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Tottenham winger Andros Townsend banned for four months
Tottenham Hotspur winger has been suspended from all football four four months as a punishment for breaching the FA’s betting regulations, making him the first current Premier League player to be charged over betting. Although the young winger will avoid missing the beginning of next season because three months of the ban have been suspended as Townsend voluntarily withdrew from the England squad Under-21 European Championship finals on May 2, after the FA began to look into the case. Townsend, who spent the end of last season on loan at newly demoted Queens Park Rangers, has also been fined £18,000 for breaching FA Rule E8(b), having bet on several fixtures in which he was not involved, but in competitions he was in. The 21-year-old admitted to betting, and requested a personal hearing in which the ban was confirmed.
The English international has represented his country from the Under-16 levels and up, although is yet to make a senior appearance for The Three Lions. Townsend’s punishment comes on the eve of England’s U-21 European Championship opener against Italy in Tel Aviv, and the winger, who has made 17 appearances for Tottenham, took to social media site Twitter to announce the punishment, Tweeting:
Following a personal hearing at the FA and the statement issued today, I fully accept the disciplinary action and shall not be appealing…
— andros townsend(@andros_townsend) June 4, 2013
This has been a regrettable experience from which I fully intend to come back stronger……..
— andros townsend(@andros_townsend) June 4, 2013
While Townsend announced the ban via Twitter, the FA released a statement on their official website, reading: “At an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing, Tottenham Hotspur’s Andros Townsend was suspended from all football and football activity for a period of four months, subject to any appeal, backdated to the 23 May 2013 when the player voluntarily withdrew from the England Under-21 squad.
“However, three months of the suspension is suspended until 1 July 2016 and will be automatically invoked upon a proven breach of The FA Betting Rules during that period.