Punters should not be punished for seeking out best prices

Responsible Gambling Week took place recently and it is hoped its benefits to punters with problems will be felt for many years to come.

However, amid the sensible messages and various initiatives that took place during the week, it struck me that one element of responsible gambling has been overlooked by the operators who supported the venture.

One important way of betting responsibly in my eyes is not to lose money unnecessarily through a failure to research your bets thoroughly. In other words, don’t take 7-1 if, with a brief period of internet activity, you discover 8-1 is out there.

That, few could dispute, would be irresponsible gambling. But, even though bookmakers assist in making it easy to identify the best price by allowing their odds to appear on comparison sites, they take a dim view of some of their customers trying to bet only on the best available odds.

With margins so low, the distinction between a black-type hunter and an arber (someone who guarantees a small profit by betting when the odds are in his or her favour) is blurred and this appears, according to increasing anecdotal evidence, to be causing more bet restrictions and account closures than ever before.

I recently got chatting to a nice old guy who bets on racing and did not appear to be lying when he said he mostly stakes tenners and twenties. He claimed he had had a number of accounts restricted to the point whereby they may as well be closed.

While there was a fair bit of common sense in his studying techniques, he did not appear to have discovered a suite of failsafe ways of beating the book, but he admitted he generally sought the best available price.

I have no sympathy with arbers who get heavily restricted, and professional punters cannot expect an armchair ride to multi-millionaire status.

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But small-staking recreational punters really shouldn’t have their hobby ruined like this just because they look like they are reasonably clued-up and do not have a raging desire to click the casino button on the website, which is something I for one would consider to be a lot less responsible than trying to access the best possible odds.

Rooney's false farewell damages England's integrity

The third and, thankfully, last of the three unwanted interruptions to the domestic football season until March, is upon us and it features one of the most ill-conceived stunts in the history of English football.

Gifting Wayne Rooney a final cap against the United States as some sort of thank-you for what he has done for the Three Lions is a ridiculous idea for so many reasons.

Top of that list is the way it has instantly and significantly devalued England caps. For the first time the precious notion that representing your country is the ultimate manifestation of a meritocracy has been washed away on a wave of misplaced sentiment.

Rooney does not need this or indeed deserve it. Yes, he has been a fine player for his country down the years, something only a simpleton would deny.

But the very fact he has embraced this idea rather than issue a firm but polite thanks but no thanks is disappointing. He should know as well as anyone that caps are supposed to be earned, not handed out like a sticker at the end of a child’s dental check-up.

Clearly, it would be virtually impossible to say Rooney deserves to play at Wembley based on current form so it is simply wrong that he will be doing just that.

By all means honour the striker by making him guest of honour, allowing him to lead the teams out, write something nice in the programme and whatever else, but actually letting him play is a joke, and the argument that the evening will raise lots of money for his charity holds no validity, either.

I’m sure there would be people of immense wealth that are in their seventies and utterly hopeless at football who would love to pay £10 million to charity for the chance to play for England but that would be deemed unacceptable and so should Rooney’s appearance.

The integrity of international football has been harmed considerably by this and it is hard to believe Gareth Southgate, who pledged there would be no easy caps, is agreeing to this nonsense.

Rooney has insisted he would not have gone along with it had it meant breaking Peter Shilton’s record, but his undeserved 120th appearance for his country could end up denying someone that record, or indeed his own scoring record in years to come for all anyone knows.

Sporting careers, just like life itself, don’t always have the ending we may choose. Injury, loss of form, being out of favour with the boss and opting to retire in order to prolong a lucrative club career are the common causes of players no longer representing their countries. That’s the way it goes and it is right that there should be no structure or fanfare to the natural evolution of a national squad.

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Creating this artificial farewell for Rooney is pointless, especially as he was the one who chose to stop being considered for selection a couple of years ago, and it can’t even have been dreamed up to boost the crowd given how many fans mystifyingly turn up for these inconsequential fixtures.

He has not merited a place in the squad for a long time, and just one of his 53 England goals came in a World Cup finals so if Thursday’s game has any purpose, which is debatable, it surely lies in building for the future rather than reflecting on the past.

I would actually rather they gave a fine old stalwart such as Glenn Murray a special moment by awarding him a cap to treasure for a lifetime, but he would probably take the view that unless he was being picked on merit he would not want to feel patronised in such a way.

The Three Lions’ march to the World Cup semi-finals restored the national team’s reputation considerably, but this stupid caper at Wembley will represent a major backward step and make every England cap that is awarded in future just that little bit less precious.

Officials must ensure golfers stick to the rules

Star of the week is Irish golfer Shane Lowry, who called out his cheating playing partner Dylan Frittelli during the third round of the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa last week.

Frittelli had shoved his ball into a bush and had a terrible lie, but rather than accept he was in a pickle he attempted, successfully as it sickeningly transpired, to find a way of making his recovery shot easier.

A nearby sprinkler head was in no conceivable way impeding his path to the hole but he claimed to a rules official it was affecting his swing.

Lowry walked across and made it clear he believed there was no way he had any grounds for a free drop, but the spineless official granted him one, a woeful decision even though the South African still went on to make a double-bogey seven.

Officials must stand firm in these situations because too often we see players make what look like outrageous pleas for relief only to be allowed a drop. This has the potential to cost other players valuable prize-money and completely ridicules the notion that golf has a rulebook that is robust enough to allow self-policing by players.

Scudamore's success warrants reward

Whether it is genuine outrage or an attempt by the papers to stir up anger, it seems not everyone approves of the plan to get each of the 20 Premier League clubs to cough up £250,000 to create a £5 million leaving present for outgoing Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore.

Fair enough, the man was on a basic annual salary of around £900,000, which soared well into seven figures with bonuses and add-ons, but if anyone merits that kind of pay packet (extremely questionable) based on how successfully they have done their job it is surely Scudamore, who has skilfully driven up the value of Premier League football to the extent the league received more than £5 billion for its latest TV deal.

When you think of fairly moderate players on upwards of 60 grand a week and agents getting enormous sums just for helping a player sign for a new club it makes the Scudamore leaving present seem justifiable.

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