Football Federation Australia (FFA) today announced that Melbourne Victory players, Kevin Muscat and Grant Brebner, and Queensland Roar player, Craig Moore, have been sanctioned under the FFA Code of Conduct.
The sanctions relate to bets placed by Muscat, Brebner and Moore on matches played by Hyundai A-League teams after notification from Betfair in recent weeks.
– Muscat placed one bet, incurring a loss of $100, on the outcome of one match not involving Melbourne Victory.
– Moore placed two bets, winning a total of $72, on the outcome of two matches not involving Queensland Roar.
– Brebner placed one bet, incurring a loss of $399.47, on the outcome of one match not involving Melbourne Victory.
– Brebner also placed one bet to win $4.21 on a draw or Chonburi victory, and one bet to win a total of $540 on the goal margin in a match played by Melbourne Victory against Chonburi in Thailand. Brebner was not part of the squad for this match and did not travel to Thailand.
“We are extremely disappointed in the actions of the players,” said FFA CEO, Ben Buckley.
“It is a clear breach of our Code of Conduct and we expect our players to be aware of their obligations.”
Buckley said that the players had not realised they had infringed the Code of Conduct but accepted full responsibility and apologised for their actions.
Under the integrity management agreement with Betfair, FFA is provided with relevant information related to football.
Details of the three players betting activity was supplied to FFA by Betfair-s integrity team resulting in FFA making its own inquiries before applying the sanctions.
Muscat and Moore have been fined $5,000 each with $2,000 of the amount suspended pending any further offence.
Brebner has also received a $5,000 fine, with $2,000 suspended pending a further offence, in respect of the bet made on matches not involving Melbourne Victory.
For the bet involving Melbourne Victory, Brebner has been suspended from playing for four matches. Brebner must serve two matches of this suspension with two matches suspended pending any further offence.
Buckley also announced that, in conjunction with the Hyundai A-League clubs and the Australian Professional Footballers Association, FFA would immediately conduct an awareness campaign to ensure players are fully informed of their obligations and of the risks involved in gambling.
“These fines and the playing suspension should serve notice to all players that any form of betting by players on football matches has no place in football and will not be tolerated,” Buckley said.
