Shock new details on Wendell Sailor’s alleged pub attack as bar manager reveals footy legend’s threat and why staff were ‘petrified’

The manager of a Sydney bar where Wendell Sailor allegedly assaulted a member of the public on Wednesday has revealed fresh new details over the incident and how the former NRL player had left his staff ‘petrified’.

Jack Butcher, the manager of Pappy’s bar, which is located in Sydney’s CBD revealed to The Daily Telegraph that the ex-Broncos star had allegedly ‘chest bumped’ his shoulder before holding a face-to-face argument with a patron inside the bar.

Recounting the incident, the bar manager, who claimed that Sailor had been on a four-hour drinking session before the police showed up had shouted: ‘Do you know who I am?’

The barman later claimed that the Kangaroos winger ‘could not even pull a sentence together’.

He added: ‘One of my colleagues was hiding because she was petrified.’

On Thursday reports claimed that the NRL great-turned former radio personality had allegedly assaulted two people and intimidated another on Wednesday night.

Police arrived at the premises and arrested the 50-year-old at approximately 11pm. The Daily Telegraph adds he was charged with five offences, including common assault.

The outlet has since contacted Sailor, who asserted: ‘Nothing happened, mate. Nothing happened.’

Mr Butcher claimed Sailor had arrived after 7pm. He had alleged that the former NRL player was drinking alcohol that had been bought by other people.

‘He was trying to start conversations with everyone,’ Butcher said. He then claimed that at around 11pm, he had heard ‘an alarming noise’ from the wife of a couple the ex-Broncos and Dragons star had been speaking with earlier in the night.

‘I looked out the window and saw the husband and Wendell chest-to-chest and I rushed downstairs and by the time I got down there the couple (had) walked away,’ Mr Butcher said.

‘Wendell started walking towards them and I told him to move on,’ Mr Butcher said before claiming the rugby star ‘started getting aggressive’.

‘He got in my face and was talking and spitting (but not on purpose),’ he said. ‘I wiped my face and he reached out, pushed my face and smeared the spit into my hair and face.’

After threatening to call the police, the bar manager recounted Sailor telling him ‘Call the f***ing police. What are the cops gonna do?’

He alleged that Sailor had continued to yell at him: ‘Do you know who I am?’ before stating: ‘You’re f***ing done.’

He also claims the former NRL star said: ‘You’re kicking me out because I’m black. You’re kicking me out because I am aboriginal.’

The barman alleged that the former Broncos star followed him into the bar and began to bash his chest into the side of his shoulder.

‘If I wasn’t holding on I would’ve fallen on the stairs,’ he said. ‘He did it about three times while insulting me.

‘He was telling me “You’re f***ing done’ repeatedly.”‘

Mr Butcher then revealed several regulars in the bar had tried to intervene to ‘protect’ bar staff from the former footy player before the police were called.

Once officers arrived, Mr Butcher alleged that Sailor ‘refused’ to leave the bar when asked by police.

‘He only left when they threatened to restrain him,’ he added.

A NSW Police spokesperson said Sailor was taken to Day Street police station before being released on conditional bail.

The former Queensland and Wallabies star – who quit his radio job with Triple M effective immediately in July – is also due to front court over an apprehended violence order that was taken out against him by a woman, the publication reported.

He is due to face Downing Centre Local Court over the five charges on November 28, with the AVO to go before the same court on November 13.

NSW Police provided the following statement to Daily Mail Australia: ‘About 11pm on Wednesday 6 November 2024, police were called to a licensed premises on Erskine Street, Sydney, following reports of an alleged assault.

‘Officers attached to Sydney City Police Area Command attended and were told a 50-year-old man allegedly assaulted two people and intimidated a third person.

‘No injuries were reported.’

Sailor explained his shock decision to walk away from his Triple M job – which he’d held since 2015 – by saying, ‘My primary focus now is dedicating more time to my children and pursuing grassroots interests. 

‘Balancing my career with family life is my priority, particularly as I celebrate my 50th birthday this week.’

The former Kangaroos star said his ‘son and daughter need me around’.

In April, Sailor revealed his torment over his footy star son Tristan’s rape trial.

In 2020, the NRL young gun was charged by NSW Police after a woman alleged she was so drunk she woke up naked with no memory as to what happened following a night out in Sydney.

The footy star was accused of having sex with the woman while she was either unconscious or too intoxicated to consent.

He was found not guilty in March 2022.

The alleged incident came just two weeks after Sailor was released by the Dragons, and his father – who also played for the club in the twilight of his career – felt they unfairly ushered his boy out the door.

‘Only his closest family understands what he went through a few years ago,’ Wendell said.

‘I have shed tears at times at the journey he has gone through.’

In June this year it emerged that Wendell was facing a lawsuit from the Madison Marcus law firm over allegedly unpaid legal fees of more than $100,000.

The firm defended Tristan against the rape charges, and the case was discontinued in July.