CONTROVERSIAL St Helens star Sean Long has clarified his recent remarks about betting in rugby league.

Long was warned he could face a possible misconduct charge if he knew of players gambling on matches but did not give their names.

The 33-year-old, who was banned for three months in 2004 after backing his own side to lose, reawakened the betting issue in his newly-published autobiography, which was serialised by a newspaper last week.

But Long said: “In the past two weeks I have been asked to do several media interviews in connection with the release of my autobiography.

“I believe that some of my comments in these interviews have been misunderstood and misrepresented and I would like to set the record straight.

“I want to make it clear that I have never bet on rugby league since the well-publicised episode in 2004.

“Once I found out that it was against the rules of the sport, I did not do it again.

“During the recent media interviews I was asked many questions about this issue and I simply said that I guessed it may still go on, but I did also stress that I have not witnessed any other rugby league player placing a bet on the sport.”