Robbie Earle Sacked By ITV

[themn]

World Cup 2010: ITV sacks Robbie Earle for breaking ticket regulations

• Earle's tickets were said to be used in ambush marketing ploy
• ITV confirms pundit will not be replaced

Owen Gibson in Johannesburg
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 June 2010 14.41 BST


Robbie Earle was one of ITV's favoured World Cup pundits. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA
ITV has announced the sacking of its World Cup pundit Robbie Earle after discovering he had passed scores of tickets to a third party in breach of Fifa rules, which were then said to be used by a Dutch beer company for an ambush marketing effort.

ITV, which has already suffered a welter of negative publicity after 1.5m viewers missed England's opening goal against the USA due to a technical issue with its high definition channel, said Earle's contract had been terminated "with immediate effect".

"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," said ITV 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," it added.

"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."

It is understood that between 35 and 40 tickets allocated to Earle ended up in the hands of the marketing company said to have orchestrated the ambush marketing effort on behalf of the beer brand Bavaria via a third party.

Thirty-six women in orange mini dresses were ejected from Soccer City during yesterday's match when Fifa officials decreed they were part of an organised ambush marketing scheme. They were questioned for several hours until after the match had finished. Bavaria denied the women had any links to its campaign.

Although ITV's coverage of England's draw with the USA peaked at more than 20m viewers, the post-match coverage was dominated by the error at Technicolor's London transmission centre that meant 1.5m viewers missed Steven Gerrard's opening goal.

It is not believed that Earle will be replaced by a new pundit but that his absence will be covered by the existing team.

A spokesman for Earle's agent said there was no comment at this stage.

 

[Sunny]

Well, that's a big loss to ITV. They should sue Robbie Earle for breach of contract 🙂 . In all seriousness though, why the fuck does a "pundit" need 40 tickets ? This is why real fans cant get hold of any. Greedy cunts.

 

[Skullflower]

Clarence seedorf is the best pundit ever.

Edgar davids is really bad.

 

[grjt]

[quote author=Skullflower link=topic=40604.msg1120404#msg1120404 date=1276617607]
Clarence seedorf is the best pundit ever.

Edgar davids is really bad.
[/quote]

Apparently not the only thing that "Big Clarence" is good at

 

[themn]

Hansen
Seedorf
Dixon

Works for me.

 

[RedStar]

Didi Hamann is on RTE and hes been generally excellent, Seedorf is good too, I like Dixon as a pundit also

 

[Skullflower]

Hansen's the actual best, obv. Dixon is thick.

 

[Judge Jules]

Seedorf is one amazing all-rounder. As well as being an ace footballer, he's so fit that Milan actually told him to sit out some training sessions when he first arrived because he had zero excess body fat, he speaks better English than most English players (despite having spent much of his career away from his homeland speaking other foreign languages) and he manages to talk sense too.

If what grjt's referring to is also true, I'm extremely envious. ;D

 

[grjt]

[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=40604.msg1120413#msg1120413 date=1276618044]
Seedorf is one amazing all-rounder. As well as being an ace footballer, he's so fit that Milan actually told him to sit out some training sessions when he first arrived because he had zero excess body fat, he speaks better English than most English players (despite having spent much of his career away from his homeland speaking other foreign languages) and he manages to talk sense too.

If what grjt's referring to is also true, I'm extremely envious. ;D
[/quote]

Master Jouster... could pogo around on it apparently....as Mrs Ronaldo alledgedly found out

 

[peterhague]

listening to adebayor's hard work. it takes me 2 or 3 seconds after he's finished speaking to work out whether i've understood what he said.

hansen & clarence are totally radical though.

 

[Judge Jules]

Yeah, whoever signed Adebayor up wants a right bollocking.

 

[themn]

[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=40604.msg1120418#msg1120418 date=1276618615]
Yeah, whoever signed Adebayor up wants a right bollocking.
[/quote]

Ha ha ha !

It's true though.

 

[SaintGeorge67]

Leonardo was good the other year

 

[Squiggles]

[quote author=SaintGeorge67 link=topic=40604.msg1120426#msg1120426 date=1276620999]
Leonardo was good the other year
[/quote]

I liked him too

It's all about Marcel this year

 

[the count]

Dutch fans ejected for wearing mini-dresses

Tue Jun 15 11:20AM
Dutch fans FIFA ejected 36 female Netherlands fans from their World Cup match with Denmark for wearing an orange mini-dress designed by a beer company.

The dresses were made by Bavaria beer and despite the outfits containing no branding, the organisers said it was against their rules on "ambush marketing".

