Arsenal forward Theo Walcott may have scored his 100th goal for the club as his side notched up a 2-0 FA Cup win at Sutton United on Tuesday morning, but it was the home side’s reserve goalkeeper Wayne Shaw who stole the show – without stepping foot on the pitch.
Sutton United’s main sponsor Sun Bets had offered odds of 8/1 for Shaw, who claims he is happy to be called the ‘Roly-Poly Goalie’, to eat a pie live on television, and sure enough once United had made three substitutions, the big man ensured the bookies would be paying out.
The betting agency claimed to have paid out “a five-figure sum” in the wake of the stunt.
And now Wayne Shaw will most likely face an FA investigation into a breach of its betting rules after the Sutton keeper admitted he knew a betting company was offering odds of 8-1 against him for eating the pie during Arsenal game.
The 126kg former ice-cream man regularly appeared in the media in the weeks leading up to the clash, becoming the face of the non-league side’s dream run to the last 16 of the historic tournament in spite of not playing a minute in the club’s dream Cup run.
“A few of the lads said to me earlier on: ‘What is going on with the 8-1 about eating a pie?’ I said: ‘I don’t know, I’ve eaten nothing all day, so I might give it a go later on,’” Shaw said. “Sun Bets had us at 8-1 to eat a pie. I thought I would give them a bit of banter and let’s do it. All the subs were on and we were 2-0 down.”
The FA’s rules on betting clearly say: “A participant shall not bet, either directly or indirectly, or instruct, permit, cause or enable any person to bet on (i) the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in, a football match or competition.”
Sutton, 17th in the fifth-tier, will bank about £700,000 pounds ($1.14 million) for a fairytale Cup run that included a famous victory over former FA Cup winners Leeds United in round four.
“It was a dream to watch my team play against Arsenal. The quality of the team they put out showed what’s at stake,” said Sutton manager Paul Doswell, who works for nothing and loaned the club £450,000 ($730,250) interest-free for their 3G pitch.