When Your Teammate Betrays You!
I do not enjoy betting on football matches due to their unpredictability.
We’re dealing with human beings here. While you hope for their professionalism every time they step onto the pitch, what if they can’t deliver? What if they carry serious baggage into the match — like arguing with their partner or dealing with a headache, stomach ache, cough, or a bad leg, Mum upset them, and so on.
You see why my paranoia doesn’t allow me to bet!
My football matches
When I played football, I had to block out all the noise from my life leading up to that match. Sometimes, I wasn’t mentally or physically up for the game. I’d give it my best, but if I wasn’t feeling on top of it, I did what I could.
Additionally, the crowd could be annoying. There were times I felt like climbing into the stands and confronting the person shouting insults at me, but I don’t condone violence!
Anyway, my games weren’t for big money; they were mostly for non-premiership sides. Thus, there wasn’t much to lose except trophies.
But I wonder if I would have bet on matches if money were involved.
Maybe if I knew we were all desperate for money, would I bet against my team? I mean, it is illogical — but you know things happen, and a mans got to do what a mans got to do!
Read more from The LARO
Teammates Want You to Lose!
This scenario occurs more often than you might think in football games. Two players in the English Premier League were banned from playing for 18 months and 10 months, respectively.
One of them bet against his team losing 13 times. The other player placed numerous bets against different teams and introduced other players to an illegal betting platform.
Ivan Toney received an eight-month ban for betting on his team’s matches, backing his club to lose 13 times. He admitted to 232 breaches of gambling rules, including betting on his performance and using third parties to place bets.
Sandro Tonali, the Newcastle United midfielder, was given a 10-month ban for betting on matches in Italy. He admitted to serious breaches of the Italian Football Association’s rules on betting, involving bets on his team’s matches, including betting on his club to lose.
Both players claimed addiction and received reduced sentences. But could you trust these men again as teammates? In any team sport, you need to believe that your teammates have faith in you, not betting against you to lose!
So…
I asked myself if I’d want to play on the same team as someone who wanted me to lose. No, I wouldn’t.
You don’t have to like someone to work with them. But it helps if you all desire the same outcome.
Thanks For Reading
©The LARO. All rights reserved
