Footballer slapped with biggest non-league fine in history after breaching FA rules

A non-league footballer has been slapped with a hefty fine usually reserved for Premier League stars, after confessing to placing nearly a thousand bets on football matches throughout his decade-long career. James Byrne, who proved adept at outsmarting the bookies, amassed almost £50,000 in winnings over the years and has now been ordered to pay a fine equivalent to his earnings.

The staggering fine of £48,388.66 is thought to be the largest ever imposed on a player in Step 4 of the English non-league pyramid system, rivalling those handed out in high-profile cases involving footballers caught gambling, such as England internationals Ivan Toney and Kieran Trippier.

However, while a fine in the tens of thousands may represent less than a week's wages for many Premier League stars, the £48,000 penalty for Portishead Town's 29-year-old midfielder equates to roughly 500 times his weekly pay for playing in the Southern League Division One South.

Upon learning that Byrne had won and spent the £48,000 over the ten years as he raked it in, the FA have proposed the option of a payment plan. If every penny he earns from playing football goes towards paying the fine, he'd need to continue playing at that level for another decade.

The FA has discovered that Byrne, a former player for various Step 4 teams across Bristol and Somerset after being let go from Exeter City's academy, is a maths and data enthusiast with a master's degree from the University of Bristol. He informed the FA that he works as a sports data consultant and semi-professional footballer, and had realised his understanding and use of maths and data in lower league football surpassed that of the bookmakers.

From the start of 2015 to the end of 2024, he placed a total of 992 bets on football matches.

His success was such that he ended up nearly £50,000 ahead of the bookies over the years, and he told the FA that often, the betting companies would close his account because he kept winning. He would open new accounts, and even place bets he knew were unlikely to win, just to give the impression that he wasn't a sports data genius who was fleecing the bookies.

After leaving Exeter, Byrne signed for Bridgwater Town, and since then has had a consistent career in the Southern League and at that level, playing for Paulton Rovers, Mangotsfield Town in Bristol, Larkhall Athletic in Bath and in 2023 was at Yate Town.

In August this year, he signed for Portishead Town, who have recently been promoted to the Southern League Division One South - which is at Step 4 of the non-league pyramid.

FA regulations forbid footballers from placing bets on football within this country - even when the wagers don't concern their own team or division.

The FA regulations cover every player from the Premier League down to Step 4, which sits four tiers beneath clubs like Bristol Rovers in League Two of the Football League.

Had Byrne dropped down a division to join a team at a lower tier, his gambling wouldn't have violated FA regulations.

During his time at Yate Town last season, the FA launched an investigation into him, and he fully assisted with the enquiry, submitting evidence to the written disciplinary hearing.

"He first really started to take an interest in betting at the end of 2016 when he realised that there were discrepancies in the pricing on football matches and he could monetise that," the FA report stated.

"He was in the Exeter City Academy between 2012 and 2014 and was told 'very very clearly' then that you cannot bet on your own club or competitions that your club is involved in.

"When he moved down into non-league he was provided with no education on betting, but he realised in 2017 that as a Step 4 player he was not allowed to bet on football. He knew that if he dropped down a level he could continue playing and betting on football but he did not want to do this as he wanted to play at the highest level possible," the report added.

"He believes his betting became a compulsion but he was just interested in the numbers and beating the bookmakers using the method he had developed. He explained that betting operators began to close his accounts and this was their recognition that he was profitable and good at what he was doing. Once one account was closed he would open up a new one elsewhere.

"He said that no-one else was involved with placing bets. He said he took a conscious view that it would be betting on a long-term basis, and he looked at leagues and matches all over the world based on the pricing that was being offered. He believed that in many leagues low down in the pyramid in different parts of the world he could obtain better information than those pricing the games and use that to factor in what the real price should be and then place his bets.

"He consciously placed bad bets to look more like a recreational gambler to try and keep his accounts open. It was impossible for him to bet now as his accounts had been closed. He described the FA case as 'the final nail in the coffin' and that it was not worth him betting anymore. He loves football and hopes to play until he is 40."

The FA panel chose not to impose a playing ban on James Byrne - in contrast to Toney, who was prohibited from turning out for Brentford for nearly an entire season.

Instead, he was instructed to reimburse the equivalent sum to the profits he accumulated over the years.

Byrne joined Portishead Town during the summer, with the club aware the FA investigation was nearing its conclusion and final verdict.

He came off the bench as a late substitute in Tuesday evening's 3-1 triumph for Portishead against Gloucestershire opponents Hartpury this week, and is seeking to cement his place in a Portishead Town squad chasing their third consecutive promotion, following successive elevations from the Western League.

The FA disciplinary committee statement revealed they considered Byrne's candid and forthright testimony regarding his actions, noting that whilst he never wagered on his own club, he had placed bets on other fixtures within the same competitions his teams participated in.

"While the Commission acknowledged that this wasn't a high-profile case and there was no suggestion or evidence of insider involvement, they expressed concern about the nature of the betting," the panel concluded.

"It was clear from the evidence that James Byrne was operating a sophisticated model which ultimately proved very profitable over a lengthy period of time in the full knowledge that what he was doing was in breach of the rules.

"It was clear from James Byrne's own admission that he was, throughout the ten seasons in question, operating a sophisticated process for betting on football. JB is clearly well educated and had consciously spent considerable time using his background in maths and data to develop a model of betting on football based on pricing that proved very profitable.

"From 2017 onwards he was fully aware that what he was doing was against the rules but yet he continued to do it. The Commission also noted the fact that JB admitted that he knew that if he wanted to carry on betting on football he would have needed to move to playing at a lower level.

"However, he makes clear that he did not want to do this. Rather than having a difficult decision to make as to whether to carry on playing at a high level and stop betting on football, or drop down a level so that he could continue to bet, JB consciously decided to continue betting on football whilst playing in Step 4 football, fully in the knowledge that it was in breach of rules.