Former Lincoln City defender Bradley Wood was banned for six years and fined 3,275 pounds by an English FA tribunal on Thursday after being found guilty of match-fixing and betting offences.
The player was accused of getting himself booked on purpose in two English FA Cup matches in January and February 2017 to “influence a football betting market”.
Wood had denied deliberately seeking out yellow cards in the games against Ipswich Town, where he committed a 90th-minute professional foul, and Burnley where he was involved in an altercation.
Seven people had bet on Wood being cautioned, none of whom had previously bet on such a thing, according to the FA and betting companies.
The bets were also “atypical in the context of the caution betting market” and the potential winnings, which were not all paid out, in the region of 10,000 pounds.
“The betting evidence and the evidence of Mr Wood’s association with those placing the bets is compelling,” the tribunal said.
It ruled, however, that Wood’s conduct had not constituted “match-fixing at its most serious” and there were mitigating factors which meant a lifetime ban would have been disproportionate.
Woods was banned for five years for the match-fixing offences and a further year for 23 other charges of betting on the outcome of matches.
Lincoln are in the fourth tier of English football after winning promotion back to the league at the end of last season when they also reached the FA Cup quarter-finals. (Reuters/NAN)
