Sponsors' fury over Beckham hat-trick

David Beckham was given a dressing down by Football Association bosses after he turned up at a press conference wearing a hat made by rivals to England's official kit supplier.

The England skipper gave a media session on Monday wearing a black hat made by Adidas even though the FA has just signed a 10-year deal worth £150million with Umbro.

Umbro's marketing team were furious when they saw the pictures carried by the media on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning and rang the FA to complain.

Last night the FA had a meeting with Beckham at the team's Leeds training camp, where they are preparing for tonight's friendly international with Italy, and told him such a mistake can't be allowed to happen again. Yesterday he wore a plain black hat when he sat out training with a slight foot injury.

Umbro spokesman Eddie May said: "We noticed it at the time when the press conference was on. Having just signed a new deal with the FA the guys should not be wearing any other brand. I am sure David is aware of that and I would not want to get into whether he did it on purpose or whether it was an honest accident that no one picked up on at the time.

"I'm sure it was just unfortunate and hopefully it won't happen again."

Today, the FA said Beckham had made a mistake and not worn the hat as part of a publicity ambush by Adidas.

The FA's head of marketing, Paul Barber, said: "Really it was just one of those things. David had been wearing the hat during training and just kept it on during the press conference.

"We have spoken to Umbro and they accept it was a mistake. The key thing is that when players are on England duty they know there are certain things that can and cannot be worn.

"They always wear their own boots and trainers but they wear the kit suppliedby the official team supplier." Meanwhile talks over the bonuses players can expect to earn during the World Cup are progressing, Barber said.

In previous years England's preparations for major tournaments have been marred by disputes between the FA and players over their share of the commercial spin-offs.

Beckham is one of the senior England players in talks with Barber and FA chief executive Adam Crozier and Barber added: "The talks are continuing with the players but we are way ahead of where we have been in previous years.

"Everything is being done in the right spirit and I would hope it will be settled in the next m o n t h or so."