Incident and Retirement
Brennan announced his retirement on 3 March 2007, after an incident during a Toulouse v Ulster match on 21 January 2007. Brennan jumped into a section of the crowd housing Ulster supporters at the Stade Ernest Wallon and repeatedly struck Ulster fan Patrick Bamford. Trevor alleged afterwards that abuse towards his mother triggered his reaction. His uncle took this further alleging sectarian abuse had taken place a claim initially supported by the club before swiftly being retracted. In their investigation of the incident European Rugby found no such abuse took place. They found that Brennan was being baited over the standard of the bar he co-owns in Toulouse.
For this attack, he was fined £17,000, ordered to pay £3,000 compensation to Bamford and was banned for life from playing rugby.
An appeal of this decision was heard in June 2007, before an ERC-appointed, independent appeals committee, where the ban was reduced to a 5-year suspension. It was held that the life ban was 'disproportionate' to the offence. Bamford's recollection of events were recorded in the Independent Appeal Committee Decision's statement
Read more about this topic: Trevor Brennan
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