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22 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 2 AUGUST 2017 Sport FOOTBALL FA won't take action over John Terry farewell which led to spot-fixing concerns THE Football Association has decided to take no further ac- tion against John Terry or Chelsea after investigating the circumstances of his substitu- tion in his final game at Stam- ford Bridge at the end of last season. Having worn the number 26 jersey during his 19-year ca- reer at the club, Terry left the field through a guard of honour formed by his team-mates after 26 minutes of the champions' 5-1 win over Sunderland. The FA's Integrity Depart- ment said it would investi- gate the substitution after it emerged that several punters had won thousands of pounds for betting on the exact time of Terry's substitution at odds of 100/1. Shortly before the game, the editor of a Chelsea fanzine had tweeted that Terry would be withdrawn after 26 minutes. However, it is understood the FA has now decided there is no case to answer as there is no evidence to suggest this was inside information intended for the purposes of betting and is therefore not a deliberate at- tempt at so-called spot-fixing. Proving such an offence is no- toriously difficult and it could also be argued that the tribute to Terry was not unprecedent- ed as Didier Drogba was car- ried off by his Chelsea team- mates during the first half of a Premier League game against Sunderland in 2015. In other integrity-related news, the FA is also expected to conduct more than 5,000 drug tests by the end of the 2017/18 season, which is up from 3,300 last season and double the amount conducted in 2015/16. The FA believes it spends more on anti-doping than any other sports governing body in the UK and more than any other national football asso- ciation. Last season, there were only two anti-doping rule vio- lations in English football, both for in-competition use of social drugs. As well as increasing its test- ing efforts, the FA is also close to announcing new guidelines for fining clubs for whereabouts failures. Last season, Bournemouth, Manchester City and Fleet- wood were fined for failing to keep up-to-date whereabouts information, which anti-doping officials need to be able to find athletes to do out-of-competi- tion testing. After three breaches of the rules within six months, Man- chester City were fined £35,000, which is understood to be the maximum sanction available under the current guidelines. That was relatively small sum was criticised by some anti- doping experts and athletes from other sports, prompting the FA to review the sanctions. The new Premier League sea- son will also see new crack- down on simulation or, as it is now known, successful decep- tion of a match official. When there is clear and over- whelming evidence of a player successfully tricking an offi- cial to make an incorrect deci- sion that results in a penalty, a red card or a yellow card that later leads to an opponent's dismissal, a three-strong panel will review the evidence inde- pendently. If they are unanimous that an offence has taken place, a charge will follow and the case will be fast-tracked, with of- fenders receiving a two-match ban. Scottish football has had a similar system for a number of seasons and the evidence from north of the border is that play- ers quickly accept their punish- ments and behaviour has im- proved. English crackdown on divers gets first airing in season's opener A new era in English football begins on Friday with a crackdown on players who cheat referees by diving to win a penalty or get an opponent sent off. Sunderland's opener in the second- tier Championship at home to Derby County will be the first game in which players can be retrospectively pun- ished with two-match bans if they are found guilty under a trial by video. Diving for penalties has been a grow- ing problem in the English game. Most clubs in the top two divisions were accused of it at some point last season, with Marcus Rashford of Man- chester United, Leroy Sane of Man- chester City and Harry Kane of Tot- tenham Hotspur coming under the spotlight on a single weekend. The crackdown, announced in May, is aimed at players who go unpunished during the match for actions that have a significant bearing on it. The Foot- ball Association will be able to charge them with "successful deception of a match official". Its implementation follows a year of feedback from players and officials and it is adapted from a similar regula- tion in force in Scotland. While controversies there are settled by a compliance officer, in England a three-person panel consisting of an ex-player, an ex-manager and an ex- referee will sit in judgement. All three must agree there is a "clear and overwhelming case" for a charge to be brought. If the player accepts a charge he will be given an immediate two-match ban. If not, the case will go before an FA independent regulatory commis- sion that deals with all disciplinary issues. Players proved to be the innocent victims of cheating will have red cards, although not yellow ones, rescinded. The crackdown is an extension of the FA's "not seen" measure, which led to retrospective bans for Tyron Mings and Zlatan Ibrahimovic for clashes that were not picked up by officials in last season's game between Bourne- mouth and Manchester United. Not everyone thinks the new meas- ure goes far enough, however. Former England manager Sam Al- lardyce criticised it for having no provision to remove cards for players wrongly accused of diving. He also wants greater use of in-game video technology of the kind used at this summer's Confederations Cup when six "game-changing decisions" were changed. World football body Fifa said the experiment had "really good results but many aspects should be improved".