Trevor Brennan does a Cantona!

[SlimShady]

yeah, probably a minority. i bet that idiot with a 20p is one of them too 

[sureyouwill]

A colleague who was at the match is just back in the office, he said he was sitting 10 rows behind where the incident occurred and heard only shouting about the crap beer in Brennan's pub, he said when he climbled into the stand, he thought he recognised someone and was going over to say hello!!! 

[Over the Bar]

Maybe, just maybe the fella in the Santa hat was shouting "HO-HO-HO!" and Trev thought he was insulting his mum!   

[realredhandfan]

Extreme reactions in fairness are generall provoked by extreme provocation.  Remmeber the infidels case for defence in the Cantona incident he shouted
'Off you go Cantona it looks like its an early shower for you'  wheras it was proven to be racist abuse.  I think we all know Metarazzi wasnt admiring Zidanes hairdo.  In the light of this I think we can safely assume that the fan was either racist or personal and he should be like Cantona / Zidane and obviously Brennan and face charges.  Lots of sports need to clean up their act.  The moral of the story is if you have any influence over the idiot beside ye tell him to shut the feck up.   

[Declan]

Ger Gilroy gave the Ulster fans an awful doing on Newstalk's morning show at about 7 am. He basically said they were the worst supporters for abuse he'd ever sat in with.

Heard that as well AZ. I was interested to hear that given the emphasis eveyone gives to the fairness and camaradarie amongst the rugger types

[Evil Genius]

Here is the Radio Interview given by the BBC reporter, Jeremy Fowler:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/ulster/6286055.stm

Some more eyewitness accounts taken from the Ulster fans website - www.uafc.co.uk, or from www.ulsterrugby.com, including some with names/contact details etc:

Posted by "Le Paul", resident in Vienne (France): Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:01 pm   

Just back home and exhausted from what has been a cracking weekend.

I cannot say with any authority, although I was 4 rows behind the incident, but there was a lot of banter directed towards Brennan which he had encouraged from the off. There were loads of comments about his bar (which to be honest are true it is a doss house) and then it happened. When he started to walk towards the supporters I said to the girl sitting next to me "brad pitt - he's going to whack someone". Over the wall he came looking like the psycho that he preoved once again he was, and all hell broke loose.

One of our party is a translator and she went to communicate between the stewards (who were at a loss as to what to do not surprisingly) and the supporters who were all very fired up and very upset. She also translated for the guy who was hit and the ambulance crew. She was certain that they had diagnosed a fracture to the upper jaw. I understand that there is a conection between Brennan and the guy who was hit. I'm not certain what but there seems to be some sort of history.

Either way it is the behaviour of an animal and not welcomed in rugby. There were nearly 100 kids who had put on a mini rugby show prior to the match and were in an enclosure watching this. Good God what signals does that send out. The atmosphere had been amongst the best I had ever known between the twp sets of supporters and the craic getween everyone was excellent. At that point we were right in there and had a serious chance of taking the win. This incident affected the team even before the Harrison incident.

Also should mention that everyone, French and Ulster and whoever else was there shouted things like scum and the French equivalent of AR*EHOL* at Brennan for quite a time. Many many Toulousian supporters came to us after the match apologising. They knew we were in the match well and that this changed all that.

Oh and one final point, Gareth Thomas was held back from the opposite end from jumping into the crowd to have a go at some or 1 supporter. That was after the Brennan incident.

Gotta say that the atmosphere after the Brennan incident disappeared for everyone and it was a shambles. Made worse by the fact that the Toulouse bench went ahead and put Brennan on. When he was si-binned they didnt let him go back on after the 10 mins were over.

(Later point by Le Paul):
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:15 am   
The water, and beer, were thrown at Brennan after he had whacked the supporter and was walking back down the touchline. I saw nothing thrown prior to the incident.

To ensure you understand - all drink containers (ie plastic cups and bottles) have ALL lids removed on entering the ground and by Toulousian staff. The worst he was hit by was thin streams of beer or water.

