Fan in England World Cup dressing room charged

South African authorities Sunday charged a 32-year-old man with trespass over a security breach which saw a fan give England’s misfiring World Cup team a piece of his mind in their dressing room.

Police said they had managed to trace the suspect, named as Pavlos Joseph, to a hotel in the Camps Bay area of Cape Town where England played out a lacklustre goalless draw against rank outsiders Algeria on Friday night.

“CCTV footage was analysed and the suspect was identified and traced to his place of accommodation in Cape Town,” a statement said.

Joseph made a brief appearance before Cape Town magistrates and was granted bail of 500 rand (about 65 dollars/55 euros) to appear back before the court on Monday to face a trial.

South African police have set up special World Cup courts during the month-long tournament to deliver fast-track justice.

The episode happened just minutes after a visit by the British princes William and Harry into the changing room at the city’s Green Point stadium and prompted an official protest from England to FIFA.

Football’s world governing body has also expressed its unhappiness with the way the incident happened after it appeared that security guards merely turned the supporter away rather than ensure his arrest.

“It is totally unacceptable for FIFA that a fan can find his way to the dressing room of any team in any FIFA competition,” FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot told journalists at a press conference on Saturday.

“Security will be tight to ensure it will never happen again,” he added.

A British Sunday newspaper quoted Joseph as saying he had stumbled upon the England changing room while he was looking for a toilet in the stadium.

He said had told former England captain David Beckham, now a member of coach Fabio Cappello’s backroom staff, that the team’s performance had been a “disgrace”

According to the Sunday Mirror, the fan then said the team’s performance was “woeful and not good enough” before being told to leave by an official.

Beckham brushed off the incident Saturday, saying it had been “blown out of proportion”.

“The actual fan literally just walked in very casually and just said something to me and then walked out — there was no scuffle, there was no aggression at all,” the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star said at a Football Association reception in Johannesburg.

“He didn’t comment on the performance. He literally walked in, said hello.”

“Luckily it was after the princes had left — five to 10 minutes after. Obviously it’s been blown out of all proportion as well,” Beckham said.

Prince William, the second in line to the British throne, also laughed off the incident.

“Harry and I left the door open, that’s why it happened, it was our fault,” William joked.

FIFA spokesman Rich Mkhondo told South Africa’s SAPA news agency Sunday that the it was consulting with police on what action to take against the fan, including a possible ban from future matches.

Security has been a chief concern for organisers ever since South Africa was named the World Cup host six years ago, with worries focusing mainly on the country’s high crime rate.

But stadium security has moved to the fore as stewards at Cape Town and three other venues walked off the job last week in a pay dispute that forced police to take over security around the fields.

Protesting stewards twice clashed with police over the last week, once in Durban and once in Cape Town, as they tried to demand their salaries from Stallion Security, the firm that had been contracted by FIFA to screen fans entering the gates.

Nerves about security were also frayed on Sunday when a loud blast was heard in the vicinity of the showpiece Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, but police said the noise was from a controlled detonation by a manufacturer of mining explosives.