English FA ponders relationship with betting firms

Football Association chairman Greg Clarke says the English game’s governing body is weighing up whether to end its partnership with betting companies.

Joey Barton was banned from football for 18 months in April for breaking betting rules, but the Burnley midfielder claimed the FA needed to examine its own links to gambling companies.

The FA signed a “long-term” deal with Ladbrokes in June 2016 to become its “official betting partner” following a similar agreement with William Hill.

The organisation also has commercial deals with alcoholic drinks firms such as Budweiser and a report – ordered at the start of the season by Clarke – into whether such agreements are appropriate is due to be published later this year.

“We are actively considering what our position will be and should be,” Clarke told the Times on Friday.

“I have thought about the relationship between betting and football, and alcohol and football, and I raised this at the start of the season when I took over as chairman.

“I asked for the management team to produce a report on what our position should be on a number of things, and gambling and alcohol were among those things.

“At the end of the season, when that paper is produced, the FA board will take a measured decision on what our position should be.

“Until I see that paper, I don’t have a position but it is right we consider it and then make a positive decision on what we are going to do or not.

“This is not linked to the Joey Barton case at all, this goes back to the start of the season.”