Homes and Property | Home PageRobbie Earle sacked by ITV for breaking World Cup ticket rulesAxed: Robbie EarleShekhar Bhatia|Jack Lefley|In Rustenburg12 April 2012World Cup pundit Robbie Earle was axed by ITV today after tickets for matches in South Africa were found to have been used for "unauthorised purposes".The broadcaster said a "substantial number" of tickets, which were for Earle's friends and family, had been passed to a "third party".ITV had investigated how its allocation had been used after governing body Fifa raised concerns generally.A block of tickets for the Holland-Denmark match had aroused suspicions.Earle is a former Wimbledon and Port Vale player who also played for Jamaica in the World Cup in 1998.In a statement, ITV 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."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 inquiries 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."A spokesman for Earle's agent said there was no comment at this stage.