Footballer Banned For Betting

A former professional footballer who made headlines for her sensational sacking has turned to adult website OnlyFans after her playing career ended in December. Texts to betting pals led to. Former England, Manchester City, Sunderland winger Adam Johnson admitted grooming and sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl, but denied two more serious charges with the same teenager. Gambling ads should be banned - Labour Labour Senator Mark Wall says they have received complaints from people being bombarded with gambling ads while they are remote learning with their children.

Footballer Banned For Betting Websites
Footballer Banned For Betting Against
Footballer Banned For Betting

The Labour Party is putting forward proposals to stop gambling companies advertising in Ireland, saying the hidden epidemic of gambling is “poisoning” families.

It's published draft legislation aims to ban gambling ads across the media, on public transport, billboards and online outlets.

In 2019, Ireland had the seventh highest gambling spend in the world at €9.8 billion. According to Labour Senator Mark Wall, the party wants to see gambling addiction treated as a public health issue.

“Our legislation to #BeatTheAds will prevent unnecessary encouragement of gambling – banning all gambling ads across the media, on public transport, billboards and online outlets.

“The gambling industry has worked particularly hard to create a strong link in our minds between major sports events and betting. Watching a match, we are bombarded with reminders to download gambling apps, or put a few bob on the score,” he said.

Mr Wall said the party has received complaints from parents coming across gambling ads while remote learning with their children: “While people are homeschooling their children during the day they’re faced with gambling ads and their children are asking them what these various companies are offering. That is totally unacceptable in this day and age.”

The College of Psychiatrists says gambling disorders are a fast-growing public health issue and it's positive to see politicians taking action.

Discussing advertising standards, Professor Colin O’Gara, Consultant Addictions Psychiatrist specialising in the area of gambling addiction says:

“Much like tobacco, in ten years I think we will look back on the proliferation of gambling advertising in sport and entertainment and ask ourselves how we let it get so out of control. Currently, gambling advertising in Ireland is much too common and, critically, occurs before the adult television watershed.”

Tony Kay
Personal information
Full name	Anthony Herbert Kay
Date of birth	13 May 1937 (age 83)
Place of birth	Sheffield, England
Position(s)	Left half
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1954–1962	Sheffield Wednesday	179	(10)
1962–1964	Everton	57	(4)
National team
1963	England	1	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Anthony Herbert Kay (born 13 May 1937 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire)^[1] is an English former footballer who became notorious after being banned from the professional game for life following the British betting scandal of 1964.

Born in Sheffield, Kay played for Sheffield Wednesday before becoming Britain's most expensive footballer when transferred to Everton for £60,000 in 1962. Kay was capped once for England, scoring a goal in his debut match against Switzerland which England won by 8 goals to 1 in Basle.

Playing career[edit]

A left-sided wing-half, Kay started his career with hometown club Sheffield Wednesday. He transferred to Everton in December 1962, signed by his former manager Harry Catterick, and soon became the team captain. Everton were a work in progress under the ownership of the Littlewoods owner Sir John Moores and had earned the tag 'The Mersey Millionaires'. Kay was an important part of Catterick's evolving Everton side and the following May they were crowned League Champions for the first time since 1938–39 season. He also played as they won the 1963 FA Charity Shield.^[2]

Conviction for fraud[edit]

In 1964, the Sunday People newspaper broke the story that Kay, along with fellow Sheffield Wednesday players David Layne and Peter Swan, through the instigation of former Everton player Jimmy Gauld, had bet on their side to lose a match in December 1962 against Ipswich Town.^[3] The three were convicted of conspiracy to defraud, Kay on the basis of a taped conversation, one of the first times such evidence was admitted in an English court.^[3] Kay was fined £150 and sentenced to four months imprisonment.^[3] On his release, after serving ten weeks, he was banned from football for life by the Football Association though the ban was rescinded seven years later.^{[citation needed]} Kay claims subsequently to have been summoned to London to explain the use of taped evidence to the Kray twins.^[3]

Post-football life[edit]

Kay was 28 years old when released from prison. He never returned to the professional game, but did play some amateur football. He spent twelve years in Spain avoiding arrest for selling a counterfeitdiamond.^[3] On his return to the UK Kay was fined £400 and in later years he worked as a groundsman in south east London.^[4]

Upon retirement, Kay returned to the North West to settle back on Merseyside. A few months short of 40 years since his transfer from Sheffield Wednesday in 1962, Tony Kay was once again present on the pitch at Goodison Park among a group of 100 Everton Legends, as the club celebrated a record 100 seasons of top flight football at the start of the 2002–03 campaign. He received a standing ovation from the crowd.^[3]

Portrayals[edit]

Tony Kay is portrayed by Jason Isaacs in the 1997 TV film The Fix, directed by Paul Greengrass, which tells the story of the scandal which ended his career. The story was also dramatised in the November 2009 BBC Radio 4 play The Tony Kay Scandal by Michael McLean, which included excerpts from a 2009 interview with Kay.^[5]

References[edit]

^Betts, Graham (2006). England: Player by player. Green Umbrella Publishing. p. 145. ISBN1-905009-63-1.
^'1963/64 Charity Shield'. footballsite.co.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^ ^a^b^c^d^e^fJackson, Jamie (4 July 2004). 'Triumph and despair'. Observer Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
^Broadbent, Rick (22 July 2006). 'Swan still reduced to tears by the fix that came unstuck'. The Times. London.
^http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nlxph

External links[edit]

Triumph and despair, Kay's own account of the match fixing incident, The Observer, 4 July 2004

Bibliography[edit]