Rice: Ban is not the fault of bookies

BRIAN RICE last night absolved bookmakers of blame for his ten-match SFA suspension for breaching betting rules over five seasons. The Hamilton boss reported himself to the governing body earlier this month and was subsequently charged by the SFA. The self-confessed gambling addict emerged from a

two-and-a-half-hour judicial panel tribunal at Hampden and accepted sole responsibility for his plight. Rice’s touchline ban will begin with Sunday’s home clash against Celtic, with five matches suspended until the end of the season.

After pleading guilty to all the charges, the 56-year-old dismissed claims that wall-to-wall advertising and sponsorship of football by betting firms is fuelling a gambling epidemic. ‘I have never at any stage said a gambling company was to blame here,’ said Rice after yesterday’s hearing. ‘Only one person was to blame here. That was me.

‘Not the club, not my family and certainly not the betting companies who do a fantastic job for Scottish football. ‘I can’t speak highly enough of what they do with their sponsorship. We need these companies putting money into football. There should be no blame attached to these betting companies. The blame lies firmly at my door.

‘Honesty is the way forward. When you have an addiction, the first person you need to be honest with is yourself. I’m the person to blame here. No one else.’ Rice had been hit with five charges relating to breaching disciplinary rule 31 governing gambling on football between July 14, 2015 and October 15, 2019.

The SFA, however, had been implored to help rather than punish the Hamilton manager and, in a statement, they said: ‘The tribunal chose to suspend one half of the sanction to reflect the genuine efforts it considered Mr Rice has made to put his life and that of his family back together again — and to take account of his genuine expression of remorse for his breach of the rule and the effect that has had on his family, the club and the Scottish FA.

‘It is the hope of the tribunal that the suspended element will not be imposed but will play some part in helping Mr Rice to avoid returning to the practice, which has so blighted his life.’ Offering no complaints over his treatment at the hands of the tribunal, Rice added: ‘I knew the rules and I broke them. I deserve to be punished.’ Meanwhile, Inverclyde MP Ronnie Cowan, vice chair of the Westminster gambling harm working party, wants a ban on gambling advertising and sponsorship in football and will meet SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster to discuss the issue on Monday, February 10.