British broadcaster ITV fired soccer pundit Robbie Earle Tuesday after an investigation revealed that World Cup tickets allocated to him were used for “unauthorized purposes” during the Netherlands versus Denmark game.
The news followed claims, made by world soccer governing body FIFA, that 36 young Dutch fans, wearing orange miniskirts designed by a Dutch beer company, staged an ambush marketing campaign during Monday’s game at Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium.
A spokesman for ITV said that an investigation revealed a “substantial number of tickets” allocated to Earle for friends and family were passed to a third party, breaching FIFA rules.
“As a result, Robbie Earle’s contract with ITV has been terminated with immediate effect,” the spokesman said.
The group of young Dutch women was detained for several hours for wearing the outfits which, according to local newspaper The Star, were sold with Bavaria Beer packs in the Netherlands during the run up to the World Cup.
“We were sitting near the front, making a lot of noise, and the cameras kept focusing on us,” Barbara Kastein told the newspaper.
“In the second half, about 40 stewards surrounded us and forced us to leave the stadium,” she said.
They were taken to a FIFA office where police quizzed them about the dresses and asked if they worked for Bavaria. More than three hours later they were released, and police said they would continue investigating, the newspaper reported.
FIFA said the women were, “used by a large Dutch brewery as an instrument for an ambush marketing campaign,” although the dresses were not branded.
Budweiser, an official sponsor, is the only beer company allowed to advertise within the stadiums.