THREE Selby men have been jailed for 47 months between them for a street fight after England beat Argentina in the World Cup.

Robin Ian Mason and Matthew Christopher Benn, both 19, joined in a drink-fuelled gang attack on Simon Marshall, while his children aged six and ten watched, Helen Holmes told York Crown Court.

Alan Peter Stead, 32, bit the children's mother and his ex-girlfriend, Rebecca Wilson, in the arm.

The family group had just left her mother's home when they encountered the three, who were part of a "fairly rowdy gathering" of about 15 people in Powell Street, shortly after the match ended, said Miss Holmes.

"You are all men with a violent past," the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, told the three defendants. "You all committed these offences whilst you were drunk, and drunkenness is no comfort to the victim.

"This was a violent punching and kicking onset, an attack on a man which continued when he was down on the ground."

He jailed Mason and Benn for 21 months each and Stead for five.

Last autumn, both teenagers were jailed at York Crown Court for eight months for kicking a younger boy in a joint attack in January 2002. The court heard that Stead has previous convictions for violence up to June 1998.

Mason and Benn, both of Haig Street, Selby, pleaded guilty to affray. Stead, 32, of Kent Street, Selby, pleaded guilty to assault.

Miss Holmes said the incident began when Mr Marshall swore at Stead on June 7, 2002.

Ms Wilson suffered swelling on the side of her head and bruising to her arm. Mr Marshall lost a tooth, a second tooth was knocked loose and he told police later he had a gash on his head, a black eye, bruises and his entire body hurt.

Anthony Moore, for Mason, and Gillians Batts, for Benn, said the teenagers had changed their behaviour, curbed their drinking and changed their friends after their release from jail.

For Stead, Geraldine Kelly said he had only bitten Ms Wilson to keep her out of the fight. He was very sorry for his actions.

Philip Milner, 27, of Deacon Court, Selby, who denied affray, was bound over for 12 months last month after admitting breaching the peace in the same incident.

Updated: 12:40 Tuesday, June 24, 2003