The FA general secretary Alex Horne has promised to do everything in his power to help crack down on corruption in the English game.
In the wake of the National Crime Agency (NCA) arresting six people in an investigation relating to spot-fixing, Horne attended a meeting held by the culture minister Maria Miller, along with sports minister Helen Grant and major sports’ governing bodies and the gambling commission.
Horne said after the meeting on Tuesday: “The meeting was to get all parties together and to see how we could help each other.
“We all want to do all we can to protect the integrity of our sport”
Alex Horne FA general secretary
"It was a very positive meeting with the secretary of state, the minister for sport and the big sports representative around the table.
“It’s clear, in Britain we are very proud of the sport we play in this country and we all want to do all we can to protect the integrity of our sport.
“We’re never complacent on this issue and there’s a lot we can learn from other sports. Some of the education programmes that cricket have put in place are very far advanced and the integrity unit that the BHA have in place, so there are lots of learnings open to all sports.”
Horne believes vigilance will be key in clamping down on corruption in football, and has praised the NCA’s work in uncovering the alleged wrongdoing.
He said: “The intelligence that we have says that this isn’t a widespread issue at the moment, but again we don’t want to be complacent.
"We don’t want to see this in our sport, so we’re doing everything we can, looking at all measures we can across sport but also with the agencies.
“We welcome the recent impetus behind the NCA and this is an important body for all of us reminding people that these are criminal activities and that the criminal nature of these activities shouldn’t be underestimated. All power to the NCA.”
