ESSA (Sports Betting Integrity) has announced that it has entered into a partnership with the Rugby Football Union, the national governing body for rugby union in England.
In terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the parties, ESSA will be enabled to employ its monitoring and alert system in order to detect suspicious betting activities around RFU-governed events.
ESSA works with members worldwide to keep an eye on dubious patterns and has entered into similar partnerships with a number of other major sporting bodies.
Angus Bujalski, the Legal and Governance Director of RFU, commented that while no instances of betting related match-fixing have to date been identified in English rugby union, they need to continue to be vigilant.
Bujalski went on to say that they have already put in place a range of measures to raise awareness and to set clear rules to maintain the integrity of the game. He added that this MoU is another important milestone in that process and complements their existing work. Bujalski also said that English rugby has so far been free of betting related match-fixing and they are working hard with their partners such as ESSA to ensure that it remains that way.
The General Secretary of ESSA, Khalid Ali, added that no one can or should be complacent in the face of criminal elements intent on corrupting any sport to defraud betting companies.
Ali also said that the RFU is among a group of sports bodies that have made important and effective strides in this area and ESSA remains committed to working in partnership with those responsible organizations.
