GROUND SUPPORT
so. I want to make it clear that, while a professional footballer, I have at no stage placed any footballrelated bets or received any financial benefit from others betting.”
The regulations ban even the passing of information to outside parties under rules which have been used to convict Daniel Sturridge.
It is a sign of how seriously the FA take these transgressions that one of the last acts before the coronavirus
DANIEL STURRIDGE
(Trabzonspor) Banned this year for four months and fined £150,000 after he told his brother Leon to bet on a loan move to Sevilla. JOEY BARTON (Burnley) Fined £30,000 and banned for 18 months, reduced by five months, in 2017 after admitting he placed 1,260 bets on matches over a 10-year period.
lockdown was to appeal successfully the two-match ban handed to Sturridge because they felt it was not severe enough.
Initially the striker was found guilty on two of 11 charges, but an independent tribunal added a further four to that tally and increased his ban from six weeks to four months at the beginning of March.
They also doubled the size of his fine to £150,000.
Sturridge immediately cancelled his contract with Trabzonspor, of Turkey, and if Atletico
Madrid defender Trippier were to be convicted of the latest charge, the FA are likely to appeal to FIFA to make any ban from football a global one in order to impact his ability to play in La Liga.
With the Spanish authorities still keen to resume the current campaign, an early decision could rule Trippier out of the rest of the season.
For the sake of the integrity of the game, the FA are determined to implement a
ANDROS TOWNSEND
(Tottenham)
Fined £18,000 and banned for four
months – three of which
were suspended – in 2013 after he admitted
breaching Football
Association betting rules while he was on
loan.
CAMERON JEROME
(Stoke)
Fined £50,000 in 2013 after he admitted
breaching FA betting
rules.
zero-tolerance policy, but Sturridge has questioned the role of the bookmakers themselves in the problem.
The former Liverpool striker said: “I feel the betting companies and the practice and process of people placing bets on players moving clubs has to be stopped.
“I’m going to continue to campaign for professional footballers to be able to speak to their families and close friends freely, without the real risk of being
charged.”