ITV World Cup pundit Robbie Earle has been sacked after tickets for his family and friends were passed on to a third party. A “substantial number” of tickets for the Denmark v Holland match on Monday had been passed on, breaching Fifa rules. It has been claimed that a block of tickets were used by a Dutch company for an “ambush marketing effort”. Earle said: “I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong, 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 statement read: “Following claims by FIFA that official 2010 World Cup tickets may have been used for ambush marketing, we have reviewed our entire ticket allocation for the tournament,”. Immediate investigations indicated that a block of ITV tickets 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. 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. Earle, 45, is an ambassador for England’s 2018 World Cup bid.

Furthermore to our earlier item, at least there was 36 more people in the stadium than there would have been.