Account by "Flattop"
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:53 am   
Glad you got home safelly Jamesie, I thought I would wait until this morning before posting, you will see below I agree exactly with your account. Tony Spreadbury was on our flight and I can confirm from a conversation with him that no match officials were aware of the incident and that explains why TB was allowed to play in the first instance.

At the Stade Ernest Walloon the Toulouse support occupied both ends and one side of the stadium placing us Ulster fans in one corner directly in line with the try line. Shortly after the second half restart the TB came down to the in-goal area alone to begin his warm-up, he was laughing and encourgaging the crowd with gestures to sing-up and cheer, etc...the Ulster section began some friendly banter directed at him, you know the sort of usual "who are you, who are you", he was still laughing back toward us and appeared to get the joke, the atmosphere was superb and very friendly amongst both sets of fans who continued to try and outsing each other.

One lad about 8 rows behind me and about three or four places to my left (I was on the very front row behind a very low concrete wall) could be heard over the crowd directing a specific chant/volley at TB. The chant went along the lines of "your bar is sh**e", "your beer is flat", "its so bad it ruined my friday night", now as I was closer to TB than most I can say that he could likely only hear what I could hear, and that did not include any religious references or to his mother or any other member of his family...TB could hear this and came closer to the side of the pitch now looking directly at the lad, he repeated this with the crowd of course finding it all hillarious (TB was at this point staring straight at him and appeared to be smiling), then in a split second he took about two steps and was over the wall and moving up through the crowd of Ulster fans until he reached the fan in as I say about row 8 or 9, with one hand he pinned the guy to his seat and then unleashed his own volley of about 5 or 6 unanswered blows directly to the face. You have to imagine the shock of all around, we couldn't beleive what was happening, everyone assumed he was about to playfully hug the guy or maybe grab his silly hat or something along those lines, the assualt appeared to happen in slow motion and then quite quickly (unfortunately not quick enough for the Ulster lads jaw!) some crowd marshalls dragged the player out of the crowd and returned him to the pitch. I did not see the Alfie incident as i was now more concerned about what was happening behind me, and I can confirm it was beer and water after the incident because I ended up wearing most of it, but once again I agree with Jamesie as we talked to him at the airport later to find that he had over-reacted and once he saw a photo of the incident on a guys phone he was clearly shocked over what TB had actually done.

The crowd are now in disbelief with what we just witnessed, people are calling for the officials to get medical help and police, of course the game is still taking place during all of this with non of the match officials or players aware of the incident. The crowd continue to ask for action to be taken only then to see this player enter the field of play as he has been brought on as a substitute!

Security and marshalls then swamp the Ulster end of the crowd, who are angry, but be clear never likely to storm the pitch or cause trouble, and minutes after his introduction the player is involved in an on-field incident that I understand will see him sited but at the time earned him a yellow card. We all beleive no officials or coaches from Toulouse knew about this crowd incident when he was allowed onto the pitch the first time but by the end of his sin-bin if was clear that the Toulouse coach would not let the player return, and he was substituted and played no further part in the game...in many peoples view the last time he will play in any game!

The second half just didn't happen for the Ulster support or it appeared for the team, we felt that by half way through that half they sensed what was going on and the play was clearly affected ending in a dismal 28 -13 defeat. This incident will be likened to the infamous cantana affair but I can tell you this was more thought out and definately much more of a sustained assault...I am sure if it was capured on French TV it will play on what happened next programs for ever.

Some more from "Flattop" on the French Officials' lack of reaction at the time:
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:17 pm   
...the play was at the opposite end of the ground at the time which was obviously where all officials were looking and that of course how TB was able to be warming up in the in-goal area at the "ulster end". The incident was really quick and although the attention of everyone on the benches would have been quickly directed our way by then they could only have seen lots of people shouting angrily at each other without being able to determine what had just happened. TB's introduction to the field was pretty quick after that so I would like to think the Toulouse coach had already planned that move before the fracas and of course in hindsight I bet he wished he hadn't.

