If Joey Barton’s 18-month ban is upheld it is very likely we have seen the last of him in professional football.
The Burnley midfielder has been severely punished for breaching the FA’s rules on gambling over the course of 10 years between 20016 and 2016 – including betting on and against his own team and team-mates.
In a long statement released Wednesday, the former Newcastle and Manchester City man highlighted the hypocrisy of the FA’s stance – pointing out the huge income accruing to clubs via sponsorship deals with betting companies.
“But surely they need to accept there is a huge clash between their rules and the culture that surrounds the modern game, where anyone who watches follows football on TV or in the stadia is bombarded by marketing, advertising and sponsorship by betting companies, and where much of the coverage now, on Sky for example, is intertwined with the broadcasters’ own gambling interests.”
He may have a point.
Wonder how footballers get the impression gambling in the game is totally fine pic.twitter.com/4Svs5CU8ni
— Nick Harris (@sportingintel) April 26, 2017
On Wednesday’s SportsJOE Live, gambling in football came up for discussion and former Tottenham, Nottingham Forest and Sunderland midfielder Andy Reid described a culture that encouraged an unhealthy relationship to betting.
Reid played alongside Michael Chopra, who had loan sharks chasing him after he lost £2 million gambling.
“When he came to Sunderland he owed a lot of people a lot of money and you can’t tell me that is not going to affect somebody going into a game on a Saturday,” said Reid [watch from 12 minutes below].
“If he owes somebody 50 grand and he is not able to pay him and he thinks somebody is going to be knocking on his door the next day, you can’t tell me that is not going to affect his game.”
Reid went on to describe the high stakes games of cards that would take place on the team bus on the way to games.
“I’ve been with teams when there has been a lot of money on the coach,” said the retired Republic of Ireland winger. “There would have been up to 12, 13, 14 grand on the table.”
The reaction of then Sunderland boss Steve Bruce to seeing just such a game being played speaks volumes for the stance taken on gambling within professional football.
“I remember Steve Bruce coming down the bus and seeing the amount of money that was on the table and saying, ‘Lads, get that off the table and replace it with chips’.
“So the lads were putting the money under the table and getting out the poker chips,” said Reid. “That was gambling responsibly.
“Looking back, it is not right. You can’t tell me someone losing three or four grand on the way to a game won’t affect him preparing for the game.”
