SCOTTISH football experienced a watershed moment yesterday when Ian Black became the first player to admit to gambling charges including betting against his own team.
The Rangers midfielder was handed a 10-game ban - seven of which are suspended until the end of the season - and a £7500 fine relating to a breach of Scottish Football Association regulations. The player has five working days to appeal the sanctions should he choose to do so.
Black had been accused of flouting the SFA's disciplinary rule 22 by betting on three matches on his then-registered club not to win; betting on a further 10 matches that involved his then-registered club; and betting on a further 147 matches, all over a seven-year period.
Players and officials under the SFA's jurisdiction are not permitted to bet on any games. The effective three-match ban equates to one game for each of the matches in which Black bet on his team not to win. The player was given a censure relating to the charge of betting on matches not involving his team, a tacit acknowledgement from the SFA's three-person disciplinary panel that gambling is rife among players.
The player and his adviser, boxing promoter Barry Hughes, left Hampden quickly after the three-hour meeting without commenting. Fraser Wishart, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland, who represented Black in the meeting, was also reluctant to talk about the specifics of the case but hoped it would lead to greater debate on football's relationship with gambling and a possible change in the regulations.
"I don't want to talk about Ian's own personal situation because it's been a long hearing," said Wishart. "It's important we take stock, speak to the club, speak to the player and decide what steps to take next.
"I think the details of what was discussed and what was imposed will come out in the coming days. I'm not going to comment on Ian's situation. Ian's got to go away and take stock and we'll sit down with our lawyers and discuss what, if any, the next steps are.
"It gives us the opportunity, all the legislators in the game, to have an open, frank and adult conversation about the current regulations."
Wishart, though, did confirm that there had been no suggestion that Black had in any way influenced the outcome of the matches in which he bet on his team not to win.
"He was accused of breaching rules on betting. There is a separate rule which is based on influencing the outcome of a match and at no time was that ever mentioned. So match-fixing, influencing games was not part of this situation."
Rangers issued a brief statement. "Rangers Football Club notes today's verdict by the Judicial Panel which has imposed a 10-match ban and £7500 fine on Ian Black.
"Three of the matches will be served immediately - meaning the player would miss games against Arbroath, Queen of the South and Forfar - and a further seven games will be suspended until the end of the 2013/14 season.
Black would be free to return to action against Stenhousemuir on Saturday September 28, 2013.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article