Brentford’s Toney Charged with Breaches of Betting Rules

Although not confirmed officially as the sole reason, it’s probably safe to assume that the allegations are at least part of the reason why Toney’s childhood dream of representing England in the World Cup Finals is not coming true. If the allegations are confirmed, this might be true not only for the upcoming tournament but forever.

232 Alleged Breaches Over 4 Years

Brentford’s striker – Ivan Toney – was charged by the Football Association (FA) with 232 alleged breaches of betting rules. The period of the allegations spans almost four years – from February 25, 2017, through January 23, 2021. Toney has until November 24 to provide his official answer to FA’s charges. He is facing a lengthy ban if the allegations are confirmed, with multiple speculations about a lifetime ban being in the cards as well.

The charges allege that Toney has breached FA’s Rule E8, which has clauses that concern each Association participant, and bans both direct and indirect betting activity on FA matches. This also covers the sharing of privileged information for the purposes of conducting, enabling or supporting betting and related activities.

The FA hasn’t clarified whether the 232 alleged violations are all the same. Regardless, it has a very strict set of anti-gambling rules. Andy Sims – a sports journalist based in London – tweeted a citation, attributed to FA’s rulebook, which states that if found guilty, Toney might be facing “financial penalties, suspensions, and in some instances, lifetime bans.”

Toney Missed his World Cup Spot

Toney has been open about him assisting the FA in its investigation since the allegations were first reported a couple of weeks ago. “I have been assisting the Football Association with their enquiries”, he tweeted on November 5.

He added that his childhood dream has been to play for his country at the World Cup Finals. Unfortunately, that’s not going to be the case, as he was left out of England’s Worlds team. That’s rather unfortunate, as he has scored 10 goals for Brentford this season, falling behind only two other Premier League players. He also scored the two goals leading up to the upset in which Brenton overtook Manchester City with a 2-1 result.

The BBC reported that Toney has played in four clubs total for the period in question – Scunthorpe United, Wigan Athletic, Peterborough United and lastly – his current club, Brentford, which he moved to from Brentford for £5 million (US$ 5.95 million).

FA’s anti-betting rules don’t concern only the Premier League, however. Rule E8 also applies to all National League, EFL, Women’s Super League, Women’s Championship and the Northern, Southern and Isthmian leagues games. So, Toney is hardly the only, or the first player to have been charged with breaking FA’s anti-betting rules.

Kieran Trippier is an example of breaching FA’s gambling rules. He received a £70,000 fine and a 10-week ban for that. However, this was the penalty he scored for a single breach, in which he had tipped a friend about his move from Tottenham Hotspur to Atletico Madrid in 2020. So, this potentially doesn’t really bode well for the prospects of what Toney might be facing.