A non league player sacked for gambling on his own team’s results searches for a potential new club ever since he broke FA rules.
It was a year ago that we saw then-Chippenham Town midfielder Karnell Chambers have his contract terminated after he placed a number of bets on football fixtures, some of which involving his own club.
A spokesman for National League South side Chippenham Town said: “Karnell’s contract with the club has been terminated with immediate effect.
“After consideration of the facts provided by the FA and interviewing Karnell, the board decided that placing bets on Chippenham Town games in which he participated, left the Board and Management Team with a complete lack of trust and confidence in the player and as such amounted to gross misconduct.
@ChipTownFC pic.twitter.com/qX3gnn16fo
— KarnellChambers (@ChambersKarnell) December 31, 2019
“Whilst the FA are yet to make their decision on the matter, the club fully upholds the FA stance on not permitting players or club officials to place bets on football games, especially ones where they could influence the result of the game.”
Chambers had originally been suspended by the club while an investigation was launched.
The forward, who signed in March 2018, post via his social media page: “Been a great 2 years at Chippenham. Had many great memories thanks to all the support from everyone at the club and to the fans who believed in me every week.”
Been a great 2 years at Chippenham. Had many great memories thanks to all the support from everyone at the club and to the fans who believed in me every week @ChipTownFC 💙
— KarnellChambers (@ChambersKarnell) February 20, 2020
So what has he been doing since then? Well he chances in finding a new club has been limited mainly due to the pandemic stop starting the last two non league seasons.
However you could say that this has been rather helpful for the footballer as he comes to terms and deals with his issues before returning to the game he loves.
In January 2021, he did spend time training with National League North leaders Gloucester City, impressing but seemingly didn’t get a deal.
The 23-year-old was previously with them for most of the 2017/18 campaign, scoring seven goals before joining Chippenham Town in March 2018.
He started out in the academy at League Two side Cheltenham Town before enduring spells at Bishop’s Cleeve, Evesham United, Cinderford Town and Swedish outfit Syrianska.
Chambers was attracting interest from Football League clubs, but his contract at Chippenham was terminated in February 2020 after he was found to have breached betting regulations and he was forced to serve a five-month FA suspension and pay a fine.
He tweets in November 2020 just goes to show how he is getting on, dealing with his problems.
He wrote: “Taking time away gives you a wider perspective for improvement in the long run.Back to football in February… Can’t wait 😁
“Thankyou to all the people who helped me through a difficult time. Gave me endless support, help and guidance ❤️”
The sacked non league player isn’t the first to have been axed for gambling. Footballers such as Daniel Sturridge, Joey Barton, Scott Kashket, Andros Townsend, Cameron Jerome, Dan Gosling and Kieran Trippier have also done so.
‘Lump on if you want’ was the WhatsApp message which saw Trippier recently penalised for breaching FA betting rules. The ex-Tottenham full-back was on the verge of moving to Atletico Madrid in July 2019 and was hinting he was on the verge of signing in a WhatsApp chat group with some personal friends of his.
Trippier’s friends took his advice literally and staked multiple bets on the move, thereby bringing the game in to disrepute and lead to a full FA investigation.
The defender handed over his phone, with Trippier eventually banned from all football-related activity for 10 weeks, fined £70,000 and forced to pay costs.
Trippier didn’t personally benefit from the information he held, but he was penalised for providing inside information which was used to make money.
Trippier volunteered to help educate young players on gambling in football after the saga, but journalists felt he was hard done by and called for an end to transfer betting markets, something that isn’t completely gone as of yet.
If you need some help with your depression or gambling addiction, here’s some information…
Gambling
– National Gambling Helpline Freephone 0808 8020 133
8am-midnight 7 days a week
www.nhs.uk/Livewell/addiction/Pages/gamblingaddiction.aspx (includes a short questionnaire, self-help tips and numbers)
Depression
– Samaritans 116 123
24 hours, 7 days a week
www.samaritans.org
– Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – for men
Call 0800 58 58 58 – 5pm to midnight every day
– Childline – for children and young people under 19
Call 0800 1111 – the number won’t show up on your phone bill
You must be logged in to post a comment Login