Orange mini-skirts are no-no

• by Soccer America , Jun 15, 2010

[OFF THE POST] A group of young Dutch women were detained by authorities after Monday's Netherlands-Denmark game, and ITV World Cup play-by-play commentator, former Jamaican international Robbie Earle, was fired after tickets issued in his name ended up in their hands to get into the game. The transgression of the young women? Dressing up in orange mini-skirts.

That's right. They were detained for wearing the colors of the Dutch national team.

FIFA takes ambush marketing campaigns seriously and didn't look kindly on the stunt organized by Dutch brewery Bavaria.

"The orange dresses are part of a marketing and PR campaign already running in commercials of the brewery extensively in Dutch media," a FIFA spokesperson told the Guardian. "and as such are recognizable items associated directly with the brewery in question."

Bavaria's response: "FIFA doesn't have a monopoly on the color orange."

Earle had given Bavaria the tickets, violating -- innocently -- FIFA's rules, which limit the transfer of tickets to family and friends.

Earle's dismissal was the latest World Cup controversy for ITV.

The British broadcaster ITV missed Steve Gerrard's goal for England against the USA when it had cut away for a commercial.