Sacked ... Robbie Earle
The former footie star was dumped after bosses discovered he had passed on around 100 tickets given to him by ITV — against FIFA rules. Some of the tickets, for the Holland vs Denmark game, found their way to a group of blonde models who were allegedly given them by Dutch beer firm Bavaria Beer.
Advert ... girls were forced to leave stadium
FIFA alerted ITV after it ejected the 36 girls from the game and found the tickets they had were ITV comps. ITV then discovered they had been given to Earle who, when confronted, admitted passing them on.
The £100,000-a-year pundit said he had also passed on around another 65 to other games — believed to include at least one England clash — which he had told bosses would be for his family and friends.
ITV, still reeling after 5,000 people complained about its High Definition coverage of England's first game, said in a statement: "Following claims by FIFA that official 2010 World Cup tickets may have been used for ambush marketing, ITV has reviewed its entire ticket allocation for the tournament.
"Immediate investigations indicated that a block of ITV tickets would appear to have been used for unauthorised purposes during the Holland v Denmark match.
"Further enquiries have revealed that a substantial number of tickets allocated to Robbie Earle for family and friends have been passed to a third party in breach of FIFA rules.
"As a result, Robbie Earle's contract with ITV has been terminated with immediate effect."
Attention ... girls wearing short skirts
ITV gets thousands of free tickets for each tournament and gives them away to its pundits and presenters, such as Ant and Dec, as well as other stars and advertisers. A spokesman said it was confident no other tickets had been passed on to a third party.
FIFA smelled a rat after the gaggle of girls caused a fuss at the game yesterday by wearing matching small orange miniskirts. The World Cup organiser believed the so-called "Dutchy dresses" promoted Bavaria Beer against rules on so-called "ambush marketing" — where firms who are not official sponsors try and advertise for free during the tournament.
But a spokesman for the firm denied the claims, saying: "It's a nice dress. Very fashionable. "In my opinion, people should have the right to wear whatever they want.
"We launched the orange item on 30 April on the Queen's birthday. The Dutch people are a little crazy about orange and we wear it on public holidays and events like the World Cup.
"There is no branding on the dresses. And FIFA don't have a monopoly over orange."
The girls have also pleaded ignorance, with one of the women, Barbara Kastein, telling a local newspaper: "We were sitting near the front, making a lot of noise, and the cameras kept focusing on us.
"We were singing songs and having a good time. But in the second half, about 40 stewards surrounded us and forced us to leave the stadium. They pushed us up the stairs, and one of the girls fell."
Kastein added they were even probed by COPS, adding: "The police came and kept on asking us the same questions over and over, asking if we worked for Bavaria.
"They said we were ambush-marketing and it was against the law in South Africa. "They said we would be arrested and would stay in jail for six months. Girls were crying. It was bad.
"A police van took us back to our hotel and they wanted my passport. They made a copy and said they would investigate. They said they would sue me. All of this for wearing an orange dress."
Bavaria Beer is no stranger to ambush marketing claims.
At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Dutch fans wearing Bavaria-branded orange lederhosen to games were ordered to strip.
The former footie star was dumped after bosses discovered he had passed on around 100 tickets given to him by ITV — against FIFA rules. Some of the tickets, for the Holland vs Denmark game, found their way to a group of blonde models who were allegedly given them by Dutch beer firm Bavaria Beer.
Advert ... girls were forced to leave stadiumFIFA alerted ITV after it ejected the 36 girls from the game and found the tickets they had were ITV comps. ITV then discovered they had been given to Earle who, when confronted, admitted passing them on.
The £100,000-a-year pundit said he had also passed on around another 65 to other games — believed to include at least one England clash — which he had told bosses would be for his family and friends.
ITV, still reeling after 5,000 people complained about its High Definition coverage of England's first game, said in a statement: "Following claims by FIFA that official 2010 World Cup tickets may have been used for ambush marketing, ITV has reviewed its entire ticket allocation for the tournament.
"Immediate investigations indicated that a block of ITV tickets would appear to have been used for unauthorised purposes during the Holland v Denmark match.
"Further enquiries have revealed that a substantial number of tickets allocated to Robbie Earle for family and friends have been passed to a third party in breach of FIFA rules.
"As a result, Robbie Earle's contract with ITV has been terminated with immediate effect."
Attention ... girls wearing short skirts
ITV gets thousands of free tickets for each tournament and gives them away to its pundits and presenters, such as Ant and Dec, as well as other stars and advertisers. A spokesman said it was confident no other tickets had been passed on to a third party.
FIFA smelled a rat after the gaggle of girls caused a fuss at the game yesterday by wearing matching small orange miniskirts. The World Cup organiser believed the so-called "Dutchy dresses" promoted Bavaria Beer against rules on so-called "ambush marketing" — where firms who are not official sponsors try and advertise for free during the tournament.
But a spokesman for the firm denied the claims, saying: "It's a nice dress. Very fashionable. "In my opinion, people should have the right to wear whatever they want.
"We launched the orange item on 30 April on the Queen's birthday. The Dutch people are a little crazy about orange and we wear it on public holidays and events like the World Cup.
"There is no branding on the dresses. And FIFA don't have a monopoly over orange."
The girls have also pleaded ignorance, with one of the women, Barbara Kastein, telling a local newspaper: "We were sitting near the front, making a lot of noise, and the cameras kept focusing on us.
"We were singing songs and having a good time. But in the second half, about 40 stewards surrounded us and forced us to leave the stadium. They pushed us up the stairs, and one of the girls fell."
Kastein added they were even probed by COPS, adding: "The police came and kept on asking us the same questions over and over, asking if we worked for Bavaria.
"They said we were ambush-marketing and it was against the law in South Africa. "They said we would be arrested and would stay in jail for six months. Girls were crying. It was bad.
"A police van took us back to our hotel and they wanted my passport. They made a copy and said they would investigate. They said they would sue me. All of this for wearing an orange dress."
Bavaria Beer is no stranger to ambush marketing claims.
At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Dutch fans wearing Bavaria-branded orange lederhosen to games were ordered to strip.
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