Shaun Leaf of Doncaster banned for 18 months by Rugby Football League for wagering
Shaun Leaf, Doncaster’s captain, has been banned by Rugby Football League for 18 months along with a hefty fine of £500 for his involvement in gambling against his own outfit.
According to the verdict that was announced on Tuesday , against Leaf’s unacceptable behaviour, he was found guilty of gambling for four fixtures, out of which two involved his own outfit including the clash against the French side, Toulouse in August 2009
and the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in May 2011.
The investigations revealed that he had put the amount of £600 on losing to the French side with almost half-a-century’s difference in scores.
The verdict also indicated his involvement in betting against the Gateshead and Harlequins and Wigan against Barrow clashes.
However, this ban was under scrutiny for quite some time. Newspapers were already talking about his involvement in betting for the amount of £200 against his own franchise in the fourth round of Challenge Cup which was won 10-50 by the Wakefield.
Against Wakefield, the bet was won by Leaf but he also had to sit outside that game because of the thumb injury which led to four tries scored by the opponents during the concluding twelve minutes of the clash, cementing their win against the Doncasters
at the Keepmoat Stadium.
Because of this incident in May, he was suspended provisionally, as the investigations were underway.
The verdict which was announced last week, declared that Leaf was responsible for leaking out the information to the third party which tailored the results in favour of his betting activity.
According to the tribunal’s take on Doncaster’s skipper, the ban term will be taken into account from his suspension in May, which will keep him out of the game until the start of 2013.
While speaking about Leaf’s punishment for breaking the club’s codes, Alex Murphy reckons that the verdict should have been more severe than what it has been.
Murphy acknowledges that in the given case Leaf should consider himself fortunate and spoke, “I think he's a very lucky lad. If you bet on your own team to lose you should not be playing rugby league. A life ban should be given out. If you want to be a bookmaker,
go into the betting business - there's no excuse for that kind of behaviour.”
According to him, betting against your own team should not be excusable at all.
Speculations have further revealed that he was only involved in wagering on the clash against Wildcats in May, which does not make Leaf guilty of “influencing improperly the result, progress, conduct of the match.”
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