By Andrew Warshaw
February 13 – Rangers goalkeeper Steve Simonsen has been banned for two games, with one of them suspended, after being found guilty of betting on no fewer than 55 matches. The suspension is the latest blow for the beleaguered Scottish giants.
None of the games involved Simonsen’s financially-buffeted own club but the ban is the latest example of football’s authorities clamping down on players breaching gambling rules.
The former Everton and Stoke keeper was due to serve the one-match suspension in tonight’s crucial Scottish Championship match at home to play-off rivals Hibernian.
Simonsen was charged in January with the Scottish Football Association claiming the 35-year-old had placed 18 bets last season and another 37 this term.
SFA Disciplinary Rule 33 prohibits ‘players, coaches, club officials and referees in Scotland from betting on football anywhere in the world’.
The SFA has made it clear there is no suggestion of Simonsen placing bets on any matches he was involved in.
Simonsen has amassed over 400 appearances in his senior career and Rangers caretaker assistant manager Gordon Durie says the suspension will serve as a warning to other players.
“Everyone is told at the start of the season about betting. Hopefully this is a message to other players not to do it.”
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