Rugby's Eric Cantona

[ulster_jamesie]

oh, and no way were coins thrown... that is ridiculous. where did you get this wharfedale? :shock:

[WharfedaleTiger]

oh, and no way were coins thrown... that is ridiculous. where did you get this wharfedale? :shock:

Planet Rugby, the Guardien, BBC, Verious other sites. I have no doubt a lot of it is false, as there seem to have been so many contrasting statements about this incident, I very-much doubt that coins where thrown, but I wouldn't be suprised about sectarian remarks. I was just putting down what I'd heard.

Now, if all those things happened then I wouldn't balme him for wadeing in, but, I doubt they did.

[JohnB]

[quote="ulster_jamesie"]i urge you to follow the events on UAFC . wharfedale, have i not just said there were no :censored: sectarian remarks!?!?!?

even brennan has said this in his statement which even contradicts his uncle. (that's not to say he didn't lie elsewhere in his statement re: mother and beer throwing before)

i will state here unequivocally that the beer was thrown after the incident (not that i condone it) we have evidence to prove this, which will be released in due course.

could be libellous by the guardian me thinks.

Jamesie, speaking as a Leinster supporter all I can say is that he wasn't known as the Barnhall Bruiser for nothing! Brennan has always been a loose cannon. When he played for us he could always be relied upon to something dumb in front of the Ref and cough up free points for the opposition. Regardless of what may or may not have been said, what he did was disgraceful. If he had more than one lonely neuron in his head he should have called the Toulouse stewards over and asked them to remove any spectators chanting anything unacceptable. It's as simple as that. He's a professional rugby player. He ought to have more discipline and self control than he clearly does. Stade Toulousain's claim that this is a private matter between two individuals, besides being utterly incredible, will not hold water if Patrick Bamford brings a civil case against the Club and its agent, Mr. Brennan for assault.

As an aside, having sampled the delights of DeDanu last year after our match against Toulouse, I can confirm that it is a smelly, overpriced kip where one has to pay a small mortgage to buy a drink. The toilets, in particular, were absolutely disgusting and the whole place was generally dirty.

[Dave W]

made comments about his mum apparently....

http://tinyurl.com/2tefyj

[ulster_jamesie]

i'm afraid brennan is telling a few porkies in his account of things, but you'll have to rely on my word for that.

all i ask is that you remain objective about this and form your own opinion based on credible accounts and not just jump to conclusions based on hearsay, but the difference being i was there so its a first hand account albeit the account of an ulster fan)

i suspect this will all come out in the wash :roll:
the guardian amongst others seem to have got it spectcularly wrong today :(

[Dave W]

I must say, it seems as though Brennan is clutching at straws, some how trying to justify why he gave someone a pasting...

[Nabuk]

For what it's worth I don't care if the fans were shouting "Shoot the pope", "Kill all Catholics" or all claimed to have had carnal relations with his mother.

The point is VERBAL INTIMIDATION/ASSAULT does not excuse a PHYSICAL ASSAULT. Not in the UK and I would be amazed if it did in French law. At the very least he should get a "lifetime " ban from Rugby.

The man is a disgrace.

[Kinoulton]

As usual rugby supporters are quicker to round on the players than the paying public. Their is no precedence for this. [/b]

Totally agree. he should be treated just like you or I would for such an offence and not differently. People do NOT generally go to prison for a first offence like that. So why should he?

The imprisonment of Cantona was a total farce and a massive show of weakness by authorities who are impotent when dealing with REAL crowd violence so decided to take it out on a player on his very first offence.

[Dave W]

Why hasn't Brennan been arrested over this or has he?

[Iain]

As usual rugby supporters are quicker to round on the players than the paying public. Their is no precedence for this. [/b]

Totally agree. he should be treated just like you or I would for such an offence and not differently. People do NOT generally go to prison for a first offence like that. So why should he?

The imprisonment of Cantona was a total farce and a massive show of weakness by authorities who are impotent when dealing with REAL crowd violence so decided to take it out on a player on his very first offence.

As a point of order I would point out that Cantona, although originally sentenced to two weeks imprisonment, had his sentence changed to that of community service (it escapes me how much).

Cantona didn't actually cause much damage to the Palace fan (who claimed in court to have rushed down the stand to shout "off, off, off. Yes thats right Eric have an early shower". Hmmm....) and thus was, I believe charged with assault.

Difference here, if it is verified, is that the Ulster fan in question has been reported as saying he may have suffered a fractured skull. If French law is anything like the UK he could be looking at GBH, or at least ABH. It could suck to be Trevor Brennan at the minute.

[IsraeliTiger]

As usual rugby supporters are quicker to round on the players than the paying public. Their is no precedence for this. [/b]

Totally agree. he should be treated just like you or I would for such an offence and not differently. People do NOT generally go to prison for a first offence like that. So why should he?

Because he's a public figure, and because he was caught doing it on camera, there's no doubt at all that he did it. That should be enough to give him a short prison stint **in theory**.... in practice, he'll get community service and have to apologise to the fan involved I assume.

Forget police charges, I do however hope that he gets a lifetime ban from the sport, rugby doesn't need people like that tarnishing the good name it has.

[jackothelad]

As usual rugby supporters are quicker to round on the players than the paying public. Their is no precedence for this. Toulouse have come out this evening in support of Trevor Brennan, having conducted their own enquiry. Obvious you might think, but considering the manner in which Trev launched himself into the crowd, many sides would normally take a more hard-line stanch with their player.

This story has pretty much dominated the sports news over here today, because he's a former Irish international. The interesting thing is a member of the Ulster Supporter Club, who was there with her husband on Saturday, contacted an Irish radio station today and insisted that Brennan lashed out because (i) The quality of the beer in his pub is sh*t (ii) his mother was verbally abused (iii) sectarian remarks were made. It remains to be seen if this all happened.

The point is, everyone here was quick to jump on Trev's back, without the evidence. Players and Supporters alike have a duty to maintain the integrity of a game, so any severe punishment for Brennan should be coupled with a life time stadium ban for the fan in question

Trevor Brennan, in an interview reported in tonight's Belfast Telegraph admitted that there was no element of sectarianism in the sordid events of Sunday. No sectarian remarks were made. It seems to me to be equally wrong to find the unfortunate victim of a vile and vicious assault guilty when there is a plethora of evidence, including from nearby Toulouse fans and one BBC reporter, that there were only remarks that were less than complimentary to Brennan's Pub. Did Toulouse's inquiry cover evidence from the several hundred spectators with a ringside view of the events. I can tell you now they did not. Perhaps Lansdowne your prejudices are leaking out. it is always better to post when you have information rather than snide speculation. Perhaps you should be banned for life.

[Angelo]

Not anymore in a rugby game that. Please. i don't care about the reasons. I don't want see that anymore.

[tig1]

It pains me to say it, but the is plenty of evidence that standards of behaviour at rugby are in decline.

First i agree that Brennan should be dealt with appropriately. Its inexcusable.

BUT then we get fed this completely innocent portrait of the spectator. The kind of attitude you get at a soccer match when someone spends all match abusing a rival player, and then reporting him to the police the moment he blinks back. If your in the stadium, inebriated and abusing a player, whatever the context, then get the message loud and clear..go away and leave decent fans, women and children to watch and enjoy the match in peace.

It is the responsibility of all decent rugby fans to address these idiots. I sincerely hope, and believe, that if there had been one or a number of tigers fans abusing an oppostion player, regardless of the context, that a number of the supporters around them would have taken it upon themselves to address him or her. i look at the photos of the incident and there are women and chilrren surrounding the 'victim'...doesnt say a lot for the guy abusing a player in that environment.

[ulster_jamesie]

tig, when you've come off from our high horse did you actually listen to this? http://www.uafc.co.uk/duffy.mp3 it's my account of what happened. the first dude is brennan's uncle who hasn't done himself any favours in the press after this.

and this is alfie's account (to me) at the airport on the way home:

http://www.uafc.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4745

your comments paint me (and my fellow supporters) out to be one eyed, narrow minded bigots... but i can assure you wholeheartedly that nothing sectarian or abusive was said (except for light hearted banter about brennan's pub)

these past few days have upset me immensely. please give it up with the sanctimonous twaddle.

tig, i'm sorry but you have me raging to the point of boiling up inside. how dare you cast aspersions on us like that when you weren't even there... disgusting!