LONDON – The English Football Association has banned a player for influencing a betting market when he ate a meat pie during his team’s landmark FA Cup game against Arsenal.
A newspaper’s betting company, which sponsored Sutton United, had 8-1 odds that Sutton’s overweight reserve goalkeeper Wayne Shaw would eat a pie during February’s globally-televised game at the south London club.
After Sutton used all of its substitutions and there was no chance Shaw would appear in the 2-0 loss to Arsenal, he munched on the pie while sitting on the bench.
The FA case ended at hearing Wednesday when Shaw was fined 375 pounds ($490) and banned from soccer for two months after he was found guilty of having "intentionally influenced a football betting market."
Shaw quit Sutton after the game.
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