Tony Kay
Encyclopedia
Anthony Herbert Kay is a former English
footballer who became notorious after being banned from the professional game for life following the British betting scandal of 1964
.
Born in Sheffield
, Kay played for Sheffield Wednesday
before becoming Britain's most expensive footballer when transfer
red to Everton
for £60,000 in 1962. Kay was capped once for England
, scoring a goal in his debut match against Switzerland which England won by 8 goals to 1 in Basle.
in December 1962, signed by his former manager Harry Catterick
, and soon became the team captain. Everton were a work in progress under the ownership of the Littlewoods
owner Sir John Moores and had earned the tag "The Mersey Millionaires". Kay was an important part of Catterick's evolving Everton side and the following May they were crowned League Champions for the first time since 1938–39 season.
and Peter Swan, through the instigation of former Everton player Jimmy Gauld
, had bet on their side to lose a match in December 1962 against Ipswich Town. The three were convicted of conspiracy to defraud
, Kay on the basis of a taped
conversation, one of the first times such evidence
was admitted in an English court. Kay was fined £150 and sentence
d to four months imprisonment
. On his release, after serving ten weeks, he was banned from football for life by the Football Association
though the ban was rescinded seven years later. Kay claims subsequently to have been summoned to London
to explain the use of taped evidence to the Kray twins
.
, avoiding arrest
for selling a counterfeit
diamond
. On his return to the UK Kay was fined £400 and in later years he worked as a groundsman in south east London.
Upon retirement, Kay returned to the North West to settle back on Merseyside. A few months short of 40 years since his transfer from Sheffield Wednesday in 1962, Tony Kay was once again present on the pitch at Goodison Park
among a group of 100 Everton Legends, as the club celebrated a record 100 seasons of top flight football at the start of the 2002–03 campaign.
in the 1997 TV film The Fix
, directed by Paul Greengrass
, which tells the story of the scandal which ended his career. The story was also dramatised in the November 2009 BBC Radio 4
play The Tony Kay Scandal by Michael McLean, which included excerpts from a 2009 interview with Kay.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
footballer who became notorious after being banned from the professional game for life following the British betting scandal of 1964
British betting scandal of 1964
The British betting scandal of 1964 was a scandal in English association football in which eight professional players were jailed for offences arising from match fixing....
.
Born in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, Kay played for Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
before becoming Britain's most expensive footballer when transfer
Transfer (football)
In professional association football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player under contract moves between professional clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one professional association football club to another. In general, the players can only be...
red to Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
for £60,000 in 1962. Kay was capped once for England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
, scoring a goal in his debut match against Switzerland which England won by 8 goals to 1 in Basle.
Playing career
A left-sided wing-half, Kay started his career with hometown club Sheffield Wednesday. He transferred to EvertonEverton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
in December 1962, signed by his former manager Harry Catterick
Harry Catterick
Harry Catterick was an English football player and manager. As a player Catterick played for Everton and Crewe Alexandra, in a career that was interrupted by World War II, but he is most notable as a manager...
, and soon became the team captain. Everton were a work in progress under the ownership of the Littlewoods
Littlewoods
Littlewoods is the name of a former retail and gambling company founded in Liverpool, Merseyside, England by John Moores in 1923.It started as a shopping catalogue company, processing orders by post in the early 1970s. In 1981, it expanded to a call centre, processing orders via telephone. At its...
owner Sir John Moores and had earned the tag "The Mersey Millionaires". Kay was an important part of Catterick's evolving Everton side and the following May they were crowned League Champions for the first time since 1938–39 season.
Conviction for fraud
In 1964, the Sunday People newspaper broke the story that Kay, along with fellow Sheffield Wednesday players David LayneDavid Layne
David "Bronco" Layne is a former English footballer most famous for playing for Sheffield Wednesday and his involvement in the British betting scandal of 1964....
and Peter Swan, through the instigation of former Everton player Jimmy Gauld
Jimmy Gauld
James "Jimmy" Gauld is a former Scottish footballer who became notorious for being convicted of instigating the British betting scandal of 1964....
, had bet on their side to lose a match in December 1962 against Ipswich Town. The three were convicted of conspiracy to defraud
Conspiracy to defraud
Conspiracy to defraud is an offence under the common law of England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-England and Wales:The standard definition of a conspiracy to defraud was provided by Lord Dilhorne in Scott v Metropolitan Police Commissioner, when he said that Conspiracy to defraud therefore...
, Kay on the basis of a taped
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
conversation, one of the first times such evidence
Evidence (law)
The law of evidence encompasses the rules and legal principles that govern the proof of facts in a legal proceeding. These rules determine what evidence can be considered by the trier of fact in reaching its decision and, sometimes, the weight that may be given to that evidence...
was admitted in an English court. Kay was fined £150 and sentence
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...
d to four months imprisonment
Imprisonment
Imprisonment is a legal term.The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co....
. On his release, after serving ten weeks, he was banned from football for life by the Football Association
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
though the ban was rescinded seven years later. Kay claims subsequently to have been summoned to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to explain the use of taped evidence to the Kray twins
Kray twins
Reginald "Reggie" Kray and his twin brother Ronald "Ronnie" Kray were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in London's East End during the 1950s and 1960s...
.
Post-football life
Kay was 28 years old when released from prison. He never returned to the professional game, but did play some amateur football. He later spent twelve years in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, avoiding arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
for selling a counterfeit
Counterfeit
To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
. On his return to the UK Kay was fined £400 and in later years he worked as a groundsman in south east London.
Upon retirement, Kay returned to the North West to settle back on Merseyside. A few months short of 40 years since his transfer from Sheffield Wednesday in 1962, Tony Kay was once again present on the pitch at Goodison Park
Goodison Park
Goodison Park is a football stadium located in Walton, Liverpool, England. The stadium has been home to Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892 and is one of the world's first purpose-built football grounds...
among a group of 100 Everton Legends, as the club celebrated a record 100 seasons of top flight football at the start of the 2002–03 campaign.
Portrayals
Tony Kay is portrayed by Jason IsaacsJason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs is an English actor born in Liverpool, who is best known for his performance as the villain Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, the brutal Colonel William Tavington in The Patriot and as lifelong criminal Michael Caffee in the internationally broadcast American television series...
in the 1997 TV film The Fix
The Fix (TV film)
The Fix is a 1997 television film first shown on BBC One and directed by Paul Greengrass.It tells the story of the British betting scandal of 1964, following which a number of British professional footballers were jailed and banned from football for life for conspiring to fix the results of...
, directed by Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass is an English film director, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of real-life events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras.-Life and career:...
, which tells the story of the scandal which ended his career. The story was also dramatised in the November 2009 BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
play The Tony Kay Scandal by Michael McLean, which included excerpts from a 2009 interview with Kay.
External links
- Triumph and despair, Kay's own account of the match fixing incident, The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, July 4, 2004 - Sheffield Wednesday playing record
- Discussion of Kay's Everton career on Toffeeweb.com