"It's a nice dress. Very fashionable. In my opinion, people should have the right to wear whatever they want," Peer Swinkels, from Bavaria beer, told South African newspaper The Star.

"We launched the orange item on April 30 on the Queen's birthday, which we call Queen's Day. The Dutch people are a little crazy about orange and we wear it on public holidays and events like the World Cup."

Barbara Kastein, who was wearing the dress, explained what happened: "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.

"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.

"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."

After a few hours questioning all the girls were released although Kastein said that the police took a copy of her passport and told her they would investigate the matter further.

A few flags were also confiscated during the Group E match at Soccer City as part of FIFA's plan to protect its World Cup brands.

FIFA also removed flags emblazoned with company logos during Sunday's Group D match between Ghana and Serbia at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.

"In fact there were mass ambush activities by one company from Ghana during the match and as per the regulations the FIFA Rights Protection team had to collect a few flags carrying heavy commercial branding," FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot said.

"Most other flags where the branding was only very small were not taken away."

In April, Kulula, a local low-cost airline known for humorous advertisements, agreed to withdraw its tongue-in-cheek billboards after a legal letter from FIFA which was given wide media coverage.

The advertisement called Kulula the unofficial carrier of the "You-know-what" and showed footballs, vuvuzela trumpets and football players.

FIFA makes most of its money, which has to last until the next World Cup in four years time, from television rights and deals with commercial sponsors.

More than 60 per cent of FIFA's 2007-2010 revenue of £2.17 billion comes from TV rights and about 30 per cent from commercial marketing.

 

[themn]

Well now, that's simply not on !

Un-ban the Orange chicks !!

 

[Loch Ness Monster]

FIFA and the gang are just massive cunts. They have ruined the tourney for me so far with this shitty ball and no birds. And shit sponsors.

 

[Squiggles]

So they give 40 tickets to Robbie Earle and eject nice looking girls in miniskirts.

Good move, Fifa, you useless shit bags.

 

[the count]

Brewer condemns 'Dutch dress' arrests

A Dutch brewer is providing legal and other assistance to the two Dutch women accused of an illegal promotional stunt at the World Cup in Johannesburg.

The two women were among a group of about three dozen who wore skimpy orange dresses in a suspected "ambushing marketing" stunt by closely-held brewer Bavaria at a match between The Netherlands and Denmark at the Soccer City stadium on Monday.

"Unfortunately Bavaria has been drawn into the furore surrounding the arrest of the two ladies who were wearing an orange dress also worn by thousands of Dutch ladies and football supporters," the brewer said in a statement late yesterday.

"There is no way Fifa can hold these ladies responsible for their attendance at the match in their Dutch dress in Soccer City and Bavaria is currently doing everything in their power to assist the arrested Dutch ladies," Bavaria said, referring to World Cup organising federation Fifa.

Anheuser Busch's Budweiser is the official beer for the tournament and Fifa fiercely protects its sponsors from brands which are not its partners.

"Bavaria will ask Fifa to immediately stop intimidating Dutch dressed female supporters," the Dutch brewer said.

Bavaria has clashed with Fifa before over supporters wearing its orange clothes to stadiums. Four years ago at the World Cup in Germany scores of Dutch men watched a match in their underwear after stewards ordered them to remove orange lederhosen bearing the name of Bavaria.

"We feel a bit used by Bavaria," said Cindy van Dieren, according to Dutch daily Telegraaf , citing one of the women wearing the dress.

Bavaria argued in its statement that its goal was to "generate pleasure and enthusiasm" among fans and that the dresses do not carry a "big brand name logo".

The women were released on 10,000 rand (about €1,000) bail each yesterday and will face a hearing next week. Dutch officials said the arrest of the two women was "disproportionate".

 

[The Slugmonster]

[quote author=RedStar link=topic=40604.msg1120409#msg1120409 date=1276617799]
Didi Hamann is on RTE and hes been generally excellent, Seedorf is good too, I like Dixon as a pundit also
[/quote]

Yeah Didis been great. Great knowledge of the game! Hopefully it serves him well in management/coaching in the future!

 

[ILD]

[quote author=The Slugmonster link=topic=40604.msg1122075#msg1122075 date=1276786435]
[quote author=RedStar link=topic=40604.msg1120409#msg1120409 date=1276617799]
Didi Hamann is on RTE and hes been generally excellent, Seedorf is good too, I like Dixon as a pundit also
[/quote]

Yeah Didis been great. Great knowledge of the game! Hopefully it serves him well in management/coaching in the future!
[/quote]

His eyes are scarier than Sheiks!!

 

[The Slugmonster]

yeah him and ancelotti could start the evil eyebrow club