Comment by Red Hand PD:
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:59 pm   
Just to clarify, I was at the match, 4 or 5 seats across from where Paddy B was sitting and in the row in front of Jamsie. There were NO sectarian chants or comments, NOTHING was said about TB mother. I cannot think of anyway that what was said, as documented my original post, could be taken as sectarian of offensive towards TB's mother. The poor guy who was assaulted did not bring this upon himself. Look at the pics, Paddy B did not attempt to defend himself because he, nor those sitting in that part of the ground, expected this extremely violent attack from a so called professional. There is absoultely no excuse for TB actions. 

From "Missed Touch":
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:21 pm   
I am a regular reader of this forum though rarely post but how this incident is being reported really fecks me off so I thought I would add my tuppence worth!

I was also at the game and was situated two seats to the right of Red Hand PD and just in front of Jamesie (some may not believe me but I have the ticket to prove it). I actually sat beside Patrick Bamford for the first half and chatted to him. He was merry for sure but not in any kind of unpleasant way and was actually complimenting Toulouse on some of their play. He moved a couple of seats away at halftime and down one row to the seat at the steps in row 6.

I don't want to re-hash all that has been discussed other than to add my support to the original account provided (for clarity, RHPD is a friend, I don't know any other posters) and subsequently backed up by Jamesie, LePaul and others. Brennan received banter about his pub and the quality of his beer. There were no racist, sectarian or personal insults (unless insulting his bar is personal) as has been reported here and elsewhere. Others will wish to drag Ulster through the mud but I know what I heard and saw.

I will be contacting the branch in the morning to see if they want me to make a written statement which can be submitted to ERC on the matter. I did give my name and number to whoever was collecting them at the time. I'm not sure if it was someone from the branch or one of Patrick's mates.

I am still quite shocked by the incident - afterwards Ulster fans were just looking at each other in amazement. It was an unreal moment.

The only possible explanation is that TB thought he heard something sectarian or personal - it does seem strange that someone would lose the plot over what I heard, even if they are a known hothead. He will obviously give his side of the story in due course and may be doing so already through his Uncle. 

From "Wee Bunz":
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:06 pm 
For what it's worth, here's my account. I was sitting about 6 rows behind Jamsie.

TB came down to the Ulster corner to warm up for the second half, and there was a general "Wehhheyy Trevor" went up from the Ulster fans.

He knelt down to stretch out his hamstrings and got a few wolf whistles for his efforts. On starting to do his press ups we all started to count (a few counts behind what he had actually done)

He got up (to more wolf whistles) and he gestured to the crowd "bring it on" and at this stage he was smiling.

I did hear shouting at this stage and it was something about his pub (but a bit unclear what over the noise) I assumed someone commented on the smell of the toilets that was evident from the minute you walk through the door.

I did not hear anything regarding Trevor's mother, and as for the claims in the French press that the chants were sectarian, that in itself is as offensive as it is untrue.

There was nothing, and I mean NOTHING, that makes TB's actions "understandable in the circumstances" Everyone is totally shaken by it because it was bl**dy scary and I'm not easily spooked. I can only sympathise with the Toulousian family sat beside us with young children, who looked horrified at what was happening.

Personally, given the similarity in circumstances between both TB's and Alfi's outbursts, it would probably be useful to rule out information that would come from a blood test or two - but I doubt we'll ever see that.

I've never seen anything like it, but there's been a lot of root written about this on a variety of websites and french press that is only making matters worse.

BTW WB has some footage on video camera and having listened to it again there is still nothing to back up claims of secterian abuse or any derogatory remarks about his mother. 

Account by Martine (lives in Queaux, France), who was directly involved:
I was in row 13 and the young guy Patrick who Brennan punched the Living daylights out of was in row 7 or 8.

As i am from Newtownards but live in France it was me who took the chap to the Infirmeie with the doctor and the Officials to translate for him. HE DID NOT PROVOKE BRENNAN IN ANY WAY OTHER THAN NORMAL BANTER LIKE ALL THE SUPPORTERS.

HOWEVER because he was the tallest and wearing bright red Brennan decided he was the one going to get walloped.

And wallop him he did.
Absolutely disgusting makes me ashamed that he s a fellow countryman.

Young Patrick (who got punched) luckily did not want to press charges as he had a flight to catch back to London at 8pm but give the French Officials their dues they advised him to do so.

It really ruined the rest of the match for me as i didnt appreciate wearing somene elses blood for the remainder of the game.

