've drafted in the Easterby brothers, Guy and Simon, a couple of Yorkshiremen connected to the Easterby horse training clan.

I remember Guy as a pony-tailed youngster playing for Harrogate, but both now play for Llanelli, which seems a pretty roundabout route to the Irish team.

There must be a grandmother involved somewhere.

Published: 21/09/2001