Grays chief backs FA probe

Sums of as much as several hundred pounds were wagered on Grays Athletic to beat Forest Green Rovers after trailing at half-time. The result was 2-1 to Grays in the Blue Square Premier match - and the Essex-based side were losing 1-0 at the break.

The Football Association were alerted by bookies who picked up on suspicious betting patterns and Grays chairman Mick Woodward told BBC Essex: "I will give any FA investigation my full backing because this is not needed in football. If anything has gone on we want people to come down heavy if there is any match-fixing. We do not need it in sport."

William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said, under normal circumstances, "only a few fivers" would have been bet on the game, and the company had reported the matter to the Gambling Commission.

Sharpe said: "When you have a meaningless end-of-season match, you are not expecting to take much money and all of a sudden you are being offered a large number of bets for one outcome and some relatively substantial bets at that.

"It was a 22-1 shot for the home team to be losing at half-time and to win at full-time.

"The biggest sum placed was a three-figure bet so we suspended betting on Saturday afternoon. Interestingly, another bookmaker unbeknown to us did the same thing, which suggests this was not a freak occurrence."

The sums involved were not as high as those staked on the Accrington Stanley v Bury match last season, which has led to the FA charging six players with breaching betting rules. On that game, one bookie alone took £281,000 in bets, 20 times the normal sum.

Forest Green said in a statement: "The club will support any investigation into this allegation but it is disappointed that, despite betting being suspended 24 hours before kick-off, that neither of the clubs were contacted nor were other standard practices put into operation by both the Football Association and the Football Conference. A joint complaint has therefore been lodged to both these bodies."

Meanwhile, a date has yet to be set for the FA to hear the disciplinary charges against the six players charged over the Accrington game. The FA have extended the date for the players to respond to the charges to May 7.