Appeals Board wipes five months off Barton’s betting ban

THE Appeal Board has upheld a challenge from Joey Barton regarding the length of his ban for betting on soccer matches.

The former Burnley midfielder was sanctioned in April this year after it was found he had placed more than 1200 football-related wagers over the course of his career.

That resulted in an 18-month suspension and a fine of £30,000 – a penalty Barton, a self-confessed gambling addict, deemed too severe.

While the fine remains unchanged, on Thursday the ban was wound back from 18 months to 13 months.

That means his suspension will now end on June 1, 2018.

“The Appeal Board has upheld an appeal by Joey Barton against the Independent Regulatory Commission’s decision to suspend him for 18-months and fine him £30,000 after he broke FA betting rules,” the Football Association said in a statement.

Joey Barton’s ban for breaching betting rules has been reduced by almost five months https://t.co/vIF4Gw1YPD pic.twitter.com/Gw7tJmBxox

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 27, 2017

A key factor in the board’s decision was the testimony of Dr Philip Hopley – a distinguished psychiatrist who specialises in addiction disorders.

In the initial hearing, he stated: “It is clear from reviewing Mr Barton’s history that his level of compulsive gambling is such that whilst he feels that he is making informed wise, scientific decisions regarding the bets he places, the volume and frequency of his bets indicated that his ability to control those impulses is very limited.”

The FA’s Independent Regulatory Commission largely overlooked that analysis, expressing scepticism at the suggestion that Barton’s gambling was driven by compulsion.

That view was put under the spotlight in an extensive list of written reasons for the decision to reduce the former Premier League star’s suspension.

“The Appeal Board sees no reason why that evidence was found unpersuasive, in the absence of countervailing evidence,” the board said.

“It was a crucial part of Mr Barton’s case as it would be for any addiction case.

“The Appeal Board also considers if that expert opinion had not been rejected there would have been significant further reduction in the period of suspension.

“We consider it was not reasonable for the Commission to reject the evidence of Dr Hopley in respect of the degree of impairment to Mr Barton’s control.

“We therefore exercise the discretion regarding sanction afresh.

“We take into account all of the factors correctly identified by the Commission, those that are aggravating and those that are mitigating, but we also take into account the evidence of Dr Hopley which we find should have been regarded as persuasive.

“The period of suspension the Appeal Board considers appropriate is reduced so that it expires on 1 June 2018.”

Barton’s case has served as the centrepiece for a Britain-wide debate about the relationship between gambling firms and professional football.

In June, the FA cancelled a lucrative four-year deal with Ladbrokes on the back of a report that recommended wholesale termination of betting sponsorships.

That followed calls from the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association for stricter laws on illegal betting amid a spate of integrity breaches in the country’s lower leagues.