Football Association bans players involved with betting scandal
July 23, 2009 by mbates
The English Football Association has charged four players for breaching its code of conduct relating to betting on a match they were involved with. The match in question was the Accrington Stanley vs. Bury League Two match in May 2008, the incident was brought to light by suspicious betting activity surrounding the match.
Three players who were at the time playing for Accrington Stanley (Mannix, Harris and Williams) (were accused of betting that their opponents would win the outcome of the match, one Bury player (Mangan) was also involved but had bet that his team would win.
Nicholas Stewart QC, Chairman of the Regulatory Commission said “FA rules restricting betting by players (and others) on matches or competitions in which they are involved are vital to ensure public confidence in the integrity of football and the absolute straightness of all football matches”.
One further case against Peter Cavanagh will be heard at a later date.
| Player | Team | Fine |
Football Ban |
| James Harris | Accrington Stanley | £5,000 | 12 Months |
| David Mannix | Accrington Stanley | £4,000 | 10 Months |
| Robert Williams | Accrington Stanley | £3,500 | 8 Months |
| Andrew Mangan | Bury | £2,000 | 5 months |
Suspicious Betting pattern reported to the FA by William Hill and Blue SQ
April 27, 2009 by mbates
UK bookmakers William Hill and Blue SQ have reported some betting irregularities on the Blue Square Premier game between Grays Athletic and Forest Green Rovers. Grays won the game 2-1 after being 1-0 down and then scored twice in 50 seconds to win the game.
Both of the companies reported that they had seen large wagers on prior to kick off, “We saw a most unusual betting pattern on this match involving a large number of requests for bets on Grays to be losing at half time and winning at full time. The odds for that eventuality were cut from 22/1 to under half of that price yet still people wanted to back that outcome,” said William Hill spokesman, Graham Sharpe.
Both companies closed the book on the game and have chosen not to payout on the match until they have heard back from the Football Association.
Qatar in bid for 2018 World Cup
January 27, 2009 by mbates
The Gulf state of Qatar on Monday announced its intention to be one of the countries bidding to be the host nation for the FIFA World Cup in 2018, and if it fails in that it will fallback to the 2022 World Cup.
The General Secretary of the Qatar Football Federation; Saud Al Mohannadi said “I can confirm that the Qatar football federation has today sent a letter to FIFA in which it officially declared its candidacy for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. We have the stadiums and we have experience hosting top sports events. We don’t want to rush into anything, we need to find out what the full requirements are, but we are interested.”
FIFA the governing body of world football has started to accept bids on the 2018 and 2002 World Cups earlier this month and interested Football Associations have to make their bids by February 2nd 2009. The decision of who will be the hosts of both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be announced in December 2010.
FIFA started reception of bids for the right to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups earlier this month. All the interested national federations will have to make their bids before February 2, 2009.
If Qatar win the rights to host the prestigious event there is speculation as to how advertising rights particular in the gambling and alcohol arenas will be controlled by the strict gambling and drinking laws in Qatar.
