It comes after undercover officers swooped to seize hundreds of items of suspected fake merchandise being sold by rogue traders outside Ewood Park.

The seizures, which took place while England's women's team were battling against the Swedish team inside the stadium, have come not a moment too soon.

These hawkers appear outside every event, sporting or otherwise, these days, to take ordinary fans for a ride.

These sellers are there for just one reason - to fleece the fans.

That's because they are knocking out shoddy goods which often don't come up to scratch, hence the interest from Trading Standards chiefs.

And if customers think they would have a chance to take any faulty goods back, they can forget it.

But the main complaint is not that the man in the street is losing out. The clubs and teams which people turn out to support are losing money from the sale of counterfeit goods too.

And charities are also missing out - the latest batch of seizures included nearly 300 wristbands, most of which had Nike's "Stand-up Speak-up" anti-racism in football slogan on them.

Other suspected fake wristbands included the yellow "LIVESTRONG" band sold to raise money for Lance Armstrong cancer charities.

Trading Standards boss Chris Allen has pledged to use the full force of the law to get rid of traders who try and pass on counterfeit goods.

For the sake of fans, our clubs and well-meaning charities, we can only hope his warning does the trick.