I sincerely hope that the Officials invloved finish his game for good. After all Cantona was done for the exact same thing.

Martine Boyce
_________________
MARTINE BOYCE

From "Mr. Frosty"
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 3:42 pm   
Just logged in on a hunch as suspected there may be some of this chat flying around. For the record, I was sat in the seat diagonally behind the guy who was attacked by Brennan and he is a friend of mine. I read jonip's comment with interest, as I am a Catholic and I can categorically say there were no sectarian comments at all (at least not in that section, clearly I can't speak for the whole crowd). It seems to me to be a fairly cynical attempt to justify Brennan's behaviour, which was unjustifiable no matter what was said. There was also no mention made of his mother. The only things being sung were "You're bar is f**kin sh**e" and the point where Brennan snapped was after Paddy shouted that the bar was "below average" and that "O'Neill's is a better Irish bar than it".

Brennan actually had a smile on his face as he came over the barrier....we thought he was popping over for a bit of craic, hence Paddy made no attempt to defend himself - he didn't even realise it was coming.

Another fallacy being bandied around - there was beer and spit being thrown at him. Yes, this is true, but only after he had repeatedly thumped one of our guys in the face, NOT BEFORE. Everyone was having a great time up until this happened and all the banter was in good spirit.

I can honestly say that I have never witnessed a more violent act in my life and even the thought of it now makes me sick. This man is a thug and deserves to be never allowed on a rugby pitch for the rest of his life.

From Peter G Wilson:
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:30 pm   
Quick bit of background. I'm an Ulsterman living in London and supporting Wasps. I was in Toulouse to watch the Castres / Wasps match and the Ulster match. I was about 15 rows behind the incident and therefore couldn't hear everything but I know what I saw. Brennan assaulted a member of the crowd. Water and beer were thrown but only when Brennan was leaving the scene, not before. I spoke to many fans after the match (and well into the night) and everyone was pretty much saying the same thing. The thing that seems to have triggered Brennan was the shout that "his bar was ". That bit is actually true. The beer is expensive and bad. Up to that point everything was very friendly. There can be NO excuse for this behavour. The ERU will probably have no choice to bar him for life to discourage anything like this from happening again.

From "Young Man":
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:56 am   
Just recovered from the trip and now in Ivory tower in a position to comment..................it has now gone from religious hatred to racism, now to having called his mother a wh*re ...........how unbelievable, Brennan was warming up in front of the crowd some were shouting "who are yee" to which he was responding to the crowd and made humorous gestures back............he then walked up through the crowd ( i thought he was wanting a photo with Jamesie  ) He then viciously assaulted Patrick while sitting down and unable to defend himself,This was the actions of a coward or a person that did not have natural control of himself i wonder if there is more to that!!.............. after the assault he calmly walked away without any remorse what so ever , we spoke with many Toulouse fans after the match and they were disgusted with his behaviour. i spoke with Harrison after the game who stated that Brennan had tried to gouge his eyeballs out..............clearly a man that had lost the plot


There was also a very detailed account by "Jamesie" (sitting next to the guy who got hit, he's actually in some of the photos which weren't tightly cropped) which I can't find just now. He actually spoke to Alfie Thomas at the airport and testifies that Thomas was actually shocked at his own conduct and was apologetic etc. If/when I find it, I'll post it separately.

[Dinny Breen]

In breaking news Ulster Fans defend Ulster Fans 

[Josey Whales]

Don't know what you're trying to prove Evil Genius- it's hardly breaking news that Ulster rugby fans defend Ulster rugby fans. As far as I can see we still have two diametrically opposite views and are still no nearer to finding out what really happenned.

[An Lark]

Lads I think it is only natural to defend your own when you feel you are being hard done by. Why should Ulster fans be any different?

From reading the reports above and Brennan's explanation in the Irish Times it is quite possible that Trevor misheard what was said and reacted the way he did.

[Over the Bar]

Maybe Brennan had dyslexic vision and saw Santa as Satan? who knows!

[Evil Genius]

Don't know what you're trying to prove Evil Genius- it's hardly breaking news that Ulster rugby fans defend Ulster rugby fans. As far as I can see we still have two diametrically opposite views and are still no nearer to finding out what really happenned.

"Ulster rugby fans defend Ulster rugby fans", or "Innocent victims defend their reputation from unfair and uninformed vilification"?

The two need hardly be contradictory.

As for the general point I was making, it was that those Ulster fans who were not only at the game, but in very close vicinity to the incident and/or involved, are all producing a remarkably consistent account of what actually happened.
And considering those accounts mostly emerged very soon after the event, from a variety of people located in France, England and Ireland, and in several forums, it is hardly credible (imo) that they could have got together to "get their story straight".
Indeed, some of those accounts were first posts i.e from people who opened memberships expressly to say what they saw (i.e. not the "usual suspects")

In particular, there is one aspect of the affair which I, as a casual Ulster fan, would like to nail comprehensively. In the aftermath, there were accusations that there was a sectarian element to the provocation. Indeed, it appears that one of the sources for this may have been TB's uncle, who participated in an RTE Radio phone in.
This allegation was alluded to by several posters on this Board.
It is significant that in his first considered statement on the matter, TB himself dismissed this slur completely.

This leaves the remaining question as to whether the provocation was personal (mother) or mere banter (lousy bar). I must confess, I always thought that "Your mother's a whore" is an unusual chant to hear on any sports field, never mind a traditionally well-behaved arena like rugby. After all, it hardly scans like "The Referee's a w**ker" etc.
And by looking at the photos, the people immediately next to Bamford included not only the middle-aged dark-haired woman (and husband?), but also on his left, a young blonde girl (in her 20's?), cropped from some photos. These simply do not look to be the sort who would tolerate prolonged baiting of the sort claimed by TB.

Which has me leaning towards the conclusion that TB, perhaps fearing for his career and livelihood, is exagerrating, even fabricating, his account. After all, if a 6' 5", 16 stone athlete with a previous well-established reputation for violence would repeatedly pummel someone sitting down and therefore unable to defend himself, then perhaps he might not be averse to lying about it, either?

[sureyouwill]

And by looking at the photos, the people immediately next to Bamford included not only the middle-aged dark-haired woman (and husband?), but also on his left, a young blonde girl (in her 20's?), cropped from some photos. These simply do not look to be the sort who would tolerate prolonged baiting of the sort claimed by TB.

And what exactly would you expect them to do if such verbal's had taken place?

[Josey Whales]

"And by looking at the photos, the people immediately next to Bamford included not only the middle-aged dark-haired woman (and husband?), but also on his left, a young blonde girl (in her 20's?), cropped from some photos. These simply do not look to be the sort who would tolerate prolonged baiting of the sort claimed by TB."

It gets better - keep them coming- i had to read the above a couple of times just to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving. Like are you having a laugh? Hilarious.

[Evil Genius]

And by looking at the photos, the people immediately next to Bamford included not only the middle-aged dark-haired woman (and husband?), but also on his left, a young blonde girl (in her 20's?), cropped from some photos. These simply do not look to be the sort who would tolerate prolonged baiting of the sort claimed by TB.

And what exactly would you expect them to do if such verbal's had taken place?

From my experience of rugby crowds generally (and Ulster crowds specifically) I would expect them to have remonstrated with the offender in no uncertain terms. As such, whilst one cannot easily censor an isolated or sporadic comment, I would expect those people effectively to have prevented it becoming prolonged and intesnse, which is what TB appears to be claiming.

But even if you don't accept that opinion, I'll tell you what I wouldn't expect them to do and that is unanimously to lie or deny that such behaviour as TB claims occurred. Not only would I expect that many would have been too ashamed to say anything in the aftermath, or couched their comment in ambiguous terms, but I have no doubt many others of them would have subsequently spoken out unequivocably to condemn the culprit, had he behaved as alleged.

[Carmen Stateside]

Not only would I expect that many would have been too ashamed to say anything in the aftermath, or couched their comment in ambiguous terms, but I have no doubt many others of them would have subsequently spoken out unequivocably to condemn the culprit, had he behaved as alleged

Just like their buddys in the RUC!!!!!