Capello bans Twitter and Facebook from World Cup

Disciplinarian England boss Fabio Capello will not be tantalising England fans with glimpses into life at the World Cup, official or otherwise, this summer. The squad will not be allowed to use Twitter or Facebook or write magazine or newspaper columns during the tournament.

The England manager wants his players attentions devoted solely to the matter of winning in South Africa and is reportedly thrashing out strict instructions for how he expects the squad to behave. The Irish Independent reports that the rules will include a ban on all social networking sites. Capello does not want team selection news or tactical information to be unwittingly leaked through Tweets or Facebook updates.

Lucrative columns for national newspapers in which the players detail what they had for breakfast and explain how much it means to them to be playing at the World Cup will also be banned by Capello.

The move could have the unintended effect of concentrating media attention on the players wives and girfriends - the infamous WAGS - during the tournament. The likes of Victoria Beckham and Cheryl Cole are already adept at stealing the headlines. And their exploits in the beauty parlours and shopping malls of South Africa are likely to be as closely observed as their other halves' performances on the pitch.

Whether or not the WAGS will have access to the camp remains to be seen - Capello may well bar the players from seeing their loved ones during the campaign.

Capello's mistrust of sites like Twitter is not isolated. Last week it emerged that Manchester City and Manchester United had both banned their players from using social networking sites in order to avoid controversy, leaks and the chances of being caught out by hoaxes.

However, many players do have accounts including England hopeful Darren Bent, who used Twitter to successfully agitate for a transfer from Spurs to Sunderland last summer.

Earlier this month Liverpool's Ryan Babel fell out with manager Rafael Benitez after revealing he had been left out of the squad using Twitter. Australian cricketer Philip Hughes also gaffed during the Ashes when he tweeted that he had been dropped, before Australia had announced their team. ·