Integrity of players in doubt after irregular football betting patterns

It is sad but true that there is a nasty whiff of a football betting scandal involving five professional footballers and irregular football betting patterns for a match played on 3^rd May 2008 between Accrington Stanley and Bury. The FA have released a statement stating that the players involved in alleged football betting Jay Harris, Robert Williams, Peter Cavanagh, David Mannix all players for Accrington Stanley at the time and Andrew Mangan who played for Bury have all been charged in relation to breaches of the strict rules on football betting that the FA has in place.

Jay Harris has also been charged in relation to football betting on the result of matches for his current club, Chester City and Peter Cavanagh for football betting on a further Match played by his club Accrington Stanley. Both Stanley and Cavanagh have also been further charged with football betting offences for various League Two matches.

The FA’s rules on football betting prohibit any football betting by players or others that are involved directly or indirectly in a match, which includes not only the players but the managers and coaching staff. The reasons for this ruling, is to avoid any hint of match fixing. The players concerned have not been charged with match fixing which could result in criminal charges but have all been charged with a lesser charge of football betting on a match.

The Accrington Stanley v Bury match last year attracted an estimated £300,000 of football betting which rang alarm bells for bookies who expect to receive an average of £25,000 for football betting on an end of season match. The bookmakers suspended all betting on the matches, after concerns that there was irregularities and the FA were called in to investigate further. On investigation of security camera film footage by the investigators it was believed that the five players placed bets on the results of the match. All players are believed to have placed bets for Bury to win, which they did with a result of 2 – 0. Some of the players accused are alleged to have placed bets of many thousands of pounds for their team to lose.

As if it isn’t enough that this scandal is being investigated a further report from bookmakers William Hill and Blue Square has raised concerns over irregular football betting patterns for a recent match between Grays Athletic and Forest Green Rovers.