Barnet’s manager, Dean Brennan, has been given a nine-match touchline ban by the Football Association after being found guilty of making sexist comments to the referee Kirsty Dowle during a League Two game this season.
It was revealed in December that Brennan had been charged with an aggravated breach of FA rule E3.1 for allegedly making offensive remarks to Dowle during Barnet’s defeat by Shrewsbury in September.
Brennan denied the charge but an independent FA regulatory commission found him guilty and imposed a nine-match touchline ban, as well as a £2,000 fine and mandatory education programme.
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Brennan has become the first manager in English football to be banned for making sexist comments towards a referee.
In 2022 Barrow manager Mark Cooper was given an eight-game touchline ban after being found guilty of using “abusive and/or insulting words” to the assistant referee Helen Edwards during his side’s League Two game against Exeter the previous August, which included a reference to her gender.
Brennan was sent off by Dowle for dissent midway through the first half against Shrewsbury, which triggered an angry response from the manager, who appeared to abuse the official.
Brennan said: “Throughout this case I have categorically denied the FA charge of discrimination. Whilst the panel have come to their conclusion, which I have to respect, I do not agree with their decision. There is a place in football for everyone, it’s the greatest sport on the planet.”
The FA said it was alleged Brennan “acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words towards a match official” and that his comments “included a reference – whether express or implied – to gender”.
In 2013 the FA introduced a minimum five‑match ban for proven cases of discrimination after the Luis Suárez and Patrice Evra racism case, with the tariff increased to six games in 2019. The minimum sanction applies to offences involving racism, homophobia or any other form of discriminatory language or behaviour. The ban can be increased depending on aggravating factors or reduced if there are strong mitigating factors.
