Former Harlequins physiotherapist Steph Brennan was struck off on Tuesday for his role in rugby union’s “Bloodgate” fake injury scandal.
The decision, made by the Health Professions Council (HPC) conduct and competence committee following a two-day hearing in London, effectively ended Brennan’s professional career.
Brennan had accepted all but one of the allegations against him, denying that “by reason of your misconduct, your fitness to practice is impaired.”
Brennan is currently serving a two-year suspension from rugby and for the past 12 months has been working in private practice. He admitted to five instances — including Bloodgate — of faking blood injuries.
In April last year, Brennan was involved in the deception that saw Harlequins wing Tom Williams go off the field with a fake blood injury. Williams’ supposed injury meant a specialist goal-kicker was able to come on to the pitch for Harlequins in the dying minutes of last year’s European Cup quarter-final tie against Irish side Leinster, who held on to win 6-5.
Harlequins coach Dean Richards was subsequently banned from all involvement in rugby for three years.
The written HPC panel verdict said: “The behavior indulged in by Mr Brennan was dishonest, premeditated and continued over a considerable period of time.”
As for striking off Brennan, the panel added this was “necessary for the public and other professionals to understand that behavior of this sort is unacceptable.”
Brennan, who admitted purchasing the fake blood capsules and passing one to Williams, said on Monday: “I followed orders and wish I hadn’t. Yes, I went on to the pitch with the intention of deceiving the referee.”
“I wish I’d stood up to Dean Richards. I regret it every day. I was told this is what I had to do — it was a split-second decision made during a match that had massive pressure on it,” he said. “Giving a blood capsule to Tom Williams had nothing to do with physiotherapy, it was the stupid act of cheating. [After the incident] I had to walk away from my private clinic at Harlequins. I’ve been so ashamed of everything that’s happened that I couldn’t face the fans.”
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