Penalty! Parents who take pupils to see the World Cup face hefty fines

Published: 23:25, 21 June 2026 | Updated: 23:25, 21 June 2026 Parents face hefty fines if they take their children out of school to attend England's matches at the World Cup in America. There were at least 16,000 England fans among the 70,000 sell-out crowd in Dallas Stadium to watch the opening 4-2 victory over Croatia last week. The Daily Mail heard several young children of school age with English accents. The Department for Education said the tournament is a 'chance to be part of something amazing' but that it 'should not be at the expense of children's learning'. Father-of-two Russ White, 45, has taken his daughter Sienna, ten, out of school despite having permission refused by the head teacher. They will be in America for two weeks and will fly from Texas to attend England's game against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday.  Mr White said his wife Terri, 44, had asked the head of his daughter's school in Coalville, near Leicester, for permission to take her out of class but it was denied. They nevertheless travelled to New York, where they visited family before flying to Dallas for Sienna's first World Cup fixture. They even posted on social media a picture of themselves in the stand with a sign that read: 'I'm supposed to be at school but my dad brought me to the World Cup instead'. Electrician Mr White said he expected a £320 fine – and revealed he was a 'repeat offender', having taken Sienna to watch the Euros in Germany two years ago. Sign of the crimes: Russ White and his daughter Sienna at England’s opening game against Croatia in Dallas He said: 'The way I see it, I work hard and I rarely get any time off. 'My wife explained to the head teacher that it would be educational and she would be seeing new places and meeting family. 'But they wouldn't budge and said it would go down as an unauthorised absence so I expect to get fined and we will be hit hard as I'm a repeat offender because of the Euros.'  Schools will impose fines if a child misses five days of school for an unauthorised absence. The fine, per parent, is £80 if paid within 21 days or £160 if paid within 28 days. If a parent receives a second fine for the same child within three years, this will be charged at the higher rate of £160. Mr White added: 'I did say to the school give me some lesson plans and I will make sure she does some work but they just weren't interested. But I'm making her keep up with her reading.' At least two England players – goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and defender Dan Burn – have school-age children who have travelled to the US for the tournament. A Department for Education spokesman said: 'Term-time holidays place the burden on teachers to support missed learning and affect the entire class.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.