Robbie Earle sacked over World Cup tickets

Well this could go anywhere.. Here, Current Affairs, Media or General Footie, but as it is World Cup Related I've popped it in here.

Robbie Earle sacked over World Cup tickets

ITV World Cup pundit Robbie Earle has been sacked by the broadcaster after tickets for his family and friends were passed on to a third party.

ITV said a "substantial number" of tickets for the Denmark v Holland match on Monday had been passed on, breaching Fifa rules.


Robbie Earle played for Jamaica
 in the 1998 World Cup

It has been claimed a block of tickets were used by a Dutch company for an "ambush marketing effort".

In a statement Earle said: "I didn't think I was doing anything wrong."

He added: "I hope when people hear the full story they will see me in a different light. I have absolutely no connection with any marketing ambush agency and have not profited in any way from these tickets."

ITV's full statement said: "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," the TV network said in a statement.

"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."

The announcement comes after officials ejected 36 women who were wearing orange mini-dresses during Holland's game against Denmark.

The women were accused of "ambush marketing" for a brand of beer.

Members of the group, accused of promoting a brand that is not one of the tournament's official sponsors, were found with tickets understood to have been part of Earle's allocation.

The tickets' terms and conditions stipulate they must not be passed on or sold to anyone else.

Earle, 45, an ambassador for England's 2018 World Cup bid, played for Wimbledon and Port Vale as well as for Jamaica in the 1998 World Cup.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10322048.stm

Questions need to be asked, why the hell is Earle, and thus all the other "commentators" getting tickets to these games, FFS. Do they get Complementary tickets to EPL/CL/FA.Cup and others for their families that they commentate on?

Absolutely disgraceful! People work hard to pay for these tickets, and yet a good percentage go FREE to these Rich Fuckers! Well I guess he will walk into another well payed Job for RTE now.

Following on from the above..

Two women in court over World Cup Dutch 'beer stunt'

Two Dutch women have appeared in court in South Africa over an alleged "ambush marketing" stunt at a World Cup match. They were released on bail.

More than 30 women were ejected from the Johannesburg stadium on Monday during the match between Denmark and the Netherlands.

They were accused by Fifa of breaking strict rules on World Cup marketing.

They had all been wearing identical mini-dresses in Dutch orange, sold as part of a gift pack by a Dutch brewery.

The two women appeared in a Johannesburg court on Wednesday under the Contravention of Merchandise Marks Act. They were released on bail and ordered to return to court next Tuesday.

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen called the criminal charges "disproportionate".

"It is outrageous that the two women have a jail term hanging over their heads for wearing orange dresses in a football stadium," he said in a statement.

"If South Africa or Fifa wants to take a company to task for an illegal marketing action, they should start judicial procedures against the company and not against ordinary citizens walking around in orange dresses."

The case has already led to the sacking of English football commentator and former footballer Robbie Earle.

He was found to have passed on some of the tickets used by the women from his allocation for friends and family, in breach of Fifa rules, and was promptly sacked by employer ITV.

Lucrative rights

Fifa, the world footballing body, said it had launched legal action against the Dutch brewery, Bavaria, but not the women in question. It said it was up to the police how they should proceed.

With a large chunk of Fifa's revenue coming from selling World Cup marketing rights, it vigorously pursues anyone who tries to associate itself with the tournament, reports the BBC's Jonah Fisher from Johannesburg.

Earlier this year a local low-cost airline was forced to withdraw an advertising campaign that boasted it was the "Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What".

Bavaria board member Peer Swinkels told Reuters news agency that Fifa's reaction was "ridiculous".

"Fifa does not have the monopoly on orange and people have the freedom to wear what they want," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/10331583.stm

The world's gone f***in bonkers.

He has been sacked for the 2018 world cup bid, i wonder would they sack Beckham for the same.

FIFA are idiots, they're making this a much bigger thing than it was, only bringing more attention to Bavaria's action.

Can I just say thank you to Baveria for the wonderful images across the internet this morning and congrats on all the cheap publicity

'It was worth it for the nosh.'

Heard from a mate he was on a £175,000 a year contract, surely not?! To do a few FA Cup and CL shows and season, to trot out some cliches and pretend he has actually enough watched Porto or Barnsley to form an opinion. Never liked him anyway.

Questions need to be asked, why the hell is Earle, and thus all the other "commentators" getting tickets to these games, FFS. Do they get Complementary tickets to EPL/CL/FA.Cup and others for their families that they commentate on?

Absolutely disgraceful! People work hard to pay for these tickets, and yet a good percentage go FREE to these Rich Fuckers! Well I guess he will walk into another well payed Job for RTE now.

My thoughts exactly. The next WC final is gonna be only 5 minutes away from my house and I have no idea if I'll ever get near to a ticket. That's not right. I would even pay an abusive price cause going to that final means a lot to me, but if that's not bad enough, there's also a very big chance I won't even have the chance to, cause so many tickets are given away for these fuckers.

the eye candy on display with these dutch birds gives us some welcome relief from the focus of  those hideous vuvuzelas.

The fact that 36 tickets get given to the likes of a tv commentator, and they are only meant to be passed on to family, explains why in most cases the stadiums are half empty. Obviously not all the vip tickets get sold on to brewery companies hiring models with orange mini skirts. (unfortunately) 

In most cases they end up in someones souvenir photo album and are never used.