The former Wales attack coach, Rob Howley, has been banned from rugby union for 18 months for breaching betting rules – including placing some bets on his own team.
Howley, 48, was sent home from the Rugby World Cup in Japan days before Wales’ opening game after a bookmaker alerted the Welsh Rugby Union to a possible breach of betting rules.
After a three-month investigation a Welsh Rugby Union disciplinary panel has deemed that Howley’s actions should be punished. The ban is back-dated and half of the ban is suspended meaning that he will be able to coach again from 16 June.
The panel found that Howley had placed 363 bets in a 45-month period dating from November 2015. Some of those bets were on the Wales team that he was coaching.
Howley used his WRU mobile and email address to place bets and lost £4,000 amid personal bets. He is now seeing a psychologist in a bid to stop gambling.
World Rugby regulations state that players at all levels as well as agents, match officials, disciplinary personnel, coaching and backroom staff, owners and directors involved at the highest level are banned from betting on any rugby match.
World Rugby’s regulation 6.3.1 states: “No Connected Person shall, directly or indirectly, bet and/or attempt to bet on the outcome or any aspect of any Connected Event and/or receive and/or attempt to receive part or all of the proceeds of any such bet and/or any other benefit in relation to a bet.”
