Further to our
original story about new betting rules, we asked for clarification from the FA, saying:
“We have a database of over 300 volunteers, but feel only a section of these are in positions of sufficient responsibility to meet the definitions of "Club Officials". Are the FA happy for us to make that judgement call????
Unfortunately, the FA’s response was not conclusive and their Football Integrity representative replied:
“The only guidance I can give you is the information already provided ... It isn’t about making a judgement call, either their additional role is covered by the definition of a Participant or not.???
The FA’s definition of Participant includes “any representative of a Club???, which is very vague for a club like ours when almost any member could be a representative of our club.
The Board of FC United advise ALL club volunteers not to bet on any football related activity as outlined in FA regulations, summarised here
All other members are not subject to the new betting rules. Separately we also sought clarification on football predictor games and were advised that such competitions count as betting under these regulations, so cannot be sanctioned by FC United. Therefore, volunteers are advised not to participate in football predictor games, including those run by other clubs. Football related raffles of pure chance, such as football name cards are still OK.