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Football Association of Wales Kick Off National Integrity Tour

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Football Association of Wales Kick Off National Integrity Tour PRESS RELEASE 11 November 2014, Cardiff FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF WALES KICK OFF NATIONAL INTEGRITY TOUR The Football Association of Wales (FAW) today underlined its commitment to the integrity of football in Wales by formally launching its Integrity Tour to combat the threat of match fixing in Welsh Domestic Football. At the commencement of the 2013/2014 season, the FAW used two integrity experts to undertake a comprehensive risk assessment of Welsh football and as a result we know that the threat to the game here in Wales is significant. It was discovered that an average of £575,000 is bet on the WPL each match, each week, with £75 million bet on average every year. The Tour will take in all 12 clubs of the Corbett Sports Welsh Premier League (WPL) this season, delivering a unique and tailored education workshop and e-learning tool to the senior team and youth teams of each club, as well as Club Officials and the WPL’s match officials. Second Tier Clubs in the Nathaniel Cars Welsh Football League Division One and Huws Gray Alliance League will receive workshops throughout the 2015/2016 season during the second year of the Integrity Tour. As part of The FAW’s commitment, each participant, whether a member of a WPL club’s senior team or youth team, will have to attend a fully interactive educational workshop, informed by the market-leading experience and knowledge of Sportradar Security Services. Then, each participant will go through a mandatory e-learning tutorial that will reinforce all the key aspects of the workshop. At the end, each participant will need to complete an online assessment that evaluates and reinforces their understanding of all they have learnt. FAW CEO Jonathan Ford said: “During the 2013/2014 season, the FAW undertook a full risk assessment of Welsh football with the assistance of two highly regarded integrity experts. As a result, the FAW has been proactive by introducing new Betting, Integrity and Match Fixing Rules that came into effect from 1 August 2014 to help protect Welsh football. Following this, every player in Wales signed up to the new Rules when registering with their clubs. However, the FAW also saw the importance of educating all those involved in the game about the potential threat and consequences and so we partnered with Sportradar, who are world leaders in this area, to assist us in delivering our FAW Integrity Tour.” Speaking about the Tour, WPL Secretary Gwyn Derfel continued: “This Tour has been the product of a positive and focused collaboration between the WPL, The FAW and Sportradar and I am delighted to see the Tour now underway. We at the WPL are absolutely focused on ensuring that our league is honest, competitive and exciting and we will not compromise: our players and our fans rely on that.” Sportradar Director of Integrity David Anderson added his reflections: “Working with the FAW team has been fantastic and they completely grasped our focus on spreading the lessons to senior and youth, ensuring completions of the whole course and maximising participant understanding. At Sportradar, we want to go further than posters, pamphlets and lectures. We have developed our Fraud Prevention Services so that stakeholders can feel confident that the lessons are learnt and the messages have hit home. In the FAW, we have found the perfect partner, who shares our philosophy and objectives. We look forward to completing this Tour and hopefully rolling it out to more clubs in the coming seasons.” -END- NOTES TO EDITORS The FAW Integrity Tour began on 26th October at Newtown FC. A video feature of this event can be found here: http://youtu.be/hXvo5h-zIag If you require further supporting media please contact Peter Barnes: [email protected] ABOUT THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF WALES The Football Association of Wales is the third oldest association in the world, having come into existence in 1876. The association has governed football in Wales continually since that date. The FAW is a member of FIFA (affiliated since 1910) and UEFA (affiliated since 1954) and is one of the five associations (together with FIFA, The FA, SFA and IFA) that make up the International Football Association Board, the guardians of the "Laws of the Game". For more information about the FAW, please visit: http://www.faw.org.uk/ ABOUT SPORTRADAR SECURITY SERVICES Sportradar is a global leader in understanding and leveraging the power of sports data and digital content for its clients around the world. The company’s Security Services operation provides the Fraud Detection System (FDS) to several federations, including the AFC, CONCACAF and UEFA. This unique system allows the Security Services team to monitor betting behaviour and patterns worldwide and to identify suspicious activities. Those findings prove invaluable for sports federations and law enforcement agencies that are looking to pinpoint match-fixers. The Security Services also include the Fraud Prevention Service (FPS) through which Sportradar offers education tools and services that have been delivered to leagues and clubs around the world. These have been show to increase awareness of illegal betting and match-fixing among those involved in sport. More than 600 businesses in over 80 countries rely on Sportradar’s data depth and quality services in their daily business. Headquartered in Switzerland, Sportradar has offices in more than 25 locations around the world and employs over 750 highly experienced staff worldwide. For more information about Sportradar, please visit: www.sportradar.com. For further press enquiries: Rob Dowling Alex Inglot Integrity Manager Head of Communications Football Association of Wales Sportradar AG P: +44 292 043 58 30 P: +44 203 695 22 14 E-Mail: [email protected] Email: [email protected] .
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