He makes a good point about football's dependence on gambling companies, but he knew the rules and if he had a gambling addiction he could have bet on non-football issues.
He bet on his own team to lose but never when he was playing. He did bet on games when he played (e.g. bet on himself to score first goal) But no allegation of match fixing - I think the sentence is somewhat excessive. I also have difficulty in understanding how wide ranging the rules are: The FA brought in new rules in 2014 banning players and staff at clubs down to as far as the eighth tier of the English men's football pyramid - as well as at clubs in the Women's Super League - from betting on any football match or competition anywhere in the world. Players and staff are also prohibited from betting on football-related matters, such as player transfers, the employment of managers or team selection. That outright ban on football-related betting applies to all involved in the game from Premier League level down to - and including - the Northern Premier, Southern and Isthmian Leagues.
It's pretty simple. If you are involved with football for a team in any of the top eight divisions or the Women's Superleague, you can't bet on any football related matters at all. I'm surprised that such an upstanding and intelligent man like Joseph didn't understand the rules.
I understand what the rules are but I can't fathom why, for instance, a player for Hastings United in the 8th tier cannot bet on Arsenal vs Man U
It's a bit stupid but I believe it's because of insider knowledge, whilst no Hastings player is likely to hear that Pogba + Ibra are injured before the public it could be a problem further up the leagues (as well as trying to discourage it as a practice anyway. If players get into debt through gambling = more likely to throw matches etc)
OK that makes some sense, although on your second point it would then make sense to ban all gambling. I seem to recall that some police forces have very strict rules about getting into debt and on gambling.
By the way we did have our own match fixing scandal way back (too far back for even someone as old as me to remember details) It involved our then captain Johnny Meadows
Doesn't it also just make it much easier to say "no betting on any game at any level" so there's no need to draw hundreds of sub clauses as well?
If you bet on yourself to score the first goal, you're going to shoot instead of pass. I think he also bet on a team-mate not scoring the first goal, in which case the same aplies.
He should of course be punished but I think it’s quite obvious his betting is through fun/habit/addiction rather than monetary gain. A £3 bet on himself to score first where he’ll probably get 1000x that in goal bonus/win bonus etc. Whether he has insider knowledge or not like that he might be on penalties that match or something it does appear he didn’t stand to gain any great amounts. Obviously though you can’t have the integrity of the sport bought in to question but I do see the point that the bans for various other nasty offences such as racism etc don’t seem proportionate but I guess they don’t put the FAs profits at risk so much. The relationship football has with betting companies is an interesting one almost every match you have Ray Winston’s head pop up as you’re watching the players shake each other’s hands to promote fair play etc. Rules are rules though and they’ve clearly made an example of him probably to warn others who I’m sure they’re fully aware may also partake. Surprised Burnley took him on even with this hanging over him and they seem to have had quite a easy ride through it which seems odd considering the nature of the offences. I’d bet there’s a marketing team at one of the betting companies getting an offer together for Joey as we speak.
Didn't he admit he had a gambling problem? So I doubt they were £3 bets if that were the case. On your final statement I think GambleAware would look dimly on any betting company using him for adverts or promotions given that he's publicly statement he has a problem. It would have been like asking George Best to advertise Special Brew after his liver transplant.
He posted up the 30 most serious bets (as flagged up by the FA) on his website: Some of the amounts very small, some quite large.
Very true actually, I didn't think of it from that angle that having A self-confessed addict fronting them wouldn’t go down well with their authorities. I was thinking more from their heartless advertising and greed angle. As above just taking the amounts from the table above, it does seem incredible that a multi-millionaire player would risk it all for a few bets where none would seemingly impact his quality of his life too but I guess that’s what habit and addiction can do to you. It seems to be where he got his buzz from correctly guessing the result rather than the financial gain but I can’t really comment too much as I don’t have much knowledge or experience and gamble minor amounts infrequently but I can imagine if you are a premier league players with a lot of time and money on your hands it must be easy to fall in to those traps especially if it’s all you’ve known.
what happened to the pasty eating goal keeper from the FA cup? I know he left his club but it all went a bit quiet about the investigation
But it's so simple. You give your non footballer mate money, say "bet xxx on yyy, pay me cash if I win" .... How the fck is anyone so stupid as to get caught?
You're coming at it from a viewpoint of someone trying to secretly make money without being caught. I suspect, but cannot confirm, that being addicted to gambling is very different and the two objectives I mentioned are not the priority.
I understand that but unless you purposely want to "fly close to the flame" and some do I'm sure, if you are intent on flouting the rules then it's obvious you need to take precautions. Is JB a footballer first or a gambler first? it's a pretty simple choice. I've known a couple of addicts, they were ingenious in hiding it from view .... Is this not the same?
I don't know. Though I appreciate your greater experience on the topic than mine, I'm also reluctant to generalise the experiences of all addicts. It is quite plausible that rational thinking is put to one side when dealing with an addiction, or that placing the bet himself was part of the ritual for JB, or he just didn't care about being caught.