Barton offence not criminal, he broke a rule

– Burnley midfielder Joey Barton’s betting on football matches should be put into context in that he broke the rules of football but it was not matchfixing, Bill South, director of security at leading English bookmakers William Hill told

Barton (right) – who throughout his stormy career has never been far from controversy – received a potentially career-ending 18-month suspension from the Football Association (FA) last week for admitting to placing bets on football matches between 2006 and 2016.

“Quite often the headline is

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matchfixing and when you look underneath it is someone betting in contravention of a rule,” South said after appearing on a panel at the International Sports & Football Betting Trade Conference in London.

“Those are serious issues because it impinges on the integrity of that sport but it is not fixing a game.

“Joey Barton was not fixing games, he was breaking an FA rule on betting.

“Fixing a game involves fraud and is a criminal offence and we have to be really clear in distinguishing between the two.”

However, South, who served in the Cambridgeshire Police Constabulary for 23 years often heading up intelligence-led operations, said regardless of it not being a criminal offence the 34-year-old should assume responsibility for his actions.

Barton, who began the season with Scottish side Rangers before a training ground bust-up led to his contract being terminated. but Burnley signed him despite the charges over betting hanging over him and issued a statement taking issue with the “harshness of the sanction” and blaming his addiction to gambling.

“The FA quite reasonably drew their conclusions as a result of the investigation and they are in the public domain,” said South.

“They have explained why and you have to accept they are charged with the responsibility for governing that sport.

“I would use the analogy that if you own a car and you speed and you get caught you pay a penalty and get points on your licence.

“Barton goes to great pains to explain how betting was part of his childhood.

“That’s him explaining the context and it is not necessarily for us to judge him,” said South. –