The Official 2016/17 Football/Soccer Thread

The FA have announced I am banned from all football for 18 months and fined £30,000 and costs for offences against The FA’s Betting Rules. I am very disappointed at the harshness of the sanction. The decision effectively forces me into an early retirement from playing football. To be clear from the outset here this is not match fixing and at no point in any of this is my integrity in question.

I accept that I broke the rules governing professional footballers, but I do feel the penalty is heavier than it might be for other less controversial players. I have fought addiction to gambling and provided the FA with a medical report about my problem. I’m disappointed it wasn’t taken into proper consideration. I think if the FA is truly serious about tackling the culture of gambling in football, it needs to look at its own dependence on the gambling companies, their role in football and in sports broadcasting, rather than just blaming the players who place a bet.

That all means this is not an easy environment in which to try to stop gambling, or even to encourage people within the sport that betting is wrong. It is like asking a recovering alcoholic to spend all his time in a pub or a brewery. If the FA is serious about tackling gambling I would urge it to reconsider its own dependence on the gambling industry. I say that knowing that every time I pull on my team’s shirt, I am advertising a betting company.

Raised at the hearing was that between 2004 and 2011 I placed a handful of bets on my own team to lose matches. I accept of course that this is against the rules, for the obvious reason that a player with an additional financial stake in the game might seek to change the course of it for his own personal gain. However I’d like to offer some context. 

First, in every game I have played, I have given everything. I’m confident that anyone who has ever seen me play, or played with or against me, will confirm that to be the case. I am more aware than anyone that I have character issues that I struggle with, and my addictive personality is one of them, but I am a devoted and dedicated professional who has always given my all on the pitch.

Second, on the few occasions where I placed a bet on my own team to lose, I was not involved in the match day squad for any of those games. I did not play. I was not even on the bench. I had no more ability to influence the outcome than had I been betting on darts, snooker, or a cricket match in the West Indies. I should add that on some of those occasions, my placing of the bet on my own team to lose was an expression of my anger and frustration at not being picked or being unable to play. I understand people will think that is childish and selfish and I cannot disagree with that.

Third, I should point out that the last of these bets against my own team was six years ago (and in a reserve game), when I was going through a particularly troubled period, and when the FA were not nearly as hard on gambling as they are now.
One thing I can state with absolute certainty – I have never placed a bet against my own team when in a position to influence the game, and I am pleased that in all of the interviews with the FA, and at the hearing, my integrity on that point has never been in question. I could not live with myself, nor face my team-mates or the fans of the clubs I played for, if they seriously thought I would bet on my team to lose a game whose outcome I could influence.

Sandinista wrote: »

Some highlights from his statement:

The FA have announced I am banned from all football for 18 months and fined £30,000 and costs for offences against The FA’s Betting Rules. I am very disappointed at the harshness of the sanction. The decision effectively forces me into an early retirement from playing football. To be clear from the outset here this is not match fixing and at no point in any of this is my integrity in question.

I accept that I broke the rules governing professional footballers, but I do feel the penalty is heavier than it might be for other less controversial players. I have fought addiction to gambling and provided the FA with a medical report about my problem. I’m disappointed it wasn’t taken into proper consideration. I think if the FA is truly serious about tackling the culture of gambling in football, it needs to look at its own dependence on the gambling companies, their role in football and in sports broadcasting, rather than just blaming the players who place a bet.

That all means this is not an easy environment in which to try to stop gambling, or even to encourage people within the sport that betting is wrong. It is like asking a recovering alcoholic to spend all his time in a pub or a brewery. If the FA is serious about tackling gambling I would urge it to reconsider its own dependence on the gambling industry. I say that knowing that every time I pull on my team’s shirt, I am advertising a betting company.

TheRicanKing wrote: »

Need citeh to win and win by a large margin!

DNB1 wrote: »

@toheeb27 I'm not pleased with racism you show towards Man U when it comes to posting match day line ups.

Spurs fan attacks fellow supporter in 'Chelsea mix-up'

Doctors fear a Tottenham Hotspur fan could be left with permanent damage to his eyesight, following an attack in which police think a fellow Spurs fan mistook him for a Chelsea supporter.

Michael Voller was assaulted after his team's FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea on Saturday at Wembley.
He was set upon after the match outside an Indian restaurant near the stadium.

He was punched in the face and suffered a broken skull and damage to his cheekbone and eye-socket.
Mr Voller had been walking with a group of friends past Moore Spice Indian restaurant on Engineers Way at about 19:30 BST, The Met Police said.

'Do the right thing'
"It is believed that one of the group has then mistaken Michael for a rival Chelsea supporter and punched him in the face, leaving him injured," the force said.

The 23-year-old, who had previously worked as a gardener at the north London club's training ground, has been discharged from hospital but doctors said they were concerned there may be lasting damage to his eyesight.
Det Con James Robb described it as a "violent and unprovoked assault".

He said: "This kind of violence has absolutely no place at a football match, and I sincerely hope that those who were with the person responsible do the right thing by Michael, who is a fellow supporter and has supported Tottenham since he was a young boy."

The suspect is described as a white man, aged in his early 20s and approximately 5ft 10ins tall. He was wearing a black hooded top or jacket.