Barnet manager Dean Brennan hit with nine-game ban over sexist comments to referee
Dean Brennan has been given a nine-match touchline ban by the FA after being found guilty of making sexist comments to Kirsty Dowle
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.
“An independent Regulatory Commission has sanctioned Barnet FC’s Dean Brennan for breaching FA Rule E3 during their EFL League Two fixture on Saturday 6 September 2025 against Shrewsbury Town FC,” an FA statement read.
“It was alleged that the manager acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words towards a match official, contrary to FA Rule E3.1. It was further alleged that this conduct constitutes an ‘Aggravated Breach’, which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it 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.