Ivan Toney was given a reduced ban from football after he was diagnosed with serious gambling addiction.
Recall we reported that Toney, 27, was banned for eight months for breaching Football Association betting rules even betting against his team.
However, an expert who gave evidence to the FA’s regulatory commission diagnosed Toney with a gambling addiction and admitted he needed help.
The development saw Toney’s sanction reduced from the originally stipulated 11 months ban to eight months as a result of the diagnosis.
The commission explained its sanction on Friday through a publication, revealing that Toney had admitted repeatedly that he lied during his initial interviews with the FA.
The publication also added that Ivan Toney had since stopped gambling on football, though not on other sports, and is “determined to address his gambling problem with therapy”.
The initial ban was meant to be a 15-month ban on the Brentford ace due to the fact that he wanted to hide his betting history, knowing it was against FA rules.
Toney was found guilty of placing bets via third parties, deleting important information from his phone and willfully providing “clearly false answers” during his FA interviews.
The commission however did not uphold all the supposed FA’s claims on the Englishman.
Toney initially saw his ban reduced to 11 months given that he accepted that he was guilty of all 232 charges slammed against him by the FA before it was further reduced due to his diagnosed addiction.
Dr Philip Hopley, a Psychiatrist, interviewed Toney twice before his diagnosis and the commission affirmed that the evidence was “well reasoned and highly persuasive”.
Brentford in a statement said: “The club will now be doing everything possible to provide support to Ivan and his family to deal with the issues raised in this case.”
“We consider this matter closed and look forward to welcoming Ivan back to training in September.”
The Professional Footballers’ Association also added that it offered “significant practical and confidential support to players” that are struggling with addiction to gambling.
“It is crucial that players are properly supported in taking the steps to seek help, and that processes covering punishments for gambling in football take proper account of the wellbeing of players”, the PFA said in a statement.
Ivan Toney
Ivan Benjamin Elijah Toney is an English footballer who was born on 16 March, 1996 and plays as a striker for Brentford and the England national team.
Toney became the youngest player to represent Northampton Town when he made his first-team debut in 2012.
At Northampton Town, the Englishman scored 13 goals in 60 matches across all competitions before moving to Newcastle United in 2015.
When Toney was at Newcastle, he had two successive loan spells with Barnsley, winning the 2015–16 Football League Trophy and the 2016 League One play-offs.
Ivan Toney moved to Peterborough United permanently for an undisclosed fee in 2018 and he was named both League One top scorer and Player of the Season in 2019–20.
From Peterborough, he signed for his current club Brentford where he helped the club secure promotion to the Premier League after scoring a record-setting 31 goals.
The forward was called up for the first time for England national team in 2023 before he made his first international debut in 2023.
What Rules Did Toney Breach?
Ivan Toney admitted to have breached 232 FA betting rules over a period of 5 seasons from February 2017 and January 2021.
He was a registered player of Newcastle and Peterborough at that time and also spending time on loans to several clubs.
The 232 rules breached include:
- 126 bets were in respect of matches in competitions in which Toney’s club at that time participated in.
- Of those 126, 29 were in respect of the club Toney was playing for at the time.
- Of those 29, 16 were on his own team to win 15 different matches. Toney played in 11 of those matches.
- Of those 29, the remaining 13 were on Toney’s team to lose. Toney did not play in any of those matches.
- Of the 126 bets, 15 were placed on Toney to score. They were initiated at a time when it was not public knowledge that he was starting or playing in the relevant fixtures.
The regulatory commission also confirmed that Toney’s case was not one of match-fixing.
“There is no evidence that Mr Toney did or was even in a position to influence his own team to lose when he placed bets against them winning – he was not in the squad or eligible to play at the time.”
Ivan Toney was also fined £50,000 and warned about his future conduct as part of his punishment.
His ban started immediately and is allowed to return to training four months before it ends on 17 September but he will not be allowed to play again until 17 January 2024.
Toney has been prolific and had an awesome season with Brentford, scoring 20 goals in 33 Premier League appearances this season and made his England debut as a substitute in the Euro 2024 qualifying win against Ukraine in March.
