The Football Association (FA) announced on Friday that Ivan Toney’s suspension from football had been shortened to eight months as a result of his sterling record, “genuine regret,” and gambling addiction diagnosis.
Toney, a 27-year-old forward for Brentford and England, admitted to 232 violations of the FA’s betting rules, including betting on games he participated in, and was given a ban and punishment of 50,000 pounds ($63,105) earlier this month.
Because of his youth and gambling addiction, the FA’s independent regulatory body reduced the punishment from 11 months to eight in its written justifications for the ban, which were released.
This includes his relative youth at the time the violations started, his prior clean record with regard to anything other than on-field violations, and his sincere regret that he expressed in fulsome terms before the panel, according to the FA.
The commission also determines that a large reduction should be made to account for the gambling addiction that was found (by a psychiatry expert). This is especially noteworthy.
“At the end of this season, he’s resolved to get counseling for his gambling issue. The panel reduces the punishment by three months to an eight-month suspension after taking into account all of those factors.
If Toney hadn’t admitted guilt, the punishment would have been 15 months.
Despite being suspended until January 16, 2024, Toney will be able to train with his squad and return to match fitness starting on September 17.
Of the 262 alleged violations, the FA said that 126 had to do with contests in which his team had competed or was qualified to do so.
He claims that he initially disputed 42 counts because he didn’t believe he was responsible for them, but that he then changed his mind and admitted guilt to those crimes because he wanted to end the case as quickly as possible.
Toney also placed an additional 15 wagers on the outcome of nine games in which he participated, one of the “most serious” charges given that no one was aware of his position in the starting lineup at the time.
The FA also revealed that between August 2017 and March 2018, when Toney was on loan at Wigan Athletic, he placed 13 wagers on his own team, Newcastle United, to lose in seven games.
“Mr. Toney did not play in any of those matches where he placed bets against his loan club as he was not in the match squad or against his parent club as he was on loan,” the FA stated.
