According to ESPN Scrum, Steph Brennan, the former physiotherapist with London’s Harlequins rugby team who was an integral part of the team’s “Bloodgate” scandal, is appealing his ban from rugby, which turned into being disbarred in September.  He’ll be appearing before the High Court in London on Tuesday to appeal his disbarment from rugby. If his appeal succeeds he might be able to find a team to finally take him in; if he fails, this will probably be the end of his career. 

This is quite the downfall from someone who was on the cusp of working with the English National Team until the incident in question.

For those who are unfamiliar with the event – Harlequins’ Welsh wing Tom Williams used fake blood capsules to exit the field during a 2009 match with Leinster so Harlequins could bring kicking specialist Nick Evans (who was already disallowed from returning to the match) back onto the field.

Previous Bloodgate stories can be seen here and here.

Brennan was responsible for providing the fake blood capsules and helped facilitate the fake cut to Williams’ lip by former team doctor Wendy Chapman.  According to the investigation into “Bloodgate” Brennan had admitted to faking blood injuries with Harlequins five times.

While everyone should have the opportunity to work at the job they love, they have to realize the responsibility that comes with that opportunity. Brennan lost this opportunity because of his stupidity and willingness to set his ethics to his profession aside, and he needs to ride the pine for a few more years before he’s given another opportunity.  Hopefully the High Court will see the wisdom in this and not cave.