Muscat “deeply hurt” over betting scandal
By Liam FitzGibbon, 20 Dec 2008
- Tagged:
- Asian Champions League, Ben Buckley, Champions League, football, Gamba Osaka, Kevin Muscat, Manchester United, Queensland Roar
Apologetic Melbourne Victory captain Kevin Muscat says he is deeply hurt and embarrassed to be one of three A-League players found to have placed bets on football matches.
Muscat, along with Queensland Roar captain Craig Moore, was fined on Friday while Victory midfielder Grant Brebner was suspended for two matches by Football Federation Australia after it was discovered all three players had bet on matches involving A-League teams this year.
Brebner copped the biggest penalty after he was found to have placed bets totalling $640 on two games, one involving his own team.
The 31-year-old Scottish midfielder, who has a history of gambling problems, received a two game ban with a further two matches suspended as well as a $5000 fine, $2000 of which was suspended.
Muscat and Moore escaped bans but received fines after betting on matches not involving their own teams.
Muscat, who placed and lost a $100 bet on a match between Central Coast and Queensland on December 6, vowed after the Victory’s 4-2 loss to Newcastle on Friday night he would never make the same mistake again.
“It is with great regret and embarrassment that I am here before you tonight,” an emotional Muscat told reporters in Newcastle.
“I sincerely apologise for my actions, I have clearly done the wrong thing, I accept the sanctions handed down by the FFA.
“It is the first betting account I have ever opened, which I did two weeks ago … I made one bet on a game not involving our team and I acknowledge I made a very serious error.
“I am captain of our club and realise I have a very serious responsibility to our club our fans … This will never happen again.
“I’m a very proud person and this has hurt me deeply.”
FFA learned of the bets after being informed by betting organisation Betfair, with whom they hold an “integrity agreement”, three weeks ago.
FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said he was disappointed with the players’ actions but added he was satisfied they had made honest mistakes.
He was also confident there wasn’t a widespread betting problem in the A-League and said there was “absolutely nothing” to suggest attempted match fixing.
But Buckley said it was a stern warning to players about their responsibilities under FFA’s code of conduct.
“It won’t be tolerated and all players should see this as a very stern warning,” Buckley said.
Brebner placed bets on two matches, one involving Adelaide and Wellington, but it was his wagers on the Victory’s 3-1 Asian Champions League loss to Thailand’s Chonburi in March that earned him a suspension.
He collected $540 for picking the correct goal margin in the match and bizarrely won another $4.21 by backing against his team and correctly selecting a draw or Chonburi win as the result.
Brebner was not in the squad for the match, nor was he in Thailand with the team, with the bets believed to be placed 15 minutes prior to kick-off.
The former Manchester United apprentice revealed last year that he was a recovering gambling addict, at one stage developing a $6200-a-week addiction.
Moore, meanwhile, spent a total of $600 on two matches, one between Central Coast and Adelaide and the other an ACL match between Adelaide and Gamba Osaka, winning $72.
Buckley said FFA would move to make sure all players were aware of the rules in relation to betting but denied the image of the league had been tarnished.
All clubs and players have accepted the sanctions imposed and say they won’t appeal.
© AAP 2012Recommend this story.
December 20th 2008 @ 7:26am
Spiro Zavos said | December 20th 2008 @ 7:26am | Report comment
Is the sanction of being being forced out of the side for a couple of matches tough enough after betting on games ? My view is that it is not. For all the remorse, it is a no-brainer for a football player not to bet on games, whether he is playing in it or not. Football like cricket has so many typical events in it that are suspectible to manipulation by an individual player, and a history of fixed matches and gambling players, that the proper sanction surely is to come down on the perpetrator like a ton of bricks.
December 20th 2008 @ 5:27pm
Pippinu said | December 20th 2008 @ 5:27pm | Report comment
Spiro
I have to agree with you – it’s an incredible situation – and these are three of the most experienced players in the league – one is a current Socceroo – it’s extraordinary.
December 20th 2008 @ 10:27pm
Billo said | December 20th 2008 @ 10:27pm | Report comment
For the first time I have had to wonder whether the A-League can survive.
It needed this news like a hole in the head, and with crowds seemingly on an inexorable slide, there must come a point when the competition will have to put the shutters up.
It will be a tragedy for Australian soccer, but it is beginning to look inevitable.
December 20th 2008 @ 10:33pm
Sam said | December 20th 2008 @ 10:33pm | Report comment
Billo
It is only the crowds that need to be remedied. Incidents like this come and go. Compared to what rugby league players get up to, there is no comparison. I’d be more worried about the NRL folding in the next 10 years. The crowds in Sydney are equal to the current a-league crowds.
December 21st 2008 @ 1:55am
Billo said | December 21st 2008 @ 1:55am | Report comment
Sam,
If you live anywhere near Sydney I hope you will be at the SFS for tonight’s game against Perth. It’s vital that everybody in Sydney who has any interest in soccer turns out for this game to try to give FFA some desperately needed good publicity.
Saying that it’s only the crowds that need to be remedied is like the government saying that it’s only the economy that needs to be fixed. Easy to identify, but hard to implement.
Incidentally, compared to soccer players in England, NRL players are like choirboys. You wouldn’t believe some of the stories I hear about some of the biggest names in the Premier League (the company I work for is involved in football sponsorship). There is a whole industry devoted to covering up football players’ antics. NRL players (and rugby players) don’t have that luxury.
December 21st 2008 @ 4:22am
True Tah said | December 21st 2008 @ 4:22am | Report comment
Billo
the boys in the NFL make the guys in the English Premier League look like choirboys but they dont get afforded any luxuries – they dont tolerate sh*t from anybody, look at what happened to Michael Vick.
December 21st 2008 @ 7:23am
Sam said | December 21st 2008 @ 7:23am | Report comment
Billo
If we had the media saturation in Sydney like the rugby league did I’m sure we would get bigger crowds. Rugby league must be in trouble when Russell Crowe has to beg his own fans to join as members. 7500 is the most any Sydney club has. You can say now that QLD is the league capital and the only place that can sell out rugby league games.
As for a-league crowds this will take time to come back. This year is a bit of a write off, but I think over the next 5 years they will slowly start to increase again. If you wish for the a-league to shut down then good luck to you. We will solve our problems in our own way.
December 21st 2008 @ 5:27pm
The Answer said | December 21st 2008 @ 5:27pm | Report comment
Sam,
Crowds…and the fact that the standard of football is garbage compared to what is available to fans in their living room. The FFA should be worried,let’s remember Australian football fans have a history of allowing their national comeptitions to die if the marketing isn’t right.
In a week we have had this scandal and a player urinating in a motel room, the A-League players are certainly doing their best to catch up to the other codes. Maybe they can return to the glorious days of the NSL when players were involved in a armed hold ups to really even the ledger. Then again most A-League won’t remember those days because they’ve only “always loved the game” for about 3 years.
If this betting scandal would have happened to a league, union or AFL player it can be assured the player would have faced a far stiffer fan, largely due to media coverage demanding it. The broader public remains largely apathetic to the A-League and only jumps onto football for the Socceroos.
Solve problems your own way? Ask Frank Lowy for some more cash??
December 21st 2008 @ 5:31pm
Steve Kaless said | December 21st 2008 @ 5:31pm | Report comment
Is this yet another professional sportsman trying to get sympathy and play the victim? What a joker.
I agree Spiro, does strike me as the FFA are looking to hand out a slap on the wrist and hope it all goes away.
December 21st 2008 @ 5:50pm
Michael C said | December 21st 2008 @ 5:50pm | Report comment
The Answer – it did happen with Simon Goodwin (Ade crows), Daniel Ward(Melb) David Hale(North) and Kieran Jack(Syd) – in 2006
This was reported in Feb this year (\:
Goodwin was fined $40K ($20K suspended), and 18 months later was still … in after-care and attends weekly meetings of Gamblers Anonymous..as he actually had a gambling addiction.
He is in remission but, like the recovering alcoholic, he knows he must be vigilant.
He has not had a bet since the exposure of his dark secret on February 18 last year, and won’t buy even raffle tickets these days.
Goodwin, expected to be earning in the order of $500,000 a year at the Crows, has relinquished total control of the family’s financial matters to his wife, Maggie, who pays him a weekly allowance.
He said he had reservations about how the AFL handled the situation that splashed the names and faces of himself, Daniel Ward (Melbourne), David Hale (Kangaroos) and Kieren Jack across the front pages of the nation’s Sunday papers a year ago, but believed it had virtually eliminated player betting on football. Apparently Muscat, Moore and Brebner didn’t take any notice because the stories where in another code????? More the fools!!!
Reported back in Feb 2007 –
Ward has admitted seeking help for a gambling problem after it was revealed in 2003 he and teammate Travis Johnstone owed bookmaker Simon Beasley nearly $70,000.
Both Hale and Jack made insignificant bets on rival clubs, but the extent of Goodwin and Ward’s involvement is yet to be determined.
It is understood Hale’s bet was made in September and less than $10.
Jack placed two bets on matches not involving Sydney tallying about $10.
The AFL had requested their ‘partners’ in Tabcorp and Betfair to check their books. That’s where it came from.
There’s also concerns about players relaying ‘insider information’ to friends or family etc.
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for international experienced players – Muscat, Moore and Brebner – it’s amazing that they would partake in this………one wonders about what HAS gone on in the past…….in all codes.
It’s not really a time for code vs code point scoring, other than, I must say……Ben Buckley does seem to have gone a little too softly softly…….I agree with Vidmar who reckons the penalties were leniant and insufficient,
for Buckley to make this statement is just totally missing the mark
They weren’t aware of the rules and we accepted that they are genuinely embarrassed about not understanding the rules”
Oh my god!!!!! Head office is even trying to ‘spin’ this!!!!!! That’s ordinary form Mr.Buckley. Grow a spine son!!!! With the AFL above, Jack and Hale were young kids from non AFL states (Syd and Gold Coast) and less than $10…………but, Moore, Muscat and Brebner…….none of them have the excuse of ignorance of youthful blissfulness.