Former Frome Town Manager Nick Bunyard made £1,400 betting against his team "when he knew all of his goalkeepers were unavailable," an FA regulatory commission report has revealed. The 36-year-old was given a three-year ban by the FA earlier this month for "placing 97 football bets" between Sept. '14 and April '16, including 45 against Frome and his former club Paulton Rovers. The FA published the commission's "written reasons" on its website and the 24-page report reveals that Bunyard made a total of £2,600 in profit on stakes that came to almost £7,000. Bunyard told the commission he tried to win every game "110 per cent," he made bets based on "unavoidable facts" about his players' fitness and he would "always prefer to win the game than the bet" (PA, 11/21).
Former footballer Andy Woodward’s "harrowing account of the sexual abuse" he suffered from coach Barry Bennell in the '80s has led to "six people coming forward to the police" and the FA setting up a helpline for potential victims. The police "are now in the early stages of collating the new information" and speaking to a number of former players who have contacted them since Woodward "waived his anonymity" to say that he had been targeted for several years at Crewe Alexandra, from the age of 11, when Bennell was one of the youth-team coaches. Cheshire Police’s acting detective sergeant in the public protection unit, Ben Hilton, said, "As of Monday we have been made aware of six other people who have come forward wishing to speak to the police" (London GUARDIAN, 11/21).
The Belgian FA (KBVB) is set to punish Olivier Deschacht (Anderlecht), Knowledge Musona (Ostende), Tuur Dierckx (Antwerp) and Laurent Henkinet (Beveren) for betting on Belgian club matches. Deschacht and his fellow players face a fine of up to €500 ($531) and a maximum suspension of eight matchdays. Earlier this season "the four players were discovered to have gambled on matches involving their own club." Beveren released Henkinet as a result (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 11/22).
Sporting Clube de Goa released a statement to confirm the club's decision to withdraw from the '16-17 season of the I-League. The club said in a statement, "Following strong objections to the Road Map for Indian football as proposed by AIFF and their marketing partners on 17th May, 2016, Sporting Clube de Goa along with fellow goan Club Salgoacar F.C, after several rounds of deliberations, had taken the painful decision to withdraw from the forthcoming edition of the I League" (GOAL, 11/22).
Two referees and one assistant referee "have been suspended for three months" by the Confederation of African Football after "poor performances" in 2018 World Cup qualifiers in November (BBC, 11